Satellites Track Two-Stage Interceptor In Missile Defense Test

File image. by Staff Writers Vandenberg Air Force Base CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2010 The Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Demonstration satellites, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation and Raytheon Company, successfully detected and tracked a two-stage Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) during a U.S. Missile Defense Agency flight test on June 6, 2010. Tracking data generated by the satellite sensors were transmitted to the Missile Defense Integration and Operation Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., which serves as the ground station for the two demonstration spacecraft. "The STSS satellites operated as expected and the system generated high-quality track data during the boost phase in this first missile test of capabilities," said Gabe Watson, vice president, missile defense and missile warning programs for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "The STSS system is on its way to proving the value of space-based sensors for missile defense by demonstrating the ability to detect and track missiles throughout their entire flight trajectory." The missile tracking capability being demonstrated by the STSS Demonstration program will mature technologies and concepts of operation for an operational constellation. The operational constellation will be designed to enable earlier intercepts of threat missiles in flight and to significantly improve the nation's missile defense capabilities for our homeland, deployed forces, friends and allies. _-SPACE STORY-- abm slug1 170 24-DEC-49 BAE Seeker Performs In Detecting Complex Target In Latest THAAD Test BAE Seeker Performs In Detecting Complex Target In Latest THAAD Test thaad-launch-test-300-lg.jpg thaad-launch-test-300-bg.jpg thaad-launch-test-300-sm.jpg File image. BAE Systems by Staff Writers Kauai HI (SPX) Jul 14, 2010 A BAE Systems seeker detected and destroyed a unitary target performing the lowest endo-atmospheric intercept to date for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon system flight test program on June 28 at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. The test, conducted by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Lockheed Martin, the THAAD prime contractor and systems integrator verified the interceptor and other system components capability to detect and to intercept a unitary Short Range Ballistic Missile. The test also demonstrated the seeker's ability to perform target acquisition and track-and-aim point selection by the interceptor's seeker and its avionics flight software. "This was the THAAD interceptor's lowest endo intercept to date," said Joe Colosimo, chief engineer for BAE Systems in Nashua, New Hampshire, where the THAAD seeker is built. "As the flight test program continues, the scenarios become more complex requiring our technology to perform on targets that will become more challenging to detect and hit." THAAD is designed to defend U.S.troops, allied forces, population centers and critical infrastructure against short to possibly intermediate-range ballistic missiles. BAE Systems worked on missile defense seekers since the late 1970s and achieved the first hit-to-kill intercept of a ballistic-missile target in 1984.