Ballistic Missile Defense Midcourse Defense Segment

Abstract

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program is the element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) that provides combatant commanders with a continuously available (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year) capability to defend the Homeland against limited Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) attacks. The GMD capability consists of Ground Based Interceptors (GBI), GMD Fire Control system (GFC) , GMD Communications Network (GCN), In-Flight Interceptor Communications System Data Terminals (IDT) and all of the ground Launch Support Systems (LSS) (silos, silo interface vaults (SIVs), environmental control systems, command launch equipment (CLE), firing circuits and safety systems). The 30 operationally deployed GBIs located at Fort Greely, Alaska (26 GBIs) and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California (4 GBIs) each deliver a single Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) to defeat threat warheads in space during the midcourse phase of the ballistic trajectory. The GMD Fire Control System consists of fire control nodes in Fort Greely, Alaska and Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center (MDIOC) Colorado Springs, Colorado. IDTs are currently located in Fort Greely, Alaska, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Eareckson Air Station, Alaska, and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to deliver an additional IDT to Fort Drum, New York. The GMD capability leverages integration of Ballistic Missile Defense System sensors in Japan, Alaska, California, United Kingdom, Greenland, and Turkey. Development objectives for GMD include: testing and validating the performance of the Capability Enhancement I and II (CE-I and CE-II) GBIs, development and testing of capability upgrades, manufacturing additional GBIs in support of operational requirements, flight testing, upgrading fielded GBIs, and conducting a comprehensive component ground testing and upgrades program that will improve GBI reliability and minimize the number of GBIs required to destroy each ICBM threat. In response to FTG-06a failed intercept, the program continues to develop and qualify a modified Inertial Measurement Unit, Firmware, and Cradle Isolation to improve the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle's (EKV) performance in flight. Critical to the program's success is the Systems Engineering and Test activities associated with the design modification and component testing leading up to a fully Certified IMU Design. To reduce the concurrency risk to the GMD program's ability to execute the test program and deliver the remaining CE-II GBIs, the Agency has instituted a more rigorous and systematic approach to proving out the FTG-06a failure mitigations. Included in the new program is a robust design process, additional qualification tests and design verification tests, and a final certification review of all data thus ensuring the mitigations fully address the FTG-06a root cause failure. To further reduce the concurrency risk to the GMD program, the Agency has established manufacturing gates for the IMU, the EKVs, and the eventual emplacements of the CE-II GBI's. These manufacturing gates are anchored to knowledge based decisions and events included in the new more robust design and qualification process. This new approach to reduce design/manufacturing concurrency and ensure manufacturing activities are not proceeding until sufficient engineering data indicates a readiness to proceed will significantly contribute to the program's ability to successfully establish interceptor testing and delivery baselines. Cyber Operations sustains Missile Defense Agency (MDA) DoD Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Program (DIACAP) and Controls Validation Testing (CVT) activities, analysis of validation results, risk assessments and reviews of Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms) for MDA Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) mission systems. MD40 Program-Wide Support (PWS) consists of essential non-headquarters management costs in support of the MDA functions and activities across the entire Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS).

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Document Details

Document Type
R2 Budgetary Justification
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2014
Source ID
0603882C_4_0400_PB_2014
Change Summary Explanation
FY 2014 funding was adjusted to: 1) Initiate the refurbishment, upgrade and High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) hardening of Missile Field 1 at Fort Greely, Alaska; 2) fully fund Ground Systems suite 6B3 to utilize Near-Term Discrimination (NTD) data, integrate the Clear, AK UEWR and Ft. Drum, NY IDT assets, support SBIRS interface changes, incorporate evolving threats, Warfighter requirements, and BMDS element interoperability associated changes, 3) Initiate the Ground Systems Technology Refresh effort which provides upgrades to the Ground Systems components by reducing life cycle costs and ensuring sustainability, and 4) Initiate the Ground Systems suite 6B4 to provide Feature Aided Track Correlation and Feature Aided Target Object Mapping, and incorporate evolving threats, Warfighter requirements, and BMDS element interoperability associated changes.
Service Agency Name
Missile Defense Agency

Entities

Organizations

  • Missile Defense Agency

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Battle Management
  • Control Systems
  • Cost Analysis
  • Defense Systems
  • Engineering
  • Fire Control Systems
  • Ground Based
  • Ground Control Stations
  • Inertial Measurement Units
  • Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  • Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles
  • Manufacturing
  • Midcourse Defense
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation

Readers

  • Missile Defense Systems.
  • Software Engineering

Technology Areas

  • Cyber
  • Space

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