Interceptor shield

Source: Missile Defense Agency

Press Release

September 26, 2005

Air Force Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced the successful completion today of an important exercise to test the Cobra Dane radar located at Shemya, Alaska (Aleutian Islands) and the fire control system for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The Ground-based Midcourse Defense is America’s deployed system to protect the country against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack. The Cobra Dane radar has been used for missile surveillance for nearly 30 years, and has been upgraded for use as missile defense radar.

The exercise involved the launch of a long-range ballistic missile from an Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft over international waters in the Pacific Ocean approximately 800 miles from Shemya Island. After the missile was dropped from the aircraft, a parachute deployed to stabilize and slow the missile. The missile’s first stage rocket motor then ignited, sending the missile downrange. The target missile’s flight was successfully tracked by the Cobra Dane radar, and the data obtained by Cobra Dane was then used to construct a Weapon Task Plan, or firing solution, that was fed into the systems fire control system manned by military “warfighters” in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Ft. Greely, Alaska, who currently operate the interceptor missile now deployed in Alaska and California, as well as the sensors and radars that provide operational detection and tracking information. The deployed interceptors provide for the first time a capability to defend all 50 states against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack.

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