MISSILE DEFENSE MONDAYS

June 2 - June 8, 2020

THE WEEK IN BRIEF

Click Here to Watch The Missile Defense Mondays Video

On Tuesday, Raytheon Missile & Defense reported that comprehensive near-field range testing had been completed on the first AN/SPY-6(V)1 radar array. The new array will deliver integrated air and missile defense capabilities to Flight III guided missile destroyers, as well as seven other U.S Navy ships.

Also on Tuesday, a former commander of U.S Forces Korea, General (ret.) Walter Sharp, expressed concern that North Korea will soon launch a new ballistic missile submarine. The remarks follow a May meeting of North Korea's Central Military Commission in which a new 3,000-ton submarine, expected to carry three ballistic missiles, was shown to be nearly completed.

On Thursday, it was reported that a May 12 incident in which 19 Iranian sailors were killed was actually the result of a failed Iranian missile test. A former Iranian missile worker claims that during a test of a new version of the C-802 missile, the missile mistook the Iranian Navy support ship Konarak for a nearby target barge. While the new missile is thought to be more difficult for the U.S Navy to jam, it remains far from ready for operational deployment.

Also on Thursday, the Missile Defense Agency issued a request for information for a potential contractor to provide Standard Missile-3 interceptor rounds, as well as support for the technology's integration in U.S Navy vessels and Aegis Ashore combat facilities in Europe. Contract work would also include engineering and testing services, including program management and obsolescence monitoring.

On Friday, U.S Army Europe's 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command took part in exercise Tobruq Arrows 2020. Tobruq Arrows, taking place from June 5-15, is a Latvian-led, multinational short-range air defense exercise. U.S Army units participating include the 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment.

On Sunday, it was reported how the Space Development Agency (SDA) and Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to develop their space-based hypersonic and ballistic missile tracking sensor network. The SDA plans to launch a wide field of view missile-warning sensor with a satellite bus into low Earth orbit by late 2021. SDA and MDA plan to have a large constellation of wide and medium field of view satellites by 2022 to provide persistent regional detection and tracking capabilities. By 2025, the SDA and MDA plans to have enough satellites for a missile warning and tracking network with full global coverage.

On Monday, it was reported that a top Chinese science institute made progress in a scramjet program which could lead to significant advances in China's hypersonic cruise missile capabilities. The Chinese scramjet ran continuously for 600 seconds in a ground test, definitively breaking the previous record of 210 seconds held by the US' X-51 aircraft.

Click here to read all of the headlines from the week.

MDAA ALERTS

Give Me Some Space

In a week of challenges within our nation, we took the time to acknowledge the resurgence of American space and focus on relevant solutions in space for external threats to our nation and our allies to uphold the status quo and international order in a dynamic world where the near...

Click here to read more.

MDAA WEBSITE UPDATES AND FEATURES

Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS)

Studies on space-based sensor systems were called for by the Trump administration in the 2019 Missile Defense Review (MDR). The Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) is the product of that research and the need for...

Learn more about HBTSS.

Germany

Germany is the single largest capacity provider of ballistic missile defense in Europe. Germany does not possess nuclear weapons, nor would it be a threat even if it did. It did, however, play an important role in the negotiations for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces...

Learn more about the Germany's missile defenses.

Standard Missile-3

The Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) is a derivative of the RIM-156 Standard SM-2 Block IV missile, and is the interceptor component of the U.S. Navy theater ballistic missile defense system, called NTW-TBMD (Navy Theater Wide – Theater Ballistic Missile Defense). It is an upper-tier (exo-atmospheric) ballistic missile...

Learn more about the SM-3.

MDAA VIRTUAL CONGRESSIONAL ROUNDTABLE

On Thursday, MDAA held a roundtable on "The Space Layer: Hypersonic and Ballistic Missile Tracking Space Satellites". Panelists included Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-5), Major General Gregory Guillot, Director of Operations of U.S Northern Command, Dr. Derek Tournear, Director of the Space Development Agency (SDA), Mr. Stan Stafira, Chief Architect at the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), and Mr. Walter Chai, Director of Space Sensors at MDA.

The roundtable discussed a range of topics concerning the Space Layer and how SDA, MDA, and the services are working together to implement space-based hypersonic and ballistic missile tracking.

Click here to watch a recording of this event.

MDAA'S SUMMER INTERNS/FELLOWS

Please welcome our new fellow and interns to the MDAA team!

2LT Ian Heald is an active duty Field Artillery Officer. 2LT Heald is MDAA's MG John G. Rossi Military Fellow for the 2020 summer term. He is originally from Delaware County, Pennsylvania. 2LT Heald graduated from American University with a BA in International Studies focusing on Foreign & Security Policy, Peace, Global Security & Conflict Resolution, and Europe. Additionally, he is a member of the Sigma Iota Rho International Studies Honors Society.

Julianna Kubik is a junior at American University's School of International Service majoring in International Studies and minoring in Mandarin Chinese and Psychology. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she hopes to pursue a career in national security and foreign policy.

Michael McShane will soon be entering his senior year at American University where he is majoring in international relations with a concentration in peace & conflict resolution. He spent the last two semesters studying Russian in Almaty, Kazakhstan and hopes to explore his interests in geopolitics during his time with MDAA.

Nicholas Pacheco is a rising senior at American University majoring in International Studies. He will commission as an officer into the United States Army after graduation and will be studying abroad in the UK this fall.

Marc Chaaban is a senior at the George Washington University studying political science with a minor in history. After graduating, he hopes to attend law school or pursue a career in the national security field.

Stefan Catana is a rising senior at the University of Southern California where he studies international relations and philosophy. He started interning at MDAA at the beginning of the year while doing a ‘Semester in D.C.’ program, and will continue his work on missile defense over summer as well. At MDAA, he focuses on the current situation of missile defense systems in Europe and Transatlantic relationships, as well as Russia.