MISSILE DEFENSE MONDAYS

November 22 - November 28, 2022

THE WEEK IN BRIEF

On Tuesday, November 22, A pair of Japanese destroyers shot down targets for the first time using a SM-3 missile off Hawaii last week, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The live fire was part of a two-week exercise at the Pacific Missile Range conducted by Japan’s newest destroyers — the JS Maya and JS Haguro — in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, according to a Monday statement from the agency, which also participated.

Also on Tuesday, Russian state media outlets have offered unprecedented looks at the payload bus for the R-36M2 intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, where the weapon’s nuclear warheads are housed. Also known as the SS-18 Mod 5 Satan in the West, this missile has a so-called multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle, or MIRV, configuration and has one of the heaviest payloads of any ICBM ever developed and fielded. Dmitry Kornev, a Russian military expert who runs the blog Military Russia, recently posted stills showing the R-36M2 payload bus on Twitter that were captured from video clips broadcast on the state-run television stations Russia-24 and TV Zvezda. The latter of these is the official television station of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

On Saturday, November 26, U.S. Forces Korea announced that they will create a space force unit in light of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile threats. According to multiple government sources on Saturday, the U.S. Defense Department plans to set up a component command of the U.S. Space Force at the USFK by the year-end. In the recently announced National Security Strategy, the U.S. military said it is pushing to establish space commands in its combat commands as well to achieve all-domain integrated deterrence.

On Sunday, November 27, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is planning to build “the world’s most powerful” nuclear force, state news agency KCNA reported. The “ultimate goal” behind North Korea’s nuclear program was to possess an “absolute force, unprecedented in the century,” Kim said Saturday as part of an order promoting dozens of military officials, the agency reported. The order comes after what North Korea said was a "test firing of a new kind" of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on November 18.

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MDAA ALERTS

O Beautiful For Spacious Skies

"We are grateful for Missile Defense that provides safety to our Nation here in the homeland, and for our forces in forward operating bases around the world. In a momentous year of massive, unprecedented, and unmitigated missile threats worldwide with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Europe, the Middle East, the missile demonstrations over and near Taiwan by China, and the record proliferation of missile tests by..."

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MDAA WEBSITE UPDATES AND FEATURES

Ukrainian War Updates

Track the number and type of missiles used in the Ukrainian war, the number of casualties, and daily news highlights.

Track updates on the conflict in Ukraine.

Taiwan Incursion Updates

Track the number and type of incursions in the Taiwan Strait, the number of missiles fired, aircraft crossing the ADIZ, and daily news highlights.

Track updates on the tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

MISSILE DEFENDER OF THE WEEK

Lieutenant Colonel

John Trahan

LTC Trahan is the Chief of Future Operations for the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC) at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. He spearheaded planning and execution of several first-of-their-kind air and missile defense events in the Indo-Pacific Area of Operations; events which demonstrated unrivaled integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) capabilities to both partners and adversaries. LTC Trahan coordinated a combined IAMD live-fire exercise (LFX) with the Australian Army that culminated in the first-ever Patriot live fire in the southern hemisphere, and later led efforts to plan and conduct the first-ever combined Patriot/Avenger LFX at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. He was crucial to the first-ever deployment of a Patriot battery to the Philippines and led planning and execution of the first Fixed Sit-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Integrated Defeat System deployment to the Hawaiian Islands; conducting a successful kinetic UAS intercept with a partner nation. He led the command’s efforts to conduct the first-ever deployment of the Iron Dome Defense System-Army to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to test and experiment with the capabilities of the system, and further train and refine the deployment capabilities of Army Air Defenders. He supervised the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) remote launcher employment from Guam to Rota; demonstrating the ability for homeland defense of the entire Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. LTC Trahan’s contributions directly contributed to the security of the United States homeland and allies in the Indo-Pacific. LTC Trahan received his commission as a Second Lieutenant upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in May 2004. LTC Trahan attended the Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Officer Basic Course and Patriot Basic Course at Fort Bliss, Texas with E/1-56th ADA. He also completed the ADA Captains Career Course with C/1-56 ADA at Fort Bliss, Texas in 2008. LTC Trahan has completed the Army’s Intermediate Level Education at the Command and General Staff School and holds a Baccalaureate of Science in Engineering Psychology from West Point and a Master of Arts in Leadership Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso. LTC Trahan is married to the former Kristi Daugherty of The Woodlands, Texas. They have one daughter, Kaitlyn, and one son, Aiden.

Click here to view all the awardees from the 2022 Indo-Pacific Air & Missile Defender of the Year Award Ceremony.