The Missile Defense Agency within the Department of Defense is developing and testingcomponents of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element, which is intended todefeat long-range ballistic missile threats in the midcourse phase of flight.1 When fullydeployed, the GMD element will include (1) space- and ground-based sensors to provideearly warning and tracking of missile launches; (2) ground-based radars to identify andrefine the tracks of threatening reentry vehicles and associated objects; (3) ground-basedinterceptors, each consisting of a three-stage booster and exoatmospheric kill vehicle, todestroy enemy missiles through hit-to-kill impacts outside the atmosphere; and (4) firecontrol nodes for battle management and execution of the GMD mission. Figure 1 depictsthe principal components of the GMD element.


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    Title :

    Information on Cancelled Integrated Flight Test-16 for Ground-based Midcourse Defense Element


    Contributors:
    R. E. Levin (author)

    Publication date :

    2003


    Size :

    8 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English