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GULF DEFENDER January 29, 1988(AFIS) -- In March 1983,President Ronald Reagan challenged the scientific community to find a way to make the threat posed by intercontinental ballistic missiles obsolete. Since then, government, university and industry scientists have made significant progress in designing technology that may offer a defense against ballistic missiles.In September 1987, six Strategic Defense Initiative concepts were approved for the demonstration and validation phase of the acquisitionprocess.The purpose of this phase is to look at important elements of a potential strategic defense system to see if they will work, using analysis, experimentation and simulation.The technology research programs that are candidates for Phase I of the Strategic Defense System include:Battle Management/Com-mand and Control and Communications.This Department of Defense-, Army-ana Air Force-designed system will monitor and control all other elements of astrategic defense system. Information from surveillance satellites, sensors and radars would be relayed to battle managers using battle management/command and control and communications.The information would be used to assign targets to space-and ground-based weapons. The BM/C3 system will have to be able to assess data concerning a ballistic missile attack and provide timely, reliable information to the command structure in a hostileenvironment.Once the response has beendetermined, the system has tocarry out the response, assessits effectiveness and revise theresponse if necessary.Ground-Based Surveillanceand Tracking System.Launched into space upon warning, the Ground-BasedSurveillance and Tracking System would track an incoming missile’s warheads in the middle of their trajectory. It would also discriminate among re-entry vehicles, penetration aids and space debris. Informa-berelayed to the BM/C3 system to identify targets and launch interceptors. The GSTS is one of two midcourse sensor platform options. The executive agent for GSTS is the Army Strategic Defense Command.• Boost Surveillance and Tracking System.The space-based Boost Surveillance and Tracking System would be capable of detecting and tracking attacking intercontinental and submarine-launched ballisticrimissiles during the boost phase or powered-flight portion of their launches. If an attacking missile can be destroyed in its early-boost phase, the number of warheads destroyed per hit would be greatly increased.Once the BSTS senses a launch and tracks a missile, the information would be relayedto the BM/C3 system. The Air Force Systems Command is the executive agent for thisprogram.• Space-Based Surveillance and Tracking System.The Space-Based Surveillance and Tracking System would detect and track ballistic missiles and warheads immediately after launch and in the midcourse phase of flight. A series of satellites would track the missiles and discriminate between re-entry vehicles, decoys and space debris. The SSTS is the other midcourse sensor platform option. As in the other systems, this information would be transmitted to the BM/C3 system for target assignment.• Space-Based Interceptor.The space-based interceptor would consist of several space vehicles. These space-based kinetic kill vehicles would house many rocket-propelled, non-nuclear interceptors. They would be designed to destroy attacking missiles in the boost phase and re-entry vehicles in midflight. The interceptors would destroy their targets bythe force of tneir impact at extremely high speed. The Air Force Systems Command is the executive agent for this program.• Exoatmosphere Re-entryVehicle Interception System.The ground-launched, nonnuclear Exoatmosphere Reentry Vehicle Interception System would destroy attacking warheads during their midflight. Space and ground surveillance systems must first discern warheads, decoys, penetration aids and space debris. The Army Strategic Defense Command is the executive agent for this subsystem’s technology.
Newspaper Details
Panama City Gulf Defender
Panama City, Florida, US
Fri, Jan 29, 1988
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Travis R.
AL, USA 16 Nov 2021
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