THAAD Test Intercepts Target Lower Than Ever Before
Apr 9, 2007
Jefferson Morris/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile defense program scored an intercept on April 6 at an altitude 25 kilometers (15 miles) lower than any previous THAAD test.

THAAD is designed to intercept ballistic missile targets both inside and outside Earth's atmosphere. The precise altitudes of the tests are classified, but the lower they are the more challenging they are, according to THAAD prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

The THAAD interceptor was launched at 8:45 p.m. local time from the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii, while the unitary SCUD-type target flew from a mobile platform positioned off Kauai. Intercept took place at roughly 8:47 p.m. and early indications are that all test objectives were met.

It was the second THAAD test from the Pacific Range and the third successful intercept in the current phase of the program, according to MDA. A fourth attempt last September was aborted due to a target missile failure, which resulted in the THAAD interceptor not launching.

Soldiers of the U.S. Army's 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, operated all THAAD equipment during the test. Army personnel will continue to operate the system for the rest of the flight-test program. THAAD will be turned over to the Army in 2009.

New wrinkle

A new wrinkle this time around was the fact that the soldiers weren't told precisely when the test was going to occur, according to Tom McGrath, Lockheed Martin's THAAD program manager. They were instead given a window of several hours. "It was very, very realistic for them, as if it was an actual operation in a war," McGrath told The DAILY. "They performed flawlessly."

The test marked the first time THAAD has participated in what MDA considers a Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) test, meaning that more than one element of the BMDS was involved. The test demonstrated communications links with a simulated U.S. Navy Aegis ship as well as the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system and the U.S. Air Force's Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS).

The next THAAD test will be a nonintercept flight-test in which the THAAD missile will be put through a number of uncharacteristic maneuvers at even lower altitude to gather performance data at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The spent interceptor will be recovered for analysis. The program then will move back to Hawaii for an exo-atmospheric intercept test in the fall. Two THAAD tests are scheduled for 2008, McGrath said, involving more complex targets with separating warheads.

The availability of the sophisticated targets is the reason for the slowdown in the pace of testing, although the THAAD team also expects to be involved in a nonshooter role in a number of other BMDS system tests later this year and next year.

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