/Pogled.info/ Washington began the next stage of the modernization of the anti-missile defense system covering the continental part of the country. Corporations “Northrop Grumman” and “Lockheed Martin” completed the design of prototypes of a prospective interceptor missile. The Pentagon assures that it will be able to shoot down modern Russian and Chinese intercontinental ballistic missiles. How will this affect the geopolitical situation?
Protection from Vanguard
The new anti-missiles should enter combat duty in the mid-2020s and eventually form the core of the air defense system. The Pentagon decided to rearm, suspecting that Russia’s and China’s intercontinental ballistic missiles were too robust for existing interceptors.
The NGI (Next Generation Interceptor) program began last April when the Missile Defense Agency asked industry for options. It took $4.9 billion and five years to develop and create the product. Along with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, Boeing also participated in the competition, but the Pentagon was not interested in its proposals.
The appearance of the prospective interceptor missile and its technical characteristics are still a closely guarded secret. However, the Pentagon has repeatedly emphasized that the national missile defense system must be able to intercept the most advanced warheads, including hypersonic ones. It is likely that NGI will be “exiled” primarily against the latest Russian Avangard missile systems.
It is not clear how exactly the Americans will intercept a maneuvering warhead. The main difference between an anti-missile and an anti-aircraft missile is that it is aimed at a proactive point where the target will be located after a certain time. Since the trajectory of the Avangard warhead is extremely unpredictable, foreign designers will have to come up with something very unusual.
Today, an effective ABM system against an enemy with comparable scientific-technical and economic potential is impossible. Much more reliable is the strategy of deterrence through the threat of retaliatory ballistic missiles. However, it cannot be said that developing the prospect interceptor was a waste of money. This allows to discover new technologies and technical solutions that will be useful in the future.
They took down half of them
The main component of the US national missile defense system is about 60 land-based missiles located in Alaska and California. They are able to intercept ballistic targets in the middle part of the trajectory. Target guidance is provided by the early warning and tracking radar system, and the missiles and their warheads are struck on a collision course. The warhead is kinetic, destroying the target with a head-on collision. However, the tests showed their low efficiency – they shot down only half of the training missiles.
The Americans have repeatedly tried to improve the continental missile defense system. We explored the possibility of installing interceptor missiles with multiple warheads. It didn’t pay off.
In the middle of the last decade, a program was launched to create a new warhead for interceptor missiles to replace the existing kinetic transatmospheric ones. They released $5.8 billion. Raytheon, Boeing and Lochkeid Martin were supposed to complete development by 2025, but in August 2020 the Missile Defense Agency canceled the contract. According to US media, the cause was “problems with the product’s construction”.
Then the Pentagon announced that it would no longer invest in upgrading the current platform, but needed a fundamentally new interceptor. Meanwhile, until the promising technology is accepted into service, Washington intends to strengthen the ABM system on the mainland of the country with other forces and means.
The Russian answer
It is primarily about ships with the combat information and control system “Aegis” and the family of anti-missile defense systems “Standard”. Now most of them work in the Pacific Ocean. The concept of an updated multilayer missile defense system suggests that some of the Arleigh Burke destroyers and Ticonderoga cruisers will be permanently on duty off the American coast.
The problem is that the Standard family of interceptor missiles are designed to destroy short- and medium-range missiles and are not actually capable of intercepting intercontinental ballistic targets. The Missile Defense Agency notes that the success of the new concept largely depends on testing the latest modification of the interceptor. During test launches in 2020, it shot down a target simulating an ICBM warhead in the Hawaiian Islands.
In addition, they do not rule out placing a land-based version of Aegis in the US, specifically in the Hawaiian Islands. The Americans deployed elements of similar complexes in Poland and Romania. They planned to put them in Japan as well, but Tokyo refused.
Another layer of the national missile defense will be the THAAD ground-based short-range missile defense systems, located in particular in South Korea and Guam. THAAD is supposed to drop warheads on the final part of the trajectory. It is not known exactly how many of these complexes will be needed to cover the US.
The Americans are just starting to create a new missile defense system, while in Russia similar work is going on in full force. The Ministry of Defense has already conducted 11 successful launches of the advanced missile from the A-235 Nudol complex at the Sary-Shagan range in Kazakhstan. Unlike the current A-135 system, which covers Moscow and the central industrial area, Nudol is mobile. That is, it can be placed anywhere in the country.
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 an altitude of over 200 kilometers. The tactical and technical characteristics of this air defense system and information on the number of complexes on combat duty are strictly secret. However, according to the military, the S-500 has shown high effectiveness against all types of targets during trials.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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2024-02-09 05:18:27
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