ARMY KWAJALEIN ATOLL

Abstract

The U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll/Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (USAKA/RTS), located in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is a remote, secure activity of the Major Range and Test Facility Base (MRTFB). Its function is to support test and evaluation of major Army and DoD acquisition programs and to provide space operations (surveillance and object identification) in support of U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientific and space programs. Programs supported include Army missile defense, Air Force and Navy Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) developmental and operational tests; Army, Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hypersonic developmental tests; Missile Defense Agency (MDA) demonstration/validation tests; , USSTRATCOM space situational awareness requirements (inc contributions to the U.S. Space Surveillance Network); and NASA Space Shuttle and orbital debris experiments. USAKA/RTS is a government-managed/contractor-operated (GMCO) site and is dependent upon its associated support contractors for operations and maintenance (O&M). Program funds contractors to accomplish O&M for both the RTS instrumentation suite and installation/base operations and provides mission essential bandwidth via a fiber optics cable system. Funding is required to maintain O&M support, while accepting moderate risk of continued degradation of USAKA/RTS infrastructure (housing, offices, and facilities), higher future repair costs, and reduced logistical support capability. The instrumentation suite consists of a number of sophisticated, one-of-a-kind, radar, optical, telemetry, command/control/communications, safety, and data reduction systems. These systems include the four unique radars of the Kiernan Reentry Measurement Site (KREMS); Super Recording Automatic Digital Optical Tracker (SRADOT) long range video-metric tracking systems; high density data recorders for high data-rate telemetry collected by nine antennas; an underwater acoustic impact location system; and data analysis/reduction hardware/software. The Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) Long-Range Tracking and Instrumentation Radar (ALTAIR), and the Target Resolution Discrimination Experiment (TRADEX) radars located at USAKA/RTS, are two of only three radars world-wide that have deep-space tracking capability. The Millimeter Wave Radar (MMW) is the most powerful imaging radar in the world. Funding enables weapon system assessment of operational effectiveness and suitability for the Army, Air Force, Navy and MDA, which all have programs planned that have significant test and data gathering requirements at USAKA/RTS. This test data cannot be obtained except through the use of technical facilities available on and in the vicinity of USAKA/RTS. Program supports Army's PATRIOT air defense system and the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon technology development program; Air Force's Minuteman III ICBM and the Space and Missile Center's associated programs; MDA's Ballistic Missile Defense System, Flexible Target Family (FTF), and Family of Systems; NASA's Space Transportation System (STS), Small Expendable Deployer System and Orbital Debris Measurement Programs.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2015
• Source ID: 0605301A_6_2040_PB_2015
• Service Agency Name: Army

Entities

Organizations

• United States Army

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Biomedical
• Cyber
• Human Systems
• Space
• Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Ballistic Missiles
• Civilian Personnel
• Contracts
• Defense Systems
• Disasters
• Emergency Response
• Employment
• Equal Employment Opportunity
• Families (Human)
• Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
• Military Personnel
• Space Debris
• Sustainment
• Systems Engineering
• Test And Evaluation
• Test Facilities
• United States Strategic Command

Readers

• Aerospace Engineering.
• Missile Defense Systems.

Technology Areas

• 5G
• 5G - DoD 5G Program
• Fully Networked C3
• Hypersonics
• Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flow
• Space
• Space - Space Objects