17 Nov 11. The Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS)successfully completed its first flight test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE)MEADS Certified Missile Round was employed during the test along with the MEADS lightweight launcher and battle manager. The test demonstrated an unprecedented over-the-shoulder launch of the MSE missile against a simulated target attacking from behind. It required a unique sideways maneuver, demonstrating a 360-degree capability. The missile executed a planned self-destruct sequence at the end of the mission after successfully engaging the simulated threat.
17 Nov 11. Department of Defense Announces Successful Test of Army Advanced Hypersonic Weapon Concept. The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command conducted the first test flight of the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) concept. At 6:30 a.m. EST (1:30 a.m. Hawaii-Aleutian Time), a first-of-its-kind glide vehicle, designed to fly within the earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speed and long range, was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii to the Reagan Test Site, U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll. The objective of the test is to collect data on hypersonic boost-glide technologies and test range performance for long-range atmospheric flight. Mission emphasis is aerodynamics; navigation, guidance, and control; and thermal protection technologies. A three-stage booster system launched the AHW glide vehicle and successfully deployed it on the desired flight trajectory. The vehicle flew a non-ballistic glide trajectory at hypersonic speed to the planned impact location at the Reagan Test Site. Space, air, sea, and ground platforms collected vehicle performance data during all phases of flight. The data collected will be used by the Department of Defense to model and develop future hypersonic boost-glide capabilities. The AHW program is managed and executed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command program office in Huntsville, Ala. The booster system and glide vehicle were developed by Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M. and the thermal protection system by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, Huntsville, Ala. The Department of Defense is using AHW to develop and demonstrate technologies for Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS). As part of the CPGS effort, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency conducted boost-glide flight tests in April 2010 and August 2011, results from which were used in planning the AHW flight test.
14 Nov 11. The Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstration satellites tracked two different missile targets and delivered data in real-time to support a successful Oct. 5 flight test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon system, according to Northrop Grumman Corporation, prime contractor, and the Raytheon Company, sensor payload provider. During the live-intercept of both targets, the STSS demonstrators transmitted data in real-time to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Command, Control, Battle Management, and Communications system. Known as FTT-12, the THAAD flight test took place at the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii, where MDA launched two different missile targets to demonstrate the Ballistic Missile Defense System’s (BMDS) ability to handle a larger missile raid.
Young noted that FTT-12 is the second THAAD flight test that included STSS, with far more extensive participation by the demonstration satellites compared with the previous test June 28, 2010 (FTT-14).
16 Nov 11. The warhead for Raytheon Company’s Small Diameter Bomb II performed at twice what was required during a series of recent tests. The test marked the first demonstration of an SDB II warhead built on a fully-automated production line. SDB II is the world’s first weapon capable of engaging fixed