Sensors, kill vehicle lethality and sustainment are the investment priorities for both U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) according to Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, in his first appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee since taking command in December.
Those priorities need to be managed concurrently, he told the panel. “The first (priority) is we need to continue to improve our sensors; the sensors are the ability for us to discriminate and track as early as possible to be able to defeat the threat. The second is we need to enhance the lethality of our kill vehicles, it is a very expensive proposition to shoot a rocket with a rocket and so we want every one of our kill vehicles to be as effective and as lethal as possible and as well as the means to develop other ways that we can get more kill vehicles into space. Last is, as in any weapons system, you need to invest in the sustainment piece of it so that all of, it’s a system of system, so that all of the systems are at their peak physical condition and that includes the ability for us to test and exercise them.”
The nation’s ballistic missile defense capability relies on a series of infrared space sensors as well as land and sea-based radars for targeting, Gortney said in his prepared remarks. “This year, a second AN/TPY-2 radar was brought on-line in Japan that improves our ability to persistently track potential threats to the homeland originating from East Asia.”
More efficient and time-sensitive systems such as the Long Range Discrimination Radar need to be developed and deployed.
The Sea-Based X- Band Radar, still in test and development, provides unique discrimination and tracking capabilities that are unavailable in current operational systems, he said. “I believe we must continue to invest in these types of emerging technology BMD capabilities to counter tomorrow’s missile threats. Engaging a target that is flying over 15,000 miles per hour in space with a kill vehicle that is roughly the size and weight of a basic military trainee’s foot locker continues to expand the limits of what is technically possible.”
Gortney said partnerships are critical as much of the BMD sensors and systems reside in other command areas, such as MDA, Pacific Command, Strategic Command and European Command.
Gortney said they have high confidence in the Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) missiles on alert at Fort Greely, Alaska. “The GBI fleet requires continued vigilance and investment to ensure reliability and mitigate obsolescence, and we believe we are on a prudent, viable course of action to do just that.”
The FY 2014 Defense Appropriations Act included initial funding for an additional 14 GBIs, in addition to the 30 GBIs at Fort Greely and Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Gortney said MDA would likely have the additional GBIs on line by 2017.
The existing GBI fleet would be improved by adding the second generation Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (CE-II EKV). The improved CE-II EKV completed its first successful intercept test last June. Lockheed Martin [LMT], Boeing [BA] and Raytheon [RTN] have offered designs and MDA expects to compete EKV production in 2018 after selecting what it likes best from the competitors (Defense Daily, Feb. 15).