The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced that the MDA and the U.S. Pacific Fleet successfully completed a series of exercises that tested the second-generation Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, which tracked and simulated engagements of ballistic missile targets. The targets were launched over several months at the Kauai Test Facility. (MDA)

The sea-based, midcourse Aegis is part of the Ballistic Missile Defense System.

In October, MDA successfully completed a Hardware-in-the-Looptheater-level ground test, conducted to integrate new capabilities into the BMDS architecture. From the release:

“Ground tests play a vital role in the development of new technologies for missile defense by providing program officials detailed information about emerging hardware and software system functionality, while reducing the cost and schedule demands that would be required to provide the same information through an extensive flight test program. These efforts enable actual flight test data to be reconstructed and injected into geographically distributed HWIL representations of BMDS sensors and weapon systems. They also support development and validation of BMDS simulations for component weapon and sensor performance, communications, and interoperability, as well as threat and environment simulations. In this test, FCE-C HWIL provided a demonstration of the ability to conduct a system-level, theater-centric defense of critical assets.”

Peter Brookes of the Heritage Foundation has written an article for Townhall magazine titled, “Missile Defense: Now More Than Ever.” (PDF)

Brookes notes that a mere 10 years ago, there were just six nuclear weapons states. Now there are nine. A generation ago, nine countries had ballistic missiles. In 2009, almost 30 countries possess these weapons. The nuclear weapons increases may seem insignificant, but consider that developing and maintaining our own strong missile defense system “remains a controversial idea.” Unbelievable? You better believe it.

The missile defense system development that began under George Bush has yet to be completed. With a new president in the White House who so far has demonstrated lukewarm support for missile defense, the situation is precarious. Powerhouses like Russia and China have weapons, as well as rogue states like Iran and North Korea. The time to act is now.

An excerpt of the article:

“Among present proliferation problems, Iran may be the worst, due to its enmity toward the United States, sponsorship of terrorism, involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and regional power ambitions.

“Tehran insists its burgeoning nuclear program is for peaceful power generation, designed to augment Iran’s significant oil and natural gas reserves. (Iran has the world’s third-largest oil and second-largest natural gas reserves.)

“But an avalanche of evidence tells a different story. Iran is involved in a nuclear weapons program that may become operational this year, according to a growing chorus of experts, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ supposed nuclear watchdog.”

The article includes sidebars on the history of missile defense (beginning in the 1940s) and how a ballistic missile defense system works. It’s well worth the read. Download the six-page article (PDF).

The test took place at the Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, during the week of December 8-12. From the press release:

“The test used the MDA Missile Defense System Exerciser (MDSE) to connect and control BMDS Hardware-in the-Loop (HWIL) Laboratories located across the United States to emulate the functionality resident in BMDS systems that participated in FTX-03…The GTF-03b showed provided a demonstration of the ability to conduct a System-level Post-flight Test Reconstruction and collect the required information to provide data comparison of the simulation performance with the performance of the system interactions of FTX-03 components under test.”

The MDA conducts ground tests to develop new missile defense technologies.

During what’s described as a “routine operational test” of an Air Force strategic missile earlier this month, the BMDS elements detected and tracked long-range missiles. The Air Force test is called Glory Trip 194, and its purpose is to determine whether the “ground-based strategic deterrent force” is ready for operation.
 
Download the MDA’s press release (PDF) for more information.