TELEMETRY CHALLENGES FOR BALLISTIC MISSILE TESTING IN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC

Abstract

The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) is developing new Theater Missile Defense (TMD) and National Missile Defense (NMD) weapon systems to defend against the expanding ballistic missile threat. In the arms control arena, theater ballistic missile threats have been defined to include systems with reentry velocities up to five kilometers per second and strategic ballistic missile threats have reentry velocities that exceed five kilometers per second. The development and testing of TMD systems such as the Army Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and the Navy Area Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD) Lower Tier, and NMD systems such as the Army Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle and the Army Ground-Based Radar, pose exceptional challenges that stem from extreme acquisition range and high telemetry data transfer rates. Potential Central Pacific range locations include U.S. Army Kwajalien Atoll/Kwajalein Missile Range (USAKA/KMR) and the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) with target launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Wake Island, Aur Atoll, Johnston Island, and, possibly, an airborne platform. Safety considerations for remote target launches dictate utilization of high-data-rate, on-board instrumentation; technical performance measurement dictates transmission of focal plane array data; and operational requirements dictate intercepts at exoatmospheric altitudes and long slant ranges. The high gain, high data rate, telemetry acquisition requirements, coupled with loss of the upper S-band spectrum, may require innovative approaches to minimize electronic noise, maximize telemetry system gain, and fully utilize the limited S-band telemetry spectrum. The paper will address the emerging requirements and will explore the telemetry design trade space.