The Insider

The Missile Defense Agency this morning released a statement giving more details on this month's failed Airborne Laser Test Bed intercept attempt. In a nutshell, it didn't aim where it was supposed to:

On Sept 1, 2010, the Missile Defense Agency executed the Flight Experiment Laser (FEL-01b) mission at the Point Mugu flight test range off the Southern California coast. The objective of this mission was for the Agency's Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) to destroy a liquid-fuel, short-range ballistic missile during its boost phase. During the mission the Boeing 747 flying laser laboratory detected and tracked the target. However, the experiment terminated early when corrupted beam control software steered the high energy laser slightly off center.

While we continue analyzing the failure, preliminary indications are that a communication software error within the system that controls the laser beam caused misalignment of the beam. The ALTB safety system detected this shift and immediately shut down the high energy laser.

The Agency plans to resume flight experiments beginning with tests of the software repair on September 13 leading to a lethal shootdown experiment involving a solid-fuel target missile by the end of this month. A mid-October experiment is in the planning stages that will involve lasing a solid-fuel missile at three times the range of last February’s successful destruction of a liquid-fuel missile.

The test was the fourth attempt in recent weeks, with each try being delayed due to software or hardware issues with either the ALTB system or its target missile. As Inside the Pentagon reported yesterday:

The fourth intercept attempt was pushed back because of problems with the system's tracking laser, according to an Aug. 24 agency statement. In February, the ALTB program intercepted a missile at a distance greater than 50 miles.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended keeping the program in a research and development status because of its high cost and questionable operational concept. When the Obama administration's fiscal year 2011 defense budget was unveiled in February, Pentagon officials announced that the former Airborne Laser program was being transferred to the office of the director of defense research and engineering (DDR&E) and being renamed the ALTB.

During an Aug. 19 breakfast with reporters, Zachary Lemnios, the DDR&E, said his office views the Airborne Laser Test Bed as just that -- a test bed.

"We're looking at using that platform to validate other high-powered laser concepts," Lemnios said. "We have a number of projects underway at the energy labs and also funded through DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] and funded through the Air Force to look at high-powered solid state lasers that would offer similar performance as the enormous coil laser" that's on the Airborne Laser Test Bed.

The Pentagon's latest report on stability and security in Iraq paints a fairly bleak picture of the Iraqi government's internal security apparatus.

The June 2010 report, released yesterday, does state that Iraq's security forces overall "are functioning well as a counterinsurgency (COIN) force. They are striving to reach a Minimum Essential Capability (MEC) by the time U.S. Forces redeploy at the end of December 2011. MEC means that the Iraqi Security ministries, institutions, and forces can provide internal security and possess foundational capabilities to defend against external threats."

However, Iraq's nascent Interior Ministry (MoI) is having some growing pains, according to the report:

In order to achieve MEC, the MoI must develop a self-reliant ministry by the end of 2011; a ministry with sustainable and enduring systems, staffed with professional and capable leadership that enables the manning, training, and equipping of interior forces. The MoI continues to make slow, uneven progress in developing the ministerial capacity to provide oversight, training, professional development, facilities, and resourcing for Iraqi internal security forces. The MoI is progressing toward MEC by December 31, 2011, but the ministry is currently experiencing challenges in the areas of C2, interoperability, resource and acquisition management, and operational sustainment.

The report paints a more positive outlook for Iraq's Defense Ministry (MoD), however:

With the exception of logistics and sustainment, the MoD is currently on track to achieve its MEC objectives to provide oversight of the Iraqi armed forces prior to U.S. Forces withdrawal in December 2011. In addition to logistics and sustainment, the current MoD challenges are in the areas of planning and budgeting, procurement, and information technology. As the ground force nears completion, lack of a sustainment funding plan and the presence of a highly centralized decision-making process inhibit MoD force improvements.

The Missile Defense Agency has identified $1.4 billion in the Pentagon's six-year budget plan for the Next Generation Aegis Missile (NGAM) program.

In answers to questions submitted to MDA after a July 29 industry day with agency Director Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, which were recently posted on Federal Business Opportunities, MDA writes:

The $1.4B figure that LTG O'Reilly mentioned was referring to the funding within MDA's POM12 budget for the Product Development Phase (covering years FY12-16.) The number is a requested amount. No funds for FY-12 have been appropriated yet.

MDA anticipates contract awards for the NGAM program "in the second quarter of FY-11," the document states. When asked about the "technology maturation contact awards time line vs. the concept definition time line," MDA responds: "We intend to award additional technology maturation contracts in FY-11."

As to a question about the "funding stream," the agency answers: "The planning profile for this effort includes approximately $130 million between the years of FY11-13. The profile is notional and may change. It is roughly linear." However, the next question asks whether there is $45 million available "per year or total" for the concept definition and technology development phase, to which MDA responds: "The planning profile for this effort includes $135 million between the years of FY11-13. The profile is notional and may change."

In response to a question about the agency's focus on countering intercontinental ballistic missile threats and whether "longer-range" short-range ballistic missiles and medium-range ballistic missiles "should be in the trade space," MDA writes: "The priority is to maximize performance against ICBMs. But, the Government is also interested in the performance gain and loss trades between threat classes."

As to whether industry should "consider the inventory and consider the fact that other interceptors can handle the shorter-range threats," MDA states: "The allocation and use of a mixed missile inventory will not be part of this contract."

When asked whether the agency is looking for a "new or modified" kill vehicle, MDA responds: "The Kill vehicle configuration is part of the trade space."

MDA expects all the missile components to have "at least" a Technology Readiness Level 5 "at the start of product development," according to the document.

Northrop Grumman recently demonstrated a sensor for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that could be used to detect boosting ballistic missiles, according to a company statement released today.

The AN/AAQ-37 Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (DAS) "successfully detected and tracked a two-stage rocket launch at a distance exceeding 800 miles during a routine flight test conducted aboard the company's BAC 1-11 test bed aircraft," the statement reads. Further:

"The DAS could fill critical capability gaps in the area of ballistic missile defense (BMD)," said Dave Bouchard, program director for F-35 sensors at Northrop Grumman. "We have only scratched the surface on the number of functions the F-35's DAS is capable of providing. With DAS, we've combined instantaneous 360-degree spherical coverage, high frame refresh rates, high resolution, high sensitivity powerful processors and advanced algorithms into a single system. The number of possibilities is endless."

An operational DAS system is comprised of multiple DAS sensors whose images are fused together to create one seamless picture. DAS successfully detected and tracked the rocket during a nine minute, two-stage, flight period from horizon break until final burnout through multiple sensor fields of regard. Unlike other sensors, DAS picks up targets without assistance from an external cue. Because DAS is passive, an operator does not have to point the sensor in the direction of a target to gain a track.

"The DAS software architecture already includes missile detection and tracking algorithms that can be applied to the BMD mission," Bouchard added. "The results of the flight test were extraordinary. We found that the data gathered during this flight validated our performance predictions. In fact, we knew we could have seen the rocket at a longer distance."

The AN/AAQ-37 DAS is a high resolution omni-directional infrared sensor system that provides advanced spherical situational awareness capability, including missile and aircraft detection, track and warning capabilities for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. DAS also gives a pilot 360 degree spherical day/night vision, with the capability of seeing through the floor of the aircraft. Northrop Grumman is now exploring how the existing DAS technology could assist in several additional mission areas, including Ballistic Missile Defense and irregular warfare operations.

Using fighter aircraft as missile defense platforms is a concept that has been gaining traction in recent years.

Last year, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz called for his service to partner with the Missile Defense Agency to study the possibility of using fighter jets, bombers and drones to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles. As Inside Missile Defense reported in July:

If eventually adopted, the concept could give the service a more prominent seat at the table in the missile defense world, which is dominated by Army and Navy interceptors. The Air Force currently tracks and provides targeting data for those systems through Defense Support Program satellites.

Right now, the Air Force does not have a "shooter" in the missile defense fight. It plans to use the Airborne Laser Boeing 747 for this mission; however, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended keeping the effort in a research-and-development status due to its extremely high price tag and what Gates calls a questionable operational concept.

To that end, the Air Force explored the Air-Launched Hit-to-Kill concept in Unified Engagement 2008. The wargame concluded that "several approaches may be operationally suitable for employment from Air Force fighters or other aircraft," Schwartz wrote in a June 2 memo to MDA Director Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly.

The concept proposes using modified Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) missiles or Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) weapons to shoot down different types of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The THAAD-based system would be "shorter than a 600 gallon external fuel tank and weigh approximately 1,600 pounds," according to an April 24 white paper included with the memo. The document is marked "for official use only." The system could be carried externally on F-15 and F-16 fighters. Follow-on development of this "upper-tier capability" would include an F-22A and F-35 internally carried interceptor system.

The AMRAAM-based Net Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE) "would provide lower tier or endo-atmospheric intercept capability," according to the document.

The use of fighter aircraft "increases the range of equivalent surface-based missiles 3 to 6 times," the document states.

During a press briefing in Afghanistan earlier today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked how the U.S. military will measure success in that country at the end of this calendar year. His response:

Well, one of the things -- I mean, this is one of the things that we've been asking of -- in the assignment basically given to General Petraeus and the Afghans and General Rodriguez and so on, is, okay, what are the benchmarks, what are the criteria by which we will judge we are making progress?

Some of those are fairly evident.  Others they're still developing.  One that obviously is important is, is the ANA meeting its goals in terms of recruitment and retention?  How about the quality of the ANA as well as the quantity?  The same thing with the Afghan National Police.

So those are some -- two of the measures that are obviously important.  But they are in the process of developing the criteria or the -- the criteria by which we will be able to assess whether or not we're making progress.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has rescheduled a workshop aimed at getting industry ideas for mining data obtained through social networks without infringing on the privacy of individuals from this month to next month, according to an amended notice posted this week on Federal Business Opportunities:

In recent years, interest in social networks has dramatically increased. Massive amounts of social network data are being collected for military, government and commercial purposes. In all three sectors, there is an ever growing need for the exchange or publication of this data for analysis and scientific research activities. However, this data is rich in private details about individuals whose privacy must be protected and great care must be taken to do so. A major technical challenge for social network data exchange and publication is the simultaneous preservation of data privacy and security on the one hand and information utility on the other. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) is requesting information on areas of research related to the technology required to meet this challenge.

Responses to DARPA's request for information are now due by noon on Sept. 10, and an agency-sponsored workshop has been pushed back from Sept. 27-28 to Oct. 4-5, according to the FedBizOpps notice, "in Arlington, VA, for the purpose of reviewing and discussing current and future research relevant to this RFI. Information discussed at this workshop may assist in the formulation of possible future areas of DARPA research with the objective of creating tools and techniques for the anonymization of social network data."