Missile defenseShort-range missile tracking satellite demonstrated

Published 1 April 2011

There are two weapons the weak can employ against the strong: the first is terror; the second are rockets and short range missiles; to operate rockets and short range missiles, though, the weaker side must be in control of some territory and must have a state ready to supply it with these more advanced weapon systems; Hezbollah (in May 2000) and Hamas (in June 2007) came into control of territory, and are being supplied by Iran and Syria with missiles and rockets; Israel last Sunday deployed the first batteries of its Iron Dome short-range missile defense; the United States is not lagging far behind

There are two weapons the weak can employ against the strong: the first is terror; the second are rockets and short range missiles. To operate rockets and short range missiles, though, the weaker side must be in control of some territory and must have a state ready to supply it with these more advanced weapon systems.

Hamas and Hezbollah are good example of this modern-day terrorist organization: in the past, these two organization had to rely on terrorism in their war against Israel. Since they came into possession of territory — Hezbollah, since May 2000, has been in total control of all of southern Lebanon and Hamas, since June 2007, has been in control of the Gaza Strip — they have changed their game. With Iran and Syria supplying both organizations with rockets and missiles, the two now fight Israel by launching rockets at cities and towns in the north (Hezbollah) and the south (Hamas).

Israel last Sunday deployed the first batteries of its Iron Dome short-range missile defense. The United States is not lagging far behind.

Space tracking and surveillance satellites built by U.S. companies Northrop Grumman and Raytheon successfully tracked a short-range missile in testing.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency STSS demonstration satellites, during an Airborne Laser Test Bed exercise, faced a different set of challenges than before because of quick timelines associated with the target, according to Gabe Watson, vice president of missile defense and missile warning programs for Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector.

STSS generated a track with the acquisition sensor and autonomously passed the track to the multi-band track sensor for the first time against a missile target,” Watson said. “The system performed very well, without operator control and provided high-quality track data to the ground station.”

Wilson said the STSS track sensor was cued significantly faster than in previous tests, which was required with this scenario.

These demonstration satellites employ high-performance infrared sensors with on-board processing that are able to exploit all the advantages of space for precision missile tracking,” he said.

UPI reports that the Missile Defense Agency is pursuing the STSS demonstration program as a space-based sensor component of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. Data from the STSS satellites support development of a future operational satellite constellation for the BMDS.