ballistic missile defense

Defense Primer: Ballistic Missile Defense

The following is the Nov. 23, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, Defense Primer: Ballistic Missile Defense.

From the report

The United States has been developing and deploying ballistic missile defenses (BMD) to defend against enemy missiles continuously since the late 1940s. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United States deployed a limited nuclear-tipped BMD system to protect a portion of its U.S. land-based nuclear ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) force in order to...

https://news.usni.org/2022/11/24/defense-primer-ballistic-missile-defense

New Navy Surface Warfare Vision: The Competitive Edge

The following is the Jan. 11, 2022 U.S. Navy surface warfare vision, Surface Warfare: The Competitive Edge.

From the report

Global competition with China and renewed tension with Russia are the main strategic drivers for Navy planners. We are competing with first-rate navies—and other joint sea denial capabilities—whose reach extends far beyond territorial seas. China provides the pacing threat. We focus our discussion in this document on China while being mindful of the unique and considerable...

https://news.usni.org/2022/01/11/new-navy-surface-warfare-vision-the-competitive-edge

MDA, NORTHCOM Heads Warn Funding Lapses Could Leave Missile Defense Gaps  

A target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii during Flight Test Standard Missile-45. The USS JOHN FINN (DDG-113) detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target. Missile Defense Agency photo

The head of the Missile Defense Agency warned the House that a continuing...

https://news.usni.org/2021/06/16/mda-northcom-heads-warn-funding-lapses-could-leave-missile-defense-gaps

MDA: U.S. Aircraft Carriers Now at Risk from Hypersonic Missiles

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) sails behind the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57), March 3, 2021. US Navy photo.

U.S. aircraft carriers are already facing risks from hypersonic weapons that are now entering the inventory of American adversaries and the Navy has developed early defenses for the threat, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said last week before the Senate.

“It’s important that we have that capability now...

https://news.usni.org/2021/06/14/mda-u-s-aircraft-carriers-now-at-risk-from-hypersonic-missiles

VIDEO: MDA, Navy Down ICBM with Destroyer-Launched Missile Interceptor

A SM-3 Block IIA is launched from the USS John Finn, an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System-equipped destroyer, Nov. 16, 2020, as part of Flight Test Aegis Weapons System-44 (FTM-44). MDA Photo

The Navy and the Missile Defense Agency proved that an Aegis ballistic missile defense ship could effectively take down an intercontinental ballistic missile and serve as a backup to a ground-based homeland defense interceptor, the MDA announced on Tuesday.

FTM-44, mandated by Congress, pitted an ICBM...

https://news.usni.org/2020/11/17/video-mda-navy-down-icbm-with-destroyer-launched-missile-interceptor

MDA Head: Homeland Missile Defense Effort Needs Enhanced Network

A SM-6 Dual I fired from USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) during a Dec. 14, 2016 MDA BMD test. MDA Photo

To get to a layered, in-depth homeland missile defense system developing key networking and communications links between ballistic missile defense ships and at-shore installations is crucial, the head of the Missile Defense Agency said this week.

A layered BMD network is necessary to deter great powers like Russia and China, and regional challengers like North Korea, Vice Adm. John Hill, director...

https://news.usni.org/2020/08/20/mda-head-homeland-missile-defense-effort-needs-enhanced-network

MDA to Use Destroyer USS John Finn for Defense-of-Hawaii Missile Intercept Test

A target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii during Flight Test Standard Missile-45. USS John Finn (DDG-113) detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target. Missile Defense Agency Photo

The Missile Defense Agency is nearing its planned defense-of-Hawaii test event...

https://news.usni.org/2020/08/05/mda-to-use-destroyer-uss-john-finn-for-defense-of-hawaii-missile-intercept-test

VIDEO: U.S. Tests First Post-INF, Ground-Based Cruise Missile

The Defense Department conducted a flight test of a conventionally configured ground-launched cruise missile at San Nicolas Island, Calif. on Aug. 18, 2019. DoD Photo

Over the weekend, the U.S. military fired what appears to be Tomahawk Block IV missile with a range of more than 500 kilometers, likely the first such test of an American missile previously banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

The Pentagon did not release many details about the test, other than it occurred...

https://news.usni.org/2019/08/19/video-u-s-tests-first-post-inf-ground-based-cruise-missile

Russians Use U.S. Navy’s Aegis Ashore as Excuse to Deploy Strategic Bombers to Crimea

A Tupolev Tu-22M3 strategic bomber in 2016.
Photo by Dmitry Terekhov via wikipedia

Russian defense officials say they are deploying “squadrons” of Tupolev Tu-22M3 Backfire bombers as a counter to U.S. Navy Aegis Ashore missile defense installations in Poland and Romania, according to a report in Russian state-controlled media on Monday.

In comments made to the TASS news agency, Russian lawmaker Viktor Bondarev said Russia was sending the bombers to the Gvardeyskoye airbase in Crimea in a move to...

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/18/russians-use-u-s-navys-aegis-ashore-excuse-deploy-strategic-bombers-crimea

President Trump Rolls Out New Missile Defense Plan

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An SM-3 Block 1B interceptor is launched from the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70) during a Missile Defense Agency test and successfully intercepted a complex short-range ballistic missile target off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. DoD

President Donald Trump said his expanded, space-based missile defense program’s goal is to detect and destroy any incoming missile fired by “hostile powers or by mistake” at the United States or its allies.

Speaking at the Pentagon...

https://news.usni.org/2019/01/17/president-trump-rolls-new-missile-defense-plan

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