Missile Defense Agency fires Patriot missile from THAAD system

[Boats]

Missile Defense Agency fires Patriot missile from THAAD system
By: Jed Judson - Pentagon Defense News - 03-10-22
Re: https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon...reaking%20News

Photo link: https://www.defensenews.com/resizer/...5SZA4GGXPA.jpg
MDA has hit a milestone for integrating the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, shown, with the Patriot air and missile defense system, firing an advanced Patriot missile from THAAD. (Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Missile Defense Agency successfully launched the most advanced version of the Patriot missile from a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in a Feb. 24 test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Lockheed Martin told Defense News.

The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhanced — or PAC-3 MSE — was fired using the THAAD system against a simulated incoming target, Scott Arnold, vice president of integrated air and missile defense at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a March 9 statement.

Lockheed manufactures both the MSE and the THAAD system.

The PAC-3 MSE interceptor flew to the intercept point and subsequently self-destructed as planned, Arnold said.

The test proves PAC-3 MSE can be integrated directly into the THAAD weapon system, providing the capability to launch MSE missiles separately from a Patriot fire unit, Arnold said.

The Raytheon Technologies-made Patriot is the U.S. Army’s regional air and missile defense system. The service is working to replace the system with a new integrated air and missile defense system.

THAAD, which is operated by the Army but owned by MDA, provides defensive capability in the terminal — or final — phase of a threat missile’s flight.

“With this successful demonstration, the Patriot M903 Launching Stations and PAC-3 MSE interceptors can be deployed with the THAAD Weapon System using only the THAAD radar and TFCC (Fire Control & Communication) for support,” Arnold explained.

The ability to do this means the U.S. military now has a “critical multi-tier missile defense capability” with the ability to go up against both current and emerging threats, he said. Having upper-tier and lower-tier interceptors within one battery expands the battlespace, increases the area of defensive coverage and adds flexibility to combatant commanders in how they use the systems, he noted.

The Army and MDA have worked rapidly over the past several years to integrate THAAD and Patriot in response to an urgent operational need from the service on the Korean Peninsula, where there is a need for a defensive capability for maneuver forces.

Multiple tests were conducted to progressively integrate the systems. In a previous test, for example, the THAAD AN/TPY-2 radar detected and tracked a threat target missile and provided information to the Patriot system, which then launched a PAC-3 MSE to destroy the target.

The most recent test only required the need of the Patriot launcher and interceptors — and not its fire control system.

The integration effort uses some of the principles of decoupling launchers and radars so an operator, for instance, can use a THAAD radar — which can see farther than a Raytheon-made Patriot radar — but decide to engage a Patriot interceptor depending on the threat picture.

The ability to use the THAAD radar also gets more out of the PAC-3 MSE weapon fired from Patriot units, which outperforms the organic Patriot radar.

“We’re wrapping up that urgent operational need and we’ll get that out the door soon,” Vice Adm. Jon Hill, MDA director, said March 9 at the McAleese & Associates defense conference in Washington. “We’re pretty stoked about that.”

About this writer: Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts from Kenyon College.
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Personal note: in the 1950's I used to watch the Nike's pop up and down in the fields and praries. They would open their doors and the nikes would come out rotate life up and down and then go back into the ground. They were also buried around all of the industrial plants and steel mills. From 1953 to 1979 there were 300 Nike missle sites
in the US. States of the Hercules missile: it could travel 87 miles down range and at ~ 150,000' feet in altitude. It had great maneuverability and a speed of Mach 3.65 (2,707 miles per hour). It could be armed with either a high explosive or nuclear warhead. Nike was considered to be the most formidable of the Army's anti-aircraft weapons.

The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclear warhead, but could also be fitted with a conventional warhead for export use.

Just for the record: The D5 is the sixth in a series of missile generations deployed since the sea-based deterrent program began 60 years ago.
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UGM-133 Trident II.
UGM-133A Trident II
Maximum speed Approximately 18,030 mph (29,020 km/h) (Mach 24; 8,060 m/s) (terminal phase)

Currently the most powerful warheads in the US arsenal: The 83
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The B83 is a variable-yield thermonuclear gravity bomb developed by the United States in the late 1970s and entered service in 1983. With a maximum yield of 1.2 megatonnes of TNT (5.0 PJ), it has been the most powerful nuclear weapon in the United States nuclear arsenal since October 25, 2011.
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Here's one you may not remember:
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When did Russia almost nuked America?

On 26 September 1983, during the Cold War, the nuclear early-warning radar of the Soviet Union reported the launch of one intercontinental ballistic missile with four more missiles behind it, from bases in the United States.
(here's more on that subject below).
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On 26 September 1983, during the Cold War, the nuclear early-warning radar of the Soviet Union reported the launch of one intercontinental ballistic missile with four more missiles behind it, from bases in the United States. These missile attack warnings were suspected to be false alarms by Stanislav Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces on duty at the command center of the early-warning system. He decided to wait for corroborating evidence—of which none arrived—rather than immediately relaying the warning up the chain-of-command. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear attack against the United States and its NATO allies, which would likely have resulted in an escalation to a full-scale nuclear war. Investigation of the satellite warning system later determined that the system had indeed malfunctioned.
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History is such that records are kept if you know how search for them.
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