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BMD Watch: JLENS passes Army PDR
Washington, April 2, 2008 Raytheon said in a statement that its Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System was approved in its Orbit Preliminary Design Review by the U.S. Army. The Orbit PDR took four days and involved a comprehensive assessment of the JLENS design maturity, the company said. It described the PDR as "a key milestone" in the $1.4 billion System Design and Demonstration contract for the manufacture of two JLENS Orbits. The space-based system is due to start its system testing in 2010 and to complete that procedure in 2012. The JLENS program is designed to offer long-term, far-reaching and over-the-horizon detection and tracking to give warning of any of incoming cruise missile attacks against U.S. forces deployed around the world. Cruise missiles are far harder to detect and intercept with antimissile interceptor systems because they fly so close to the ground and do not fly in predictable fixed flight patterns. They change course in accord with the ground contours below them. Raytheon said each JLENS Orbit would carry both a surveillance system involving an elevated long-range surveillance radar and a fire-control system with an elevated high-performance fire control radar. Both radars would be linked into a large aerostat connected by a tether to the ground-based mobile mooring station and communications processing group, the company said. "We've progressed on schedule and within budget in a very rapid and disciplined manner since SDD was awarded only 14 months ago," said Pete Franklin, vice president of National & Theater Security Programs for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "The success of Orbit PDR affirms that JLENS is ready to move forward with detailed design." "JLENS provides a key capability to the war fighter," said Lt. Col. Stephen Wilhelm, JLENS product manager, U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space. "Orbit PDR is the latest in a string of rapid fire milestone successes for the JLENS program and continues to reaffirm our confidence that this critical cruise missile defense capability is on track to be provided to our war fighters as planned." LM wins new Minuteman ICBM SERV components contract Lockheed Martin said March 20 it won a $23.9 million contract modification from Northrop Grumman to manufacture hardware components for the third stage of full-rate production for the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Safety Enhanced Re-entry Vehicle program. Lockheed Martin said it would manufacture 120 extra full-rate production SERV hardware kits by December 2010. Including future options that Northrop Grumman may take up, the program is scheduled to take seven years and may be worth up to $137 million. Lockheed Martin said it had already produced more than 100 SERV hardware kits in the first two phases of the project's production program. Under the overall program, the entire U.S. strategic ICBM force is scheduled to receive the SERV modifications by 2011. The SERV upgrades allow the venerable Minuteman III missiles to deploy individual Mark 21 re-entry vehicles from the decommissioned Peacekeeper ICBM missile force. The Mark 21 is a newer design with additional safety features to the old Minuteman thermonuclear warheads. "As we continue full-rate production of the electronic and mechanical hardware that interfaces the re-entry vehicle with the missile system, Lockheed Martin remains committed to providing the highest quality support for the operational ICBM force," said Les Lyon, director of Air Force Re-entry Programs, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. Lockheed Martin said it served as a principal industry teammate on the SERV program with Northrop Grumman, the ICBM prime integration contractor for the U.S. Air Force. The company said Lockheed Martin Space Systems had been the main designer and builder of Minuteman III re-entry systems since the 1960s and had also made the entire flight hardware and ground support equipment for the SERV program. Lockheed Martin Space Systems manufactured the Electronic Command Signal Generator and associated cabling to link the missile's guidance and control system and re-entry vehicles and the flight hardware to connect the re-entry vehicles to the missile. Lockheed Martin said its Valley Forge, Pa., plant made "the Electronic Command Signal Generator, cables, attachment hardware, and a complete suite of ground support equipment, and provides associated engineering and logistics support" for the program. Related Links Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Bush sees 'unprecedented' cooperation with Russia on missiles
Bucharest (AFP) April 2, 2008US President George W. Bush on Wednesday envisaged an "unprecedented level" of cooperation between Russia and NATO by integrating former Soviet military sites into an anti-missile system in Europe. |
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