The design of a promising missile defense system has been completed in the USA
MOSCOW, Feb 8 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. Washington has launched the next stage of modernization of the missile defense system covering the continental part of the country. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin Corporations have completed the design of samples of a promising interceptor. The Pentagon assures that it will be able to shoot down modern Russian and Chinese intercontinental ballistic missiles on opposite courses. How this will affect the geopolitical situation is in the RIA Novosti article.
Protection from the "Avant-garde"
The new anti-missiles should be on combat duty in the mid-2020s and eventually form the core of the missile defense system. The Pentagon decided to rearm, doubting that the ICBMs of Russia and China are in the teeth of existing interceptors. First of all, we are talking about the marching section of the flight (Ground-Based Midcourse Defense — GMD).
Tests of the US ground-based missile defense system
Image source: © Flickr / U.S. Missile Defense Agency
The NGI (Next-Generation Interceptor — Next-Generation interceptor) program started in April last year, when the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) asked the industry for options for relevant projects. 4.9 billion dollars and five years were allocated for the development and creation of the product. Together with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, Boeing, the manufacturer of GMD anti-missile systems, participated in the competition, but the Pentagon was not interested in its proposals.
The appearance of a promising anti-missile and tactical and technical characteristics are still a mystery. However, the Pentagon has repeatedly stressed that the national missile defense system should be able to intercept the most modern combat units, including hypersonic ones. NGI is likely to be "sharpened" primarily against the latest Russian Avangard missile systems.
The launch of the latest Avangard rocket. Screenshot of the video provided by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
It is unclear exactly how the Americans are going to intercept the maneuvering combat unit. The key difference between a missile defense system and an anti-aircraft missile is that it is aimed at a preemptive point at which the target will appear after a certain time. Since the trajectory of the Avangard combat unit is extremely unpredictable, overseas designers will have to come up with something very non-trivial.
Today, an effective missile defense system to protect against an enemy with comparable scientific, technical and economic potentials is impossible. The strategy of deterrence by the threat of a retaliatory or counter-ballistic missile strike is much more reliable. However, it cannot be said that the development of a promising interceptor is a waste of money. This allows us to reach new technologies and technical solutions that will be useful in the future.
They shot down half of them
The main component of the US national missile defense system is about 60 ground—based GMD missiles deployed in Alaska and California. They are capable of intercepting ballistic targets in the marching section of the trajectory. The target designation is issued by the early warning and tracking radar system, the defeat of missiles and their combat units is on a collision course. The warhead is kinetic, destroying the target with a frontal collision. However, tests revealed their low efficiency — only half of the training missiles were shot down.
The Americans have repeatedly tried to improve the continental missile defense system. We were working on the option of installing a separable warhead (Multi-Object Kill Vehicle — MOKV) on anti-missiles. It didn't pay off.
In the middle of the last decade, the Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV) program was launched to create a new warhead for anti-missiles to replace the existing kinetic transatmospheric interceptors. We allocated $5.8 billion. The Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin concerns were supposed to complete the development by 2025, but in August 2020, the missile defense agency canceled the contract. According to the American media, the reason is "structural problems of the product."
It was then that the Pentagon announced that they were no longer going to invest in upgrading the GMD platform, they needed a fundamentally new interceptor. And while promising equipment will not be put into service, Washington intends to strengthen the missile defense of the continental part of the country at the expense of other forces and means.
The Russian response
We are talking primarily about ships with the Aegis combat information and control system and the Standard family of anti-missiles. Now most of these pennants are operating in the Pacific Ocean. The concept of the updated multi-layered missile defense assumes that some of the Arleigh Burke destroyers and Ticonderoga cruisers will be constantly on duty off the American coast.
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer from URO
Image source: © Photo : U.S. Navy
The problem is that the Standard family of anti-missiles are designed to destroy short- and medium-range missiles and are actually unable to intercept intercontinental ballistic targets. The missile defense agency notes that the success of the new concept largely depends on testing the latest modification of the Standard SM-3 Block IIA interceptor. During test launches in 2020, he shot down a target simulating an ICBM warhead in the Hawaiian Islands.
In addition, they do not exclude the deployment of a land—based version of Aegis — Aegis Ashore - on the territory of the United States, in particular in Hawaii. The Americans deployed elements of such complexes in Poland and Romania. They were going to Japan, but Tokyo refused.
Another layer of the national missile defense system will be the THAAD short-range ground-based anti-missile systems deployed, in particular, in South Korea and Guam. It is assumed that THAAD will shoot down combat units in the final section of the trajectory. It is not reported exactly how many of these complexes will be needed to cover the United States.
The Americans are just starting to create a new missile defense system, and in Russia such work is in full swing. The Ministry of Defense has already conducted 11 successful launches of the promising A-235 Nudol missile complex at the Sary-Shagan test site in Kazakhstan. Unlike the current A-135 system, which covers Moscow and the central industrial district, Nudol is mobile. That is, it can be placed anywhere in the country.
The test launch of a new upgraded missile of the Russian missile defense system at the Sary-Shagan test site. Screenshot of the video published by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
In addition, the S-500 anti-aircraft missile system has already been adopted, capable of intercepting both high-speed aerodynamic and ballistic targets in dense layers of the atmosphere, as well as objects at altitudes of more than 200 kilometers. The tactical and technical characteristics of this air defense system, information about the number of complexes on combat duty are top secret. However, according to the military, the S-500 has demonstrated high effectiveness against all types of targets during tests.