U.S. Plans:  Broken Chip Connectors Caused December Test Failure

A faulty computer chip connection caused last December’s test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system to fail, U.S. Missile Defense Agency officials said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2002).

The exoatmospheric kill vehicle, built by Raytheon, failed to separate from its booster because it “didn’t get the proper signal to where it was going,” said agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish.

A “mechanical break” occurred in two “pins” that connect computer chips to a circuit board, Kadish said at a missile defense conference sponsored by the agency and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Defense officials have not yet determined why the pins broke, but the kill vehicle’s technology is sound and “there’s no reason to” consider changing it, he added.

Kadish also announced the establishment of an office to improve the agency’s quality control, which he said was the culprit in three failed midcourse defense test flights.

“There is no detail too small to worry about in this program,” Kadish said.

He also defended the White House proposal to bypass operational testing requirements to field the Ground-based Midcourse Defense and the Sea-based Midcourse Defense in 2004 (see GSN, Feb. 24).

“The best operational testing you can get is to have a system that people are using and improve it,” Kadish said (Marc Selinger, Aerospace Daily, March 4).

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Israel:  Reservists Called Up to Operate Patriot Missile Defense System

Israeli reserve soldiers are being called up to learn how to operate the second Patriot missile defense battery that Tel Aviv has received from Germany, Ha’aretz reported today (see GSN, Jan. 30).

Another Patriot battery from Germany is already up and running and U.S.-supplied Patriot batteries are being deployed around Tel Aviv today.

The Patriots are intended as a backup to the Arrow missile defense system (see GSN, Feb. 12).

Israeli defense officials are also worried about Syrian efforts to develop its Scud-D missiles, although there is no imminent sign of a confrontation between Syria and Israel, Ha’aretz reported (Amos Harel, Ha’aretz, March 4).

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U.S. Plans:  Airborne Laser System Is Overweight; Mission Expands Too

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency recently expanded the Airborne Laser’s requirements — the system must now be able to down intercontinental ballistic missiles — but the laser is already 5,000 pounds overweight and contractors have only produced six of 14 modules, Defense News reported today (see GSN, Jan. 6).

The system must weigh less than 175,000 pounds to be carried by a modified Boeing 747 cargo plane, but the first six components already weigh 180,000 pounds, U.S. officials said.

The system can still operate without the full complement of modules, but the laser beam would be weaker and the plane would need to fly closer to targets to be effective, according to Kumar Patel, a University of California physics professor.

Pentagon officials met Feb. 26 to discuss reducing the weight of the components, improving the laser’s optics and boosting the output of the existing components.

The weight issues would not affect the program’s survival, however.  “The promise of ABL in the larger context of U.S. strategic defense has, at this point, convinced everyone that it’s got to move ahead into fielding,” a senior Pentagon official said (Ratnam/Kaufman, Defense News, March 3).

Northrop Grumman’s Space Technology sector, meanwhile, delivered the Beacon Illuminator Laser to the Airborne Laser project.  The newly delivered component is designed to measure atmospheric changes that could throw off the Airborne Laser’s beam (Space & Missile, March 3).

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United States:  Court Dismisses TRW Case, Citing Classified Documents

A U.S. District Court in Los Angeles dismissed a lawsuit against a missile defense contractor yesterday after U.S. attorneys said that documents requested by the defendant could threaten national security (see GSN, Jan. 2).

The federal government had in effect replaced the lawsuit’s original plaintiff when the contractor said it would need access to classified documents.

Nina Schwartz, a former senior engineer for defense contractor TRW, initiated the lawsuit against her former employer seven years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported.  Schwartz alleged that TRW falsely claimed that a 1996 missile defense test demonstrated that TRW’s equipment could differentiate enemy warheads from decoys or debris, the Times reported.

The former engineer brought the lawsuit under the False Claims Act, which allows citizens to sue government contractors on Washington’s behalf.  The United States may join the plaintiff at any point in a False Claims Act lawsuit, but U.S. officials declined to do so in 1996.

Schwartz pursued the case on her own, and in November 2002, the court granted TRW an order directing the United States to provide documents that U.S. officials said were classified, the Times reported.  At that point the United States joined the lawsuit and U.S. lawyers, acting as the plaintiff, cited the classified documents and sought to dismiss the case.

Schwartz said she would appeal the ruling and her lawyer, Joseph Barrera, said U.S. officials had colluded with TRW “to cover up their own problems.”

“The whole thing is a travesty,” said Stephen Young, a senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a lobbying group that has been supporting Schwartz.

Schwartz has companion whistle-blower and wrongful-termination lawsuits pending in federal courts, according to Barrera.

“They say it will endanger national security, but I say that if this doesn’t go to trial the national security will be in danger,” Schwartz said.

The company was “gratified” with the ruling, according to a TRW spokeswoman.

“TRW always maintained the case is without merit, but agreed with the government’s position that it could not be tried without the use of classified information,” she said (John O’Dell, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 25).

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U.S. Plans:  Pentagon Seeks to Improve Cruise Missile Defense Training

U.S defense officials are examining new systems to help improve cruise missile defense training, including improved simulations and the use of more realistic targets, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported this week (see GSN, Oct. 4, 2002).

The Pentagon’s Joint Cruise Missile Defense Joint Test and Evaluation program, which ends in mid-2005, is examining two options for improved training:  new cruise missile defense simulations to assess gaps in defenses and a “Remote Operations Center,” which would include more realistic targets that could be deployed at training ranges, Jane’s reported.

The improved simulation capability is being established at Boeing’s Virtual Warfare Center in St. Louis, which will store threat and scenario information, said program Technical Director Geri Lentz.  Program officials are also seeking to establish a network of regional nodes throughout the country where air defense operators can train, according to Jane’s.

The Remote Operations Center is a set of software that will help augment testing range equipment and analyze cruise missile defense exercises, Jane’s reported.  The center will also use the Small Manned Aerial Radar Target Model-1 to simulate cruise missiles during exercises.  The piloted SMART-1 allows for more realism because range safety concerns hamper the use of drones, said U.S. Air Force Col. Bill Holway, director of the project.  The SMART-1, however, can be flown in a manner to both address safety concerns and to simulate cruise missile trajectories when needed, he said.

The Pentagon program plans to use the Remote Operations Center during the Roving Sands 2003 air-defense exercise, scheduled for June at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico (Michael Sirak, Jane’s Defense Weekly, Feb. 26).

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Jordan:  A “Few Hundred” U.S. Troops to Staff Patriot Batteries

The United States will send a “few hundred” troops to Jordan to help operate three Patriot missile interceptor batteries deployed there, Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 6).

“A few hundred American troops will man the Patriot batteries which are destined to protect Jordanian airspace against any missiles that could be fired over Jordan from any direction,” Ragheb said in an interview obtained by Agence France-Presse.

Jordan received the three Patriot batteries from the United States on Feb. 6 to help improve the country’s defenses in advance of potential military action against Iraq, a diplomat said.  The Jordanian Army will deploy the batteries around the capital Amman and the city of Irbid, about 80 kilometers north of Amman, the diplomat said (Agence France-Presse/Jordan Times, Feb. 25).

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U.S. Plans:  Pentagon Testing Official Says Missile Defense Not Ready

In a report sent to Congress this month, the Pentagon’s top weapons testing official said the national missile defense system that the White House plans to deploy in 2004 “has yet to demonstrate significant operational capability” (see GSN, May 6, 2002).

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system is still in its early stages and suffers “from a lack of production-representative test articles and test infrastructure limitations,” according to Thomas Christie, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation.

The report says that the testing limitations are a result of the Missile Defense Agency’s slow and cautious pace.

“The GMD program is taking a slower, more deliberate approach to testing to reduce both testing and program risk,” Christie said.

The report agrees with the Missile Defense Agency’s decision to stop intercept testing until an operational booster is developed, Inside Missile Defense reported.

Christie said the missile defense test bed, being built in Alaska, will answer some but not all questions about the program.

“Currently the planned test bed infrastructure for block 2004 includes hardware and software components that are in active development,” the report says.  “As the test bed matures and capabilities are demonstrated, an inherent defensive capability will develop.  However, it will be very difficult to estimate operational availability or performance in real engagement conditions.  This is a test bed, first and foremost,” the report adds (Thomas Duffy, Inside Missile Defense, Feb. 19).

Testing Waiver Sought

The Pentagon is currently seeking a waiver to exempt the missile defense system from standard testing requirements (see GSN, Feb. 14), a move that has raised concern from lawmakers and experts who recalled Pentagon efforts last year to reduce the information it provides to Congress on missile defense programs (see GSN, Aug. 9, 2002).

“The moves last year were just about reporting requirements.  This is different,” said Philip Coyle, director of operational testing and evaluation for the Defense Department from 1994 to 2001.  “This is about obeying the law.  Without these tests, we may never know whether this system works or not, and if they are done after this system is deployed, we won’t know until we’ve spent $70 billion on a Ground-based Missile Defense system,” he added.

Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Carl Levin (Mich.) and Jack Reed (R.I.) have voiced their concerns with the proposed waiver.

“I believe that any deployed missile defense system must meet the same requirements and standards that we set for all other fully operational weapons systems.  Indeed, given the potential cost of a failure of missile defense, I believe that, if anything, it should be required to meet more stringent test standards than normally required,” Feinstein wrote in a letter to Rumsfeld Wednesday (Esther Schrader, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 24).

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Japan:  Tokyo to Deploy Missile Detection Satellites

A Japanese newspaper has reported that Japan is set to launch its first pair of intelligence satellites by the end of next month, the Chicago Tribune reported today (see GSN, Nov. 12, 2002).  Japan is scheduled to launch the two spy satellites March 28 and they will provide the country with a missile launch-detection capability, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Chicago Tribune, Feb. 23).  Currently, Japan is dependent on U.S. and French commercial satellites for intelligence information on objects such as North Korean missile launch pads, according to Agence France-Presse.

The first pair of spy satellites will also be equipped with optical sensors able to identify objects one-meter long, AFP reported.  Japan is also scheduled to launch three additional pairs of spy satellites by March 2007 (Agence-France Presse, Feb. 21).

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