U.S. military fast-tracks hypersonic weapons for missile defense against sophisticated new enemy ICBMs

Oct. 7, 2021
The MDA may be working with a Raytheon-Northrop Grumman NGI team to accelerate NGI development for missile defense to be ready by as early as 2028.

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is fast-tracking the U.S. Next-Generation Interceptor (NGI) program to deploy a missile defense system able to track and destroy enemy threats that include high-speed, precision-guided intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and hypersonic weapons in space. Kris Osborn of The National Interest reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

7 Oct. 2021 -- Mobile ICBM launchers, hypersonic nuclear weapons, multiple precision-guided re-entry vehicles, and several missiles attacks at once, each with several separating warheads, are all very serious threats.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and industry are working quickly to counter these threats with new weapons like a next-generation interceptor for missile defense by the end of the decade.

The emerging NGI is expected to destroy several ICBMs at once, while distinguishing actual ICBMs from debris, decoys, or enemy countermeasures. This requires a new measure of seeker discernment for missile defense that can discriminate actual threats from decoys, and to track many threats at once.

Related: MDA asks industry for enabling technologies to enable sea-based missile defense against hypersonic weapons

Related: Lockheed Martin to build THAAD interceptor ballistic missile defense rockets in $932.8 million order

Related: Military eyes prototype megawatt-class laser weapon for ballistic missile defense in next seven years

John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics

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