Missile Defense Facing $5bn cut...

[MKSheppard]

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Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
DOD Seen As Close To Deciding Missile Defense Cuts
01/18/2005 08:49:18 AM

The U.S. Defense Department is close to deciding how to distribute a $5 billion cut in missile defense that it approved in December as part of a broader, six-year reduction in defense spending, according to sources.

DOD is expected to finalize the missile defense details this week, leaving enough time for the Bush Administration to finish its fiscal 2006 budget and submit it to Congress on Feb. 7.

Although sources stressed that details in the Missile Defense Agency's budget could change up to the last minute, they said the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) program was struggling to avoid deep cuts in previously approved spending levels. KEI, a land- and sea-based system designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight, has had a hard time winning support on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have raised concerns about the difficulty of having to place the system near an adversary's missiles.

Another boost-phase system, the Airborne Laser (ABL), which has been plagued by cost and schedule overruns, also initially was seen as vulnerable to a major reduction. But ABL supporters appear to have scored points by touting the program's recent achievement of two key goals: first light of the kill laser and first flight of the beam control/fire control system (DAILY, Dec. 6, Nov. 15, Dec. 6), sources said.

Proponents of MDA infrastructure were said to be in a tough fight to avoid a big spending decrease. The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system and the Multiple Kill Vehicles (MKV) program appeared to be faring better.

MDA is developing GMD to defeat long-range ballistic missiles in the midcourse phase. The MKV program, which aims to allow multiple chances to shoot down a ballistic missile, plans to equip an interceptor with up to several dozen small kill vehicles instead of a single, regular-sized kill vehicle.

As part of a broader effort by the Bush Administration to curb federal spending, DOD approved $30 billion in cuts in late December, including the $5 billion decrease for missile defense (DAILY, Jan. 4). The document containing the reductions did not specify how the missile defense cuts would be implemented, forcing officials to launch the ongoing review of MDA programs.

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Hmm, until I saw that articul I had no idea about KEI

MKV

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company of Sunnyvale, Calif. is being awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity cost-plus-award-fee contract for the development and demonstration of a miniature kill vehicle (MKV) system. The maximum value of the contract is $768,000,000 performed over an eight-year period. The first task order for $27,000,000 will be awarded simultaneously with the contract award. The MKV program will be managed by MDA Advanced Systems, which is responsible for developing advanced capabilities for integration into the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The MKV contract will be executed for MDA Advanced Systems by the U. S. Army Space and Missile Defense Technical Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The MKV system will deploy multiple, small kill vehicles from a single carrier vehicle. The integrated payload will be designed to fit on existing and planned interceptor boosters. The resulting system will be capable of engaging multiple midcourse targets from a single launcher, adding firepower and robustness to midcourse defenses. The initial program focus will be on the design and demonstration of the kill vehicle. The MKV system will be designed to integrate seamlessly into the Ballistic Missile Defense System with initial focus on its Ground-based Midcourse Defense element.

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Lockheed Martin To Develop New Next Generation Missile Defense

Sunnyvale - Jan 08, 2004
Lockheed Martin has won a contract from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to further develop and demonstrate the first system capable of destroying multiple ballistic missile threats and decoys with a single launch. The system will carry multiple small kill vehicles that will destroy adversarial missiles and decoys by colliding with them in space.

The eight-year contract is valued at approximately $760 million; the initial 11-month contract is valued at $27 million. The U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Ala., manages the program for the MDA.

"We are excited and proud that the Missile Defense Agency has selected us to develop and demonstrate this promising capability," said G. Thomas Marsh, executive vice president, Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

The Miniature Kill Vehicle (MKV) concept holds the potential to provide a more cost-effective approach to countering complex missile threats with a single launch. MKV will employ multiple small kill vehicles housed within one carrier vehicle, and would be used against ballistic missiles in the midcourse stage of flight. The system will identify all credible threat objects and will destroy them using individual kill vehicles.

"MKV represents a potential game-changing capability for missile defense. It is designed to counter future threats where it is hard to differentiate between threat objects. In such scenarios, MKV would address all credible threat objects with a single launch," said Doug Graham, vice president, Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

The selection of Lockheed Martin follows a 19-month concept development phase in which the company defined its MKV design, including the carrier vehicle and the kill vehicle subsystem; as well as the program plan, schedule and cost estimates for development and production.

Lockheed Martin's modular design approach can be configured with varying quantities of kill vehicles per carrier vehicle in order to address the full range of operational scenarios. The design is also flexible to allow its MKV system to be used with the variety of missile defense boosters being used and developed by the Missile Defense Agency.

Lockheed Martin is a leader in systems integration and the development of air and missile defense systems and technologies. These include the world's first successful hit-to-kill intercept with the Homing Overlay Experiment in 1984, the successful demonstration of the first complete weapon system using hit-to-kill technology with THAAD, as well as the world's first operational hit-to-kill missile defense system, PAC-3.

It also has experience in interceptor systems; kill vehicles; battle management command, control and communications; precision pointing and tracking optics; as well as radar and other sensors that enable signal processing and data fusion. The company makes significant contributions to all 10 major U.S. Missile Defense Systems and participates in several global missile defense partnerships.