Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) has been tested.
The test was jointly conducted by U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Ballistic Missile Defense
System Operational Test Agency and U.S. Army soldiers of the E-62 Battery, 11th Air Defense
Artillery Brigade.
During the test a THAAD system located at U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll in the
Republic of the Marshall Islands was used.
The THAAD system was able to detect, track and interpret the dummy target.
This was the 16th successful intercept in 16 attempts for the THAAD system since 2005.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes successfully interception of missile by Terminal High Altitude
Area Defense (THAAD) Let’s get started.
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Terminal High Altitude Area Defense is a United States Army anti-ballistic missile system,
which is designed to shoot down short, medium, and intermediate range ballistic missiles
in their terminal phase.
The THAAD system is being designed, built, and integrated by Lockheed Martin Space Systems
acting as prime contractor.
Key subcontractors include Raytheon, Boeing, Aerojet, Honeywell, and BAE Systems to name
a few.
THAAD is strictly a ballistic missile defense system and is not designed for general air
defense duties like defense against aircraft.
It is considered to be one of the best when it comes to ballistic missile defense system
having been designed from grounds up for this purpose.
THAAD is engineered to defend against ballistic missiles in challenging scenarios like even
if the rival launches a barrage of missile and simultaneous interception of multiple
missile is required.
The system is quick to deploy and mobile, which makes it a very flexible weapon.
An important aspect is that it compatible with other systems like Patriot PAC-3 and
is designed to integrate into the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) of the U.S military.
The THAAD missile is manufactured at a Lockheed Martin facility near Troy, Alabama.
The facility performs final integration, assembly and testing of the THAAD missile.
THAAD system consists mainly of 3 components- radar, battle manager and missile launch battery.
The THAAD missiles are guided by the Raytheon Systems AN/TPY-2 ground-based radar (GBR).
It is developed and built by Raytheon at its Andover, Massachusetts Integrated Air Defense
Facility.
THAAD can also be cued by military satellites such as Brilliant Eyes.
The AN/TPY-2 Surveillance Transportable Radar, also called the Forward Based X-Band Transportable
(FBX-T) is a long-range, very high-altitude active electronically scanned array surveillance
radar.
It possess a range of 2,900 miles or 4,700 km.
It has two modes – one to detect ballistic missiles as they rise, and another that can
guide interceptors toward a descending warhead.
Since the radar uses X-band frequency and narrow beam widths it is good at isolating
smaller objects, such as a warhead vs. space debris.
The radar passes information related to the threat such as speed and trajectory to the
Battle Manager.
The Battle Manager is basically the brain fo the system and it extrapolates the information
received by it predict the path of the incoming missile and directs interceptors against it.
The interceptor missile is around 6 m in length and is equipped with a single stage solid
fuel rocket motor with thrust vectoring.
The missile has a speed of 8.24 Mach or 2.8 km/s.
The guidance system is Indium antimonide Imaging, coupled with Infra-Red Seeker Head.
It has an operational range of 200 km or around 125 miles and a flight altitude of 150 km
or 93 miles The missile has no explosives and uses 'Hit
to Kill' approach.
It has a Kinetic Kill Vehicle to knock out incoming missiles.
A THAAD battery can include up to 9 transporter-erector-launchers, each carrying 8 interceptors for immediate
launch.
There are supporting equipment which includes storage and reloading systems that will enable
refill of interceptors when the first batch is used up.
The test was planned in such a way that it replicates a battlefield situation as closely
as possible.
Soldiers from the E-62 Battery conducted radar operations, launcher and fire control operations
using the same procedure they would use during combat.
Simulating a real-world scenario, soldiers were unaware of the target-launch timing.
The AN/TPY-2 radar of THAAD detected, acquired and tracked the target.
The THAAD system then calculated the course of the incoming projectile and launched the
interceptor.
The interceptor missile was able to destroy the target.
The important aspect is that THAAD is now a fully distributed system, that is - the
radar , battle manager and the THAAD launcher are physically present in different location.
This is the first time THAAD was tested in this mode.
Richard McDaniel, vice president of Upper Tier Integrated Air and Missile Defense Systems
at Lockheed Martin said “The enhanced THAAD system performed flawlessly
in today’s test, and we are proud to support the Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Army as
they continue to demonstrate the system’s unmatched capabilities.This successful test
paves the way for delivery of an urgent need capability that will enhance THAAD’s emplacement
options resulting in greater asset protection.”
Said MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon A. Hill said, “The Missile Defense Agency is committed
to supporting the warfighter and we are proud of this success and the U.S. Army soldiers
who executed this flight test.
This test demonstrates the expanding capabilities of the THAAD weapon system and its ability
to intercept and destroy ballistic missile threats in defense of our nation, deployed
forces and allies.”
While initial indications show the test met its primary objective, program officials will
continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during
the test.
THAAD is a key element of the U.S Ballistic Missile Defense umbrella.
Recently THAAD was deployed to Israel as part of Dynamic Force Employment exercise.
The Dynamic Force Employment exercise is designed to evaluate the logistic & technical challenges
of transporting a system like THAAD to Israel, setting it up and integrating it with air
defenses of Israel Defense Force’s (IDF)
U.S. military’s latest Missile Defense Review, which was published by Pentagon in January
2019 has a mention of THAAD and called for enhancement in cooperation with regional allies,
such as Israel.
The Missile Defense review stated, “One of Iran’s primary tools of coercion
and force projection is its missile arsenal, which is characterized by increasing numbers,
as well as increases in accuracy, range, and lethality.”
The Missile Defense Review noted further, "The United States will sustain its strong
missile defense partnership with Israel, underpinned by a new U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU).
Taking advantage of various opportunities to conduct bilateral exercises …, the United
States and Israel continue to improve their capability to cooperate operationally to address
offensive missile threats in the region.”
Israel has lot of experience with air defense and the U.S could use those to enhance the
THAAD.
Like all systems, THAAD is not full proof.
The vulnerability and lethality analyses of the THAAD have been conducted by the U.S.
Army Research Laboratory (ARL).
The vulnerability assessment for the THAAD featured an evaluation of the effects of major
electromagnetic elements.
This included EM interference, EM radiation operations, EM radiation hazards, EM pulse,
electrostatic discharge, and lightning effects on components of the THAAD system.
Though the reports are classified, it is safe to assume that THAAD will see continued enhancements
to improve its capabilities.
Lockheed is pushing for funding for the development of an extended-range (ER) version of the THAAD
to counter maturing threats posed by hypersonic glide vehicles that adversaries may deploy,
namely the Chinese WU-14, to penetrate the gap between low- and high-altitude missile defenses.