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The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has released a video that shows the Airborne Laser (ABL) successfully firing at a target missile. View the video at the ABL web page.

“This test demonstrated the full functionality of the ABL system to successfully acquire, track, and engage a boosting target,” according to the MDA. “Test instrumentation aboard the MARTI collected data to evaluate ABL laser system performance. This test engagement was not intended to lethally destroy the missile.”

Last summer, defense contractor Boeing and the MDA announced the success of the ABL’s first in-flight test. The ABL tracked and hit a missile target launched from San Nicolas Island off the California coast. The ABL was mounted to Boeing’s modified 747, which took off from Edwards Air Force Base, and its infrared sensors found the target.

 
U.S. defense contractor SAIC won a $19 million contract to “provide measurement, prediction, and analysis support for evaluating the signatures of foreign missile systems and their support equipment” at Huntsville, Alabama. SAIC has worked with the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center for the past 20 years. The center provides intelligence on foreign missile defense systems. (Source)

The U.S. Army awarded defense contractor Raytheon a $17.2 million contract modification to assist with upgrades to South Korea’s Patriot Air and Missile Defense System. Specifically, Raytheon will provide the country with an alternative power source for the Patriot system and communications equipment. (Source)

Vice president for Patriot Programs at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems Sanjay Kapoor said, “This is an opportunity to further our working relationship with the South Korean industry. Raytheon’s major subcontract partner in South Korea, EHWA Technologies Information, has a robust and proven portfolio of products in power systems for the Republic of Korea Air Force and will be a key partner for these improvements.”

Contractor Lockheed Martin seeks to win a 10-year, $6 billion contact to take over Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD). Since the program began, Boeing has been the main contractor for GMD.

Retired Army Major General John Holly, a Lockheed vice president for missile defense, said his company “welcomes the opportunity to apply our talent and experience to a broader set of requirements for this important missile defense system.” (Source)

 
Defense contractor Boeing tested its Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL), firing the high-power laser while flying over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The air-to-ground ATL pierced the hood of a truck, as shown in the video below:

Boeing says the beam’s energy “defeated” the truck. Greg Hyslop, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems, said: “This milestone demonstrates that directed energy weapon systems will transform the battlespace and save lives by giving warfighters a speed-of-light, ultra-precision engagement capability that will dramatically reduce collateral damage. By demonstrating this capability, the ATL team has earned a distinguished place in the history of weapon system development.”

(Video hat tip: PopSci.com)

 
>> The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command has awarded defense contractor Raytheon a $27 million contract to provide field engineers to update Taiwan’s Patriot Air and Missile Defense System.

Sanjay Kapoor, vice president of Patriot programs at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems said his company is “very pleased that the upgrades are happening on an accelerated timeline. This will provide Taiwan with an enhanced level of security sooner than expected.” (Source)

>> Contractor Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., received a task order worth $1.25 million to provide services for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense for the Japanese Flight Test Mission. (Source)

>> Defense contractor Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems division has created a new missile defense systems unit, to be based in Huntsville, Alabama, and led by Retired Army Major General John W. Holly. (Source)

We blogged last month that Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed were going after a Ground-based Midcourse Defense system contract that could bring in $200 million a year. Among other things, Lockheed’s new missile defense unit will pursue that contract.

 
U.S. defense contractor Boeing has developed a mobile Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), which would provide more flexiblity in planning and implementating missile defense shields in Europe. By now it’s well-known that President Barack Obama is hesitant to go through with plans to build missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. Perhaps he’d be more amenable to a temporary and mobile system like the GBI. (Source)

Although the shields would protect the region from Iranian attacks, Russia claims they would be a threat to its national defense. Neither country’s parliament has ratified the agreements.

Last week we mentioned that Raytheon was developing a land-based SM-3 missile for Israel to use in the event of an attack from Iran. Part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, the SM-3 is a ship-based anti-ballistic missile. An SM-3 successfully hit its target in space last week. Perhaps Boeing’s GBI could be used for Israel’s defense as well.

 
Defense contractor Boeing and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced the success of the Airborne Laser’s (ABL) first in-flight test. The ABL tracked and hit a missile target launched from San Nicolas Island off the California coast. (Source)

The ABL was mounted to Boeing’s modified 747, which took off from Edwards Air Force Base, and its infrared sensors found the target.

Michael Rinn, Boeing vice president and head of the ABL program, said, “This test demonstrates that the Airborne Laser can fully engage an in-flight missile with its battle management and beam control/fire control system. Pointing and focusing a laser beam on a target that is rocketing skyward at thousands of miles per hour is no easy task, but the Airborne Laser is uniquely able to do the job.”

>> Defense contractors Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing are vying for a missile defense deal that could bring in $200 million a year.

Reuters reports that all three contractors want the chance to operate and sustain the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system (GMD). John Holly, a Lockheed senior executive, said his company has “the right skills and the capability.”

Boeing’s GMD director of operations and sustainment said his company “is the lowest risk option for the work because of this experience and success on the program.”

>> Russia is gearing up for a new kind of space race with the U.S. A commander in the Russian air force said his country will develop a defense system that will counter the “threat” of our space-based missile defense capabilities. We may have the ability to hit any Russian target from space by 2030, and Russia’s response is to build a competing rocket.

A Russian general said, “The development of air and space offensive weapons by foreign states demonstrates that by 2030 radical changes will take place in the exploration of air and space as an integral sphere of armed struggle.”

With George Bush out of office, any plans to produce a weapon with such capacities are in doubt. The U.S. and Russia are in talks to renegotiate START, and if previous compromises are any indication, Russia may not have to worry about the development of a space-based target-hitting weapon. (Source)

>> A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) successfully hit its target in space. Part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, the SM-3 destroyed a short-range ballistic missile. (Source)

>> Today Russia made public its new National Security Strategy, in which it expressed hope in building a partnership with the U.S., while criticizing our plans to build missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia also criticized NATO, citing the international alliance as a security threat. (Voice of America)

>> The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance will hold a briefing to discuss new polling data regarding America’s response to U.S. missile defense and President Barack Obama’s recent missile defense statements and proposals for missile defense funding. The briefing will occur tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at the National Press Club. (PRNewswire)

>> U.S. defense contractor Boeing is moving its missile defense headquarters from Arlington, Virginia, to Huntsville, Alabama, which bears the nickname “Rocket City.” Boeing will bring 50 jobs as it heads west.

Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce member Mike Ward said, “I think its reflected in what you see the Army do here, but what you also see with the missile defense agency locating most of its resources here…Anyone involved in missile defense from the corporate side is obviously paying attention to what the missile defense agency, and Army are doing here.” (WHNT.com)

>> A spacecraft called Space Tracking and Surveillance System Advanced Technology Risk Reduction mission launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base earlier this week, along with a spacecraft for the Missile Defense Agency. Launch director for the NASA’s Launch Services Program Chuck Dovale said, “With confirmation of the payload’s delivery into the correct orbit, the launch is a success,” said Chuck Dovale, launch director for the NASA’s Launch Services Program.” (Aero-News Network)

 
With rogue states like Iran and North Korea building up missile defense systems and Russia trying to assert dominance, the last thing the U.S. needs to do is cut the missile defense budget. But that’s exactly what’s happening. The Obama administration is seeking to cut $2 billion in missile defense funding from the FY 2010 budget. (Source)

The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance naturally expressed concerns about the proposed cuts. Boeing’s modified 747, which would stop ballistic missiles shortly after launch, was in “very serious jeopardy of being taken out,” according to Riki Ellison, head of the alliance.

Lockheed Martin’s Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV) and Northrop Grumman’s and Raytheon’s Space-Based Surveillance and Tracking System might see reduced funding as well. The MKV is designed to stop complex ballistic threats during the midcourse phase of flight with multiple kill vehicles launched from a single interceptor.

One of the “tough choices” of the bad economy is possible cuts to missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. President Obama appears to be hedging on the agreements as it is. Reducing the budget would be the perfect excuse to renege on the plans. Obama may use the planned shields as a sort of bargaining chip in our country’s negotiations with Russia. If Russia helps stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the story goes, the U.S. will back off building those bases in Central Europe.

The question is, can Russia be trusted? Either way, the new administration is ready, willing, and able to undercut U.S. plans to build a strong and comprehensive missile defense strategy, with the economy serving as a convenient excuse.

 
**Last Saturday, Israel commenced an air bombing attack on the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip. Riki Ellison, Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), said the skirmish between the two is evidence that Israel needs a strong missile defense system.

“Israel’s lack of protection of its citizens and nearby cities from a continued year round and recent escalated rocket and missile fire from Hamas in Gaza brought upon the Israeli decision to go to war that has and will continue to kill and destroy people and property in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Ellison added that the MDAA recently toured the area in Israel under assault and determined that the only missile defense system is an early warning system. (Missile Defense Advocacy)

**UPI reports that Russia is testing a new missile for the S-400 Triumf air defense system. If successful, the system may be the ” most formidable long-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense system in the world.” (UPI)

**We’ve blogged about President-Elect Barack Obama’s reticence to go forward with missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. Defense firms in Arizona are concerned that under Obama, their work will slow down. Defense contracts account for over $12 billion of income to the state. Under President George Bush, firms have seen business double. Of course, if the war in Iraq ends, Arizona and other states will see a slow down. But the U.S. should keep up its missile defense for the sake of national security, war or no war. (The Arizona Republic)

**Defense contractor Boeing has snagged a $397 million contract to continue developing the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense program. This system will use interceptor missiles to shoot down enemy missiles in mid-flight. (AP)