By Ann Roosevelt
There is still no resolution of what caused a Ground-based Missile Defense (GMD) interceptor to fail to hit its ballistic missile target over the Pacific in December, though officials from prime contractor Boeing [BA] say it’s a major focus of their effort.
“Currently on the program the number one priority involves the flight test area,” Norm Tew, Boeing vice president and GMD program director, said in a company roundtable.
“This flight up until the last few seconds was absolutely picture perfect,” he said. “It was the cleanest, most picture perfect flight we’ve ever had.”
Boeing is working with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and its main GMD subcontractors Northrop Grumman [NOC], Raytheon [RTN] and Orbital Sciences Corp. [ORB] to resolve the issues.
“There are several parallel activities aimed at establishing root cause, aggressively pursuing a defined solution and getting back into flight,” he said duirng the annual company missile defense roundup ahead of the 9th Annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Missile Defense Conference and Exhibit in Washington, D.C. The interceptor was not the same configuration as the ground-based interceptors currently deployed.
The unsuccessful Dec. 15 test was a repeat of a Jan. 31, 2010 test that also was unsuccessful (Defense Daily, Dec. 17). After the January test, a senior MDA official criticized industry quality control issues in agency programs across the board (Defense Daily, Feb. 23, 2010).
During the Dec. 15 test, an intermediate-range target missile flew from a test site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. A long-range interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to intercept it, according to MDA.
MDA has said all the sensors, to include the sea-based X-band radar, performed as planned.
Tew said “terabytes” of data were generated by the test. “In cooperation and coordination and in partnership with our customer and other industry partners we are in the process of evaluating that data. The failure review board is ongoing and that activity…is certainly not complete.”
There are two parallel activities: the effort to the absolute definitive root cause and an effort pursuing additional design concepts that might address some of the most likely concerns.
Since the investigation revolves around a complex program that operates in a complex regime, it may require “pushing beyond state-of-the-art testing techniques to confirm some of the theories that are emerging on this,” Tew said.
Separately, through the Strategic Missiles and Defense unit, incumbent Boeing with partner Northrop Grumman submitted its proposal for the GMD Development and Sustainment contract. A Lockheed Martin [LMT]-Raytheon team also submitted a proposal (Defense Daily, Jan. 31, 2010).
The development sustainment contract signals a new era for GMD, Tew said. “Previously, the focus has been largely on development while we maintain and sustain the system. The focus of the system is changing; the focus of the program is changing. It’s now focused on sustaining the system and life cycle management but with the capability for development and upgrading.”
MDA has perviously said it intends to award the contract May 31 with an acquisition value of approximately $600 million per year with an initial period of performance of seven years.