Air AND Missile Defense technology

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More about the Air and Missile Defense Technology mission

• Future outlook and focus for upcoming year

Principal Accomplishments

In the Sensor Experimental System test facility, the Lincoln Laboratory prototype airborne processor is being integrated to a sensor turret (Raytheon’s Multi-Spectral Targeting System). The turret, shown here, is designed to integrate with an unmanned aerial vehicle to support passive infrared missile tracking for the Airborne Infrared program.

• Lincoln Laboratory made key contributions to the new phased adaptive approach in missile defense. In 2010, the Laboratory led an Airborne Infrared (ABIR) Alternatives Analysis Study, which formed the basis for key decisions regarding ABIR sensors, and assessed platform options. Prototype software for automated image processing and closed-loop tracking was developed. Successful flight-test demonstrations used a surrogate ground sensor.

• In the newly established role as Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Advanced Technology Development Agent, the Laboratory initiated an analysis to establish Aegis BMD system requirements and technology needs for future combat systems in compliance with the phased adaptive approach. Modeling and simulation tools for the Aegis Weapon System, as well as for current and prospective SM3 interceptors, are being applied to quantify system performance.

• The Laboratory is developing a design for a new airborne electro-optical/infrared tracking system. The system includes a large-aperture sensor with medium- and short-wave infrared and visible channels, as well as a processing architecture that uses an open, layered-element design. A successful preliminary design review was conducted in May 2010.

• Installation of the Laboratory-developed XTR-1 radar onto the Missile Defense Agency’s Pacific Tracker was completed this year. The radar has an 11-meter dish and a two-frequency (X- and S-band) feed. XTR‑1 and the two forward telemetry antennas will provide valuable data during testing of the Ballistic Missile Defense System.

• A major design and risk-reduction effort continued for a ship-based electronic countermeasure that will improve the Navy’s capability to defend ships against advanced antiship missile threats. The Laboratory designed and built a prototype system and conducted an initial test campaign at a Navy field site at Dahlgren, Virginia.

• The Reagan Test Site Distributed Operations program achieved initial operations capability for distributed (Kwajalein; Huntsville, Alabama; and Lexington, Massachusetts) operations in December 2011. A key enabler for full operation is a Pacific fiber-optic link from Kwajalein to Guam, which was emplaced in June 2010. A complete circuit connecting Kwajalein and Huntsville was established in fall 2010, and an Interim Authority to Operate at the classified level was granted in February 2011.

• Work began on an Office of Naval Research future naval capabilities program that will provide integrated hard-kill and soft-kill engagement scheduling for future shipboard combat systems. The Laboratory completed the design and coding, integrated the algorithms in a simulation test bed, and began generating performance results.