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2 United States Ballistic Missile Defense System
 
“FTG-05 is the largest most complex ight test MDA has everconducted. It gave us a look at how the total system would actuallyoperate. All of the system assets in the test were operated by peoplewho man the system every day—soldiers at the consoles, sailorsout at sea, and airmen who man the radars. We were able to exercisethe techniques, the procedures, the doctrine, the communicationssystem, and the sensors we will use when we actually deploy thesystem, all of which is necessary if weare to prove this to be anoperationally realistic system.”
 Lieutenant General Patrick O’Reilly following the successful GMD test in December 5, 2008.
 
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 The United States is elding a missile deense systemcapable o addressing the gap in U.S. deenses causedby the prolieration o short- and medium- rangeballistic missiles and the growing interest o nationshostile to the United States in longer-range ballisticmissiles. Not only has the number o countries holdingshort- and medium-range ballistic missiles increasedover the last 30-plus years, but also the range, reliability,and accuracy o these missile systems have improved,creating greater risks or U.S. orces, interests, and alliesthroughout the world. Longer-range missiles capableo delivering chemical, biological, and nuclear weaponscan cause massive loss o American lives and property.Ballistic missiles also provide a means or state andnon-state actors to blackmail and intimidate the UnitedStates and its allies by potentially holding hostagehundreds o thousands o people.By pursuing an innovative capability-based acquisitionstrategy, the United States successully deliveredthe rst increment o a layered, integrated missiledeense system. The initial capability addresses short-and medium-range ballistic missiles using PATRIOTAdvanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles and the AegisBallistic Missile Deense (BMD) Standard Missile-3(SM-3). Ground-based Interceptors (GBIs) enableengagement o intermediate-range and intercontinentalballistic missiles in the midcourse phase o their ight. These layers are integrated through an advanced anduniying Command, Control, Battle Management, andCommunications (C2BMC) network. While testing o thisinitial Ballistic Missile Deense System (BMDS) continues,it is also evolving. Additional quantities o interceptorsand sensors are being elded as work continues tocomplete the design o new elements and maturetechnologies are being developed that will lead to aneven more capable BMDS.An important part o the BMDS development eort isensuring the system will perorm as designed whenplaced in the hands o the warghter. The MissileDeense Agency (MDA), working with the independenttest community and the Director or Operational Test & Evaluation, uses highly accurate modeling andsimulation (M&S) tools as well as ground and ight teststo veriy the unctionality and operational eectivenesso the BMDS and understand the system’s capabilitiesand limitations. Simulations that either model BMDScomponents and processes or connect, in a laboratory,with discrete pieces o real system hardware enableMDA to assess the perormance o the BMDS numeroustimes in operational scenarios and make a statisticaldetermination o BMDS eectiveness. Data collectedduring ground and ight tests anchor the missiledeense models and validate their accuracy. Theverication process is not yet complete, but the datacollected to date give MDA condence in the basicdesign o the BMDS, its hit-to-kill eectiveness, andits inherent operational capability. This assessmentwas recently buttressed by an independent test boardthat examined simulations and ight tests o the initialAegis BMD capability and ound Aegis BMD to beoperationally eective and suitable or combat use.
Executive Summary
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