-Caveat Lector- THAAD Hit May Portend Acceleration into Emd by Frank Wolfe Defense Daily 03-AUG-99 Aug. 03, 1999 (DEFENSE DAILY, Vol. 203, No. 23 via COMTEX) -- Yesterday's successful exo-atmospheric intercept of a Hera target by the Army's Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile may accelerate the missile's entrance into Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD). The program is now in program definition and risk reduction to prove the intended "hit to kill" technology. Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the THAAD prime contractor. Currently, THAAD must achieve three intercepts before a decision is made on EMD. Asked yesterday whether THAAD's two intercepts will cause the Pentagon to re-evaluate its "leader-follower" strategy for THAAD and Navy Theater Wide (NTW), Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), replied, "We are always rethinking that strategy." "Our architecture requires that we have both a maritime component and a ground based component and they contribute different things to the warfighting mix," he said. "We'd like to sustain that as much as we can. But the technological challenges here are difficult. What we want to do is move programs that are able to perform as quickly as possible into development." Thomas Corcoran, president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Space & Strategic Missiles sector, said yesterday's THAAD intercept was a critical accomplishment in moving toward EMD and fielding THAAD. Asked whether the intercept means that THAAD can go into EMD before another intercept is achieved, Corcoran replied, "We're going to be working with our customer on that point." "If we're not there, we're very close to being able to go into EMD," he said, given THAAD's two successful intercepts and the near miss of a third THAAD missile in a recent test. "Today's probably one of the watershed events in the technological history of our country because for the second time we basically hit a bullet with a bullet--in outer space," Kadish told reporters at a Pentagon press conference yesterday. "It was a very challenging test." "We were able to discriminate a 13-foot-long reentry vehicle and hit it. It was a complex series of interactions that allowed this to happen, " he said. About 500 seconds after the Hera target was launched yesterday morning at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., THAAD intercepted it more than 50 miles above the earth. The target "flew a conventional ballistic trajectory with a range of 127 miles and an apogee of 282 kilometers," Army Space and Missile Defense Command said yesterday in a statement. "Preliminary data indicates all objectives were achieved." Both Kadish and Army Lt. Gen. Paul Kern, the military deputy to the Army's acquisition chief, said the system's radar, battle management, missile and operators worked seamlessly in yesterday's test. Kern said that THAAD's "direct, clean hit" yesterday was made especially challenging because the re-entry vehicle was cold due to the exo-atmospheric temperatures. Copyright Phillips Publishing, Inc. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
