The Debate over National Missile Defense - School...
Transcript of The Debate over National Missile Defense - School...
Overview
• Brief history of missile defense• The current missile threat• The response: proposed NMD system• Vulnerability of this (and similar)
systems to countermeasures• Other NMD concepts
– surface-based boost-phase systems
A Brief History: 1950s-1972Nike → Sentinel → Safeguard
Sprint and Spartan interceptors5-megaton Spartan warhead
PAR Phased Array Radar
ABM Treaty of 1972
The US and the USSR…Considering that effectivemeasures to limit ABM systems would be asubstantial factor in curbing the race in strategicoffensive arms…Have agreed:
Article IEach Party undertakes not to deploy ABM systemsfor a defense of the territory of its country andnot to provide a base for such a defense, and notto deploy ABM systems for defense of anindividual region except as provided for in ArticleIII of this Treaty.
A Brief History: 1983-present1983 Reagan “star wars” speech, SDI born1991 End of the Cold War
Gulf War, Iraqi Scud attacks1993 Clinton shifts focus to theater defense1995 Contract for America: NMD by 20031996 Clinton NMD plan; talks with Russia begin1998 Rumsfeld Report
Taepo-dong launch by North Korea1999 Clinton signs Missile Defense Act2001 Bush: withdraw from ABMT, deploy NMD
The Threat: Russia and ChinaRussia: hundreds of alert ICBMs and SLBMsChina: ~20 unfueled ICBMs• Deliberate attack
– defense must be extremely effective and cost-effective at margin; very high political costs
• Accidental, unauthorized attack– Russian attack might not be small– responses to NMD (more warheads,
increased alert rate, countermeasures) couldnegate defense or increase threat
The Threat: DPRK, Iran, Iraq• Threat is WMD, not missiles
– ICBMs ideal for deterrence– Other means of delivery more reliable, effective
• cruise, short-range ballistic missiles off ships; commercialaircraft; smuggled in trucks, ships, cargo containers
• no return address
• Rogue ICBM threat may not emerge• ICBM attack can be deterred, preempted
– deterrence, preemption can fail: role for NMD• NMD cannot restore US freedom of action
– even if NMD perfect, other means of delivery
Cost-Benefit Analysis
NMD can provide a net security benefit if:• effective against responsive rogue threat (to
guard against failure of deterrence, preemption)• reactions by Russia, China do not…
– increase probability of deterrence failure– increase probability of accident, inadvertent,
or unauthorized launch– otherwise worsen US security (cooperation on
nonproliferation, counterterrorism, etc.)
Kill vehicle uses LWIR to home on thewarhead, destroying it by colliding with it:
“hit-to-kill” intercept
Clinton plan: start small; add additionalinterceptors, sensors, sites
$72*$36$30Cost (billion)201120102005-07IOC
DSP → SBIRS-highFB-XBR, SBIRS-lowUEWR
XBR at GBI sitesSensors
125 GF125 AK20 Alaska 100
GBIs
larger attackwith better
CM
small attackw/CM
small (5 RV)attack, no CM
Intendedcapability
C3C2C1
*Includes $23 billion for SBIRS-low
Hit-to-kill intercept has proved difficult:• Of 24 tests of exoatmospheric hit-to-kill systems
(4 HOE, 2 ERIS, 5 LEAP, 8 THAAD, 5 NMD),only 8 (33%) have scored a “hit”
• Problems often related to quality control; BMDOcriticized for “rush to failure”
• Tests unrealistic: large targets; no decoys or onelarge balloon decoy; one-on-one engagements inhead-on, short-range geometry; use of surrogates(beacon/GPS, low-acceleration booster)
Nevertheless, reliable hit-to-kill interceptshould be possible in test situations
The proposed NMD system—and anysimilar system—is unlikely to workagainst a real adversaryA country or group able to build (or buy) an ICBM,RV, and nuclear or biological warhead, would alsobe able to build (or buy) effective countermeasuresto an exoatmospheric hit-to-kill system
“However absorbed a commander may be in theelaboration of his own thoughts, it is sometimesnecessary to take the enemy into account.”
—Winston Churchill
Countermeasures
A Technical Evaluation of theOperational Effectiveness of the Planned
US National Missile Defense System
Andrew M. Sessler (Chair), John M. Cornwall, Bob Dietz, Steve Fetter,Sherman Frankel, Richard L. Garwin, Kurt Gottfried, Lisbeth
Gronlund, George N. Lewis, Theodore A. Postol, David C. Wright
Union of Concerned ScientistsMIT Security Studies Program
April 2000
Available at http://www.ucsusa.org
Three countermeasures examined in detail:• biological submunitions• nuclear warhead with antisimulation balloons• nuclear warhead with cooled shroud
Each countermeasure• defeats midcourse hit-to-kill systems (NMD,
THAAD, NTW)• can be deployed by new missile state, without
flight testing
Biological Submunitions
• Submunitions or “bomblets” are the preferredmethod of delivering CBW agents– better coverage of target– better dispersal efficiency
• 100 bomblets/missile, 2 kg anthrax/bomblet,could result in ~100,000 deaths
• Dispense bomblets soon after boost phaseends, before interceptors can reach payload
• Design of dispensing mechanism, submunitionsstraightforward
Antisimulation Balloon Decoys
• Instead of making decoys look like warheads,make the warhead look like a decoy
• Enclose warhead in a mylar balloon; alsorelease many empty balloons (1 lb each)
• Trajectories, radar/IR signatures almost identical• Empty balloons could display diversity of
signatures (size, shape, temp, mass, spin)• Even a “hit” may not destroy warhead inside• Implementation not difficult
Cooled Shroud
• Nuclear warhead inside a liquid-nitrogen-cooledshroud
• Million-fold reduction in IR signal (at 10 µm)– thousand-fold reduction in detection range– warhead is detected too late for homing
• Current KV does not use visible light for homing,but night launch (or polished surfaces) wouldprevent using visible
• Implementation not difficult (~100 kg extra mass)
Other NMD ConceptsImproved midcourse defense• Improved discrimination
– radars to monitor dispensing of warhead, decoys– lasers to “push” balloons
• Destroy everything– Nuclear-armed interceptors– Multiple miniature kill vehicles
Terminal defense• Atmosphere strips away decoys, but too many
targets to defend
Boost-phase DefenseMany advantages:• Destroys entire payload• Booster easier to detect, track, and destroy• Defended area much largerKey disadvantage:• Must be close to launch point, at launch time
– space-based systems in orbit– land, sea, or air-based systems near enemies
• could not intercept missiles launched deep insideRussia or China
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 7000
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Range (km)
Altitude (km)
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0 100 200 300 400 500 600 7000
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700Missile Powered Flight Profile
Range (km)
Altitude (km)
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(km
) Flight profiles of GBI and Navy Theater-Wide Interceptor
Flight profiles of typical and fast-burning ICBMs
Locations shown at 5second intervals
70 s8.5 km/s
55 s5.5 km/s
130 s
250 s 320 s
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 7000
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Range (km)
Altitude (km)
Boost-phase Engagement
Intercept point if interceptorlaunched 95 s after ICBM
Location of ICBMwhen interceptoris launched
GBI at 100 s
ICBM at250 s
GBI at 150 s
North Korean missile attacks on Moscow,Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, and Honolulu
Vladivostok
Moscow Washington Chicago San Francisco
Honolulu
Boost-phase Engagement
Honolulu
Washington DC Chicago San Francisco
Honolulu
Range of GBI 150 Seconds After Launch
End of North Korean ICBM Powered Flight
Intercept Points If GBI is Launched 50 Seconds After ICBM is Launched
Moscow
Last Chance Intercept If GBI Launched 125 Seconds After ICBM Launch
Intercept Points If GBI is Launched 100 Seconds After ICBM is Launched
Range of GBI 125 Seconds After Launch
Range of GBI 190 Seconds After Launch
Range of GBI 100 Seconds After Launch
Interceptor Burnout Speed ! 8.5 km/se c
Boost-phase Engagement
Honolulu Washington DC San Francisco
Honolulu
Range of Boost -Phase GBI 190 Seconds After Launch Range If Interceptor Launched Within 60 Seconds of ICBM Launch
ICBM Launch
Point
Interceptor Burnout Speed ≈ 8.5 km/sec
Boost-phase Engagement
Honolulu Washington DC San Francisco
Honolulu
Range of Boost -Phase GBI 190 Seconds After Launch Range If Interceptor Launched Within 60 Seconds of ICBM Launch
ICBM Launch
Point
Interceptor Burnout Speed ≈ 8.5 km/sec
Conclusion
• Rogue threat manageable without NMD, but…
• NMD would provide useful insurance againstfailure of nonproliferation, deterrence, preemptionif effective and if political costs are minimized
• Systems under development not likely to beeffective against responsive threat
• Surface-based boost-phase systems more likelyto be effective, minimize political costs