Role of Terminal Defenses in Strategic Defense

Abstract

Terminal interceptors can use the atmosphere for discrimination. They also have disadvantages in development, cost, saturation, and susceptibility to preferential attacks. Terminal could be preferred for higher midcourse costs or decoys. Their main limitation is battlespace. It is possible to integrate boost- and terminal-phase defenses by reducing the number of reentry vehicles penetrating the boost phase to the roughly one per target terminal defenses could handle. Terminal defenses could offset boost-phase defenses' lack of preferentiality and midcourse defenses' sensitivity to decoys.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1991
Accession Number
ADA344990

Entities

People

  • Gregory H. Canavan

Organizations

  • Los Alamos National Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Attrition
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Battlespace
  • Boost Phase
  • California
  • Composite Materials
  • Constellations
  • Cost Effectiveness
  • Costs
  • Discrimination
  • Governments
  • Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  • Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles
  • Terminal Defense
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • Weapons

Readers

  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Missile Defense Systems.