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January 7, 2009
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Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)
| Alternate Name: | Kwajalein Missile Range |
|---|---|
| Country: | USA |
| Associated Country: | Marshall Islands |
Details
The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), also known as the Kwajalein Missile Range, is located at the Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. Operated by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), the facility has served as the premiere U.S. offensive and defensive missile testing ground since the end of World War II.
Kwajalein, the world’s largest atoll, is located within the Marshall Islands and consists of a boomerang-shaped ring of 93 islets surrounding an 850-square mile lagoon, also the largest of its kind. The Marshall Islands are part of a region known as Micronesia, meaning “small islands,” which encompasses a diverse group of coral atolls and islets halfway between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. Hawaii is the closest U.S. location, approximately 2,500 miles northeast of the Marshalls. The weather at Kwajalein is characteristically tropical: hot and humid, hovering around 80° F, with frequent storms.
Micronesia was first colonized by Spain in 1494, and sold to the Germans in 1885 for $4.5 million. Japan captured the region in 1914 and began fortifying key atolls and islets (including Kwajalein) during the 1930s in preparation for war. After fierce fighting in 1943 and 1944, the U.S. overran the large Japanese air and naval bases on Mili, Jaluit, Maloelap, Wotje, and Kwajalein. Following the war, the Marshall Islands became one of six entities in the new Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, established by the U.N. and administered by the U.S.
Beginning in 1946, the U.S. turned the Marshall Islands into a staging ground for a series of atomic and hydrogen bomb tests, most of which took place on the Bikini and Enewetak atolls. In 1954, the U.S. detonated the most powerful hydrogen bomb ever tested, known as “Bravo.” Radiation from the blast was so intense that Marshallese and U.S. military personnel had to be evacuated from the region, although all were allowed to return by 1957. In later years, the U.S. tested new missile systems such as Titan, Polaris, Minuteman, Atlas, Nike, Sprint, and the MX.
In 1982, the region became officially known as the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Four years later, Congress approved the Compact of Free Association between the U.S. and the RMI. The Compact granted the RMI its sovereignty and promised U.S. economic and military aid (approximately $65 million per year) in exchange for the continued U.S. military use of the Kwajalein Atoll for missile testing. Since 1990, the U.S. has provided approximately $1 billion in aid to the RMI, which has significantly benefited the region’s 9,500 inhabitants.
In addition to economic and military aid, the Pentagon has invested $4 billion in high-tech detection, tracking, and targeting equipment at Kwajalein, a combination of state-of-the-art radars, optical, and telemetry sensors, all of which are designed to support offensive and defensive test missile launches. At present, the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site is operated by a government-contractor team that includes military personnel, government civilians, technical support contractors, and scientists. In 2002, SMDC awarded a $626 million contract to a Bechtel-Lockheed Martin group known as Kwajalein Range Services, which currently manages technical operations and provides logistical support to RTS.
Large scale U.S. investment in the Marshall Islands is due to the fact that the Kwajalein Atoll provides an almost perfect environment for missile testing. The region’s vastness and relative isolation minimizes the ecological and safety constraints that normally accompany such tests, thus allowing the Pentagon to perform simulations that would be impossible over the mainland U.S. RTS, in fact, is the only U.S. test facility that can simulate the exoatmospheric interception of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Most long-range interceptors that are currently in development are “exoatmospheric,” meaning that they are designed to destroy their targets outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
In a typical scenario, a target ICBM is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, approximately 4,800 miles from RTS. The missile streaks through the upper reaches of the atmosphere in a simulated attack on the center of the Kwajalein lagoon, and is targeted and destroyed by an interceptor missile launched from RTS. In a 2002 test, for instance, a Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) from RTS destroyed an ICBM launched from Vandenberg at an altitude of 140 miles and a closing speed in excess of 15,000 miles per hour. The U.S. is currently deploying these same GBIs at Vandenberg and Fort Greely, Alaska, in what will become the first national missile defense system.
In addition to testing long-range interceptor missiles, RTS has the ability to support interceptions of Scuds and other short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in various tactical scenarios, thus allowing it to serve as a test site for smaller, mobile systems such as the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3).
The U.S. plans to spend approximately $1.5 billion on missile defense research and development at the Kwajalein Atoll over the next decade. As the Pentagon moves forward with its deployment of interceptor missiles in Alaska and California, the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site will continue to play an essential role in the strategic defense of the U.S.
Sources
“Boeing-Led Missile Defense Team Scores Another ‘Hit’; Successful System Test Includes Intercept Over Pacific.” Boeing Press Release, 14 October 2002.
Federation of American Scientists.
Gildea, Kerry. “GAO Upholds Pick of Bechtel-Lockheed Martin Team For Kwajalein Missile Range.” Defense Daily, 23 January 2003.
Gildea, Kerry. “SMDC to Select Range Operations Contractor for Kwajalein Missile Range.” Defense Daily, 10 December 2001.
InfoPlease.
Kwajalein Range Services, LLP.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site.
Space & Missile Defense Command, Test & Evaluation Center.
“U.S. Army Forecast to Spend $1.55 Billion on Missile Test Site.” Forecast International Press Releases, 22 September 2003.
“U.S. Says It Wants Kwajalein Missile Test Range for 40 More Years.” Agence France-Presse, 29 May 2002.
Woodard, Colin. “Marshall Islands: Time to Re-Up at Kwajalein.” The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, January-February 2000, pp. 19, 69.
U.S. Tests Minuteman-3 from Vandenberg
The U.S. Air Force today successfully test-launched an Minuteman-3 ICBM from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, reports the AP. The missile’s three unarmed reentry vehicles traveled approximately 7,700 km (4,800 miles) in 30 minutes before hitting their pre-determined targets at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Marshall Islands. According to Air Force officials, the launch’s main purpose was to demonstrate the operational effectiveness of the weapon system. The U.S. has about 500 Minuteman-3 missiles deployed in Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. The recent Quadrennial Defense Review, however, called for a 10% reduction of the deployed Minuteman ICBMs, to 450.
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile details: Minuteman I
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), Vandenberg Air Force Base
U.S. Tests Minuteman-3 From Vandenberg
The U.S. Air Force today test launched a Minuteman-3 intercontinental ballistic missile. The unarmed missile took off at 12:01 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and hit a target 4,800 miles away on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The purpose of the test was to gather data on the weapon and determine whether the Mark-2 re-entry vehicle is effective on the Minuteman-3.
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile details: Minuteman I
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), Vandenberg Air Force Base
Marshall Islands and U.S. Sign Agreement for Missile Range
The U.S. and the Marshall Islands will revise environmental oversight regulations that govern U.S. activities at the Army-operated Kwajalein Missile Range at Kwajalein Atoll. According to U.S. Ambassador Greta Morris, the revised environmental standards are the product of a 16-year-long effort between the U.S. and the Marshall Islands Environmental Protection Authority. The review was a requirement of a recently concluded Compact of Free Association between the two parties.
The Kwajalein Missile Range, also known as the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, has served as the premiere U.S. offensive and defensive missile testing ground since the end of World War II.
» More stories on: Allies
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)
GMD Interceptor Flight Test
Four years to the day after President Bush gave official notice to Russia that the United States would be withdrawing from the ABM Treaty, the MDA conducted a successful, “important” test of a Ground Based Interceptor. The interceptor was launched from the Ronald Reagan Test site, located in the Kwajalein atoll of the Marshall Islands, in Pacific Ocean. The interceptor traveled northeast, toward a location of a simulated target missile launch from Kodiak, Alaska. The data fed the interceptor about the location of the simulated target was based on previous launches.
The importance of the launch is several-fold, not the least of which is that it is the first launch of a GBI since October 2002. On the last two attempts at a launch (in December 2004 and February 2005), minor hardware or software glitches resulted in the missile shutting itself down, and therefore never leaving its silo. A “variety of components and subcomponents” were also tested. A Boeing press release called the event the “first flight test of an operationally configured interceptor.”
Today’s test was designed Flight Test-1 (FT-1), which would seem to indicate a new nomenclature, or numbering of flight tests. Integrated Flight Test-7, for example, took place in December 2001; the test attempt which had been planned for February 2005 had been designated IFT-14. A new nomenclature could be the product of the thorough reassessment said to have taken place in recent years about the program’s testing.
» December 13, 2001: Bush gives six month notice for U.S. intent to withdraw from ABM Treaty
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)
Fourth and Final Minuteman III Test for Year
The Air Force successfully launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile early today, the fourth and final Minuteman III test of the year. The missile’s single warhead traveled some 4,000 miles in about 30 minutes to a predetermined target in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific. The last Minuteman test took place on September 7.
» Washington Post on Minuteman launch
» September 7, 2005 test launch of Minuteman III
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile details: Minuteman I
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), Vandenberg Air Force Base
Minuteman III Test
The Air Force launched a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile early today, the second such test in recent weeks. The missiles’ two unarmed warheads traveled about 4,200 miles in about 30 minutes, hitting targets at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the western chain of the Marshall Islands. The launch was the third this year. The final, fourth, test of the year is scheduled to take place next week.
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile details: Minuteman I
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), Vandenberg Air Force Base
Minuteman Missile Test
A Minuteman III missile was successfully tested today from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The missile’s warhead traveled toward and hit its target at the missile range in the Kwajalein Atoll. This test was specifically to demonstrate the integration of a Safety Enhanced Re-entry Vehicle into the existing Minuteman III weapons system. The newer warhead is such as that used for the newer Peacekeeper missiles which are now being deactivated.
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile details: Minuteman I
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), Vandenberg Air Force Base
Minuteman Test from Vandenberg
The U.S. successfully test-launched a Minuteman III ballistic missile on July 21. The missile’s dummy warhead was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and traveled more than 4,000 miles in 30 minutes, finally striking a pre-determined target at the Reagan Test Site in the Marshall Islands.
The Minuteman III is an intercontinental-range, silo-based, solid propellant ballistic missile system, with a range of 13,000 km.
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile details: Minuteman I
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS), Vandenberg Air Force Base
Missile Defense Test Failure
Today the Missile Defense Agency attempted to repeat the December 15 test of the ground based midcourse missile defense system. The December 15 test attempt did not take place when the interceptor shut down in its silo rather than launching, due to a software error. The interceptor did not launch again in today’s test.
MDA spokesman Rick Lehner is quoted as saying that today’s failure was under investigation, but that there were indications that the malfunction was the ground support equipment at the test range on Kwajalein Island, and not with the interceptor missile itself. “The interceptor itself is fine and will be used for other tests,” said Lehner, “We’ll just keep trying, keep testing and hopefully we’ll be able to do another interceptor test in the next few months, using the same interceptor.”
The target missile, a mock-ICBM, was fired early Monday morning from Kodiak Island, Alaska. The interceptor which did not launch was located at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein atoll in the Pacific.
Today’s failure represents another setback for the system, and demonstrates the need for further testing, but by no means does it indicate any less of a need for a missile defense.
» MDA statement on test failure
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)
Missile Defense Test Fails
The Missile Defense Agency yesterday attempted the first full test of its ground based midcourse defense system, but the interceptor missile failed to leave its silo. The target interceptor successfully launched from Kodiak island, but the the interceptor based at the Kwajalein Test Range in the Marshall Islands did not. The MDA cited an unspecified “anomaly.” had caused the interceptor to shut down automatically in its silo.
The failed test will probably become a setback for missile defense efforts, less on the technical than the political level. The failure is a particular embarrassment since the technology involved has nothing to do with the actual intercept of a ballistic missile. Rather, it seems to be related to the simple launch of the missile, and is thus the kind of problem which has been worked out decades ago.
The failed test in no way diminishes, however, the need for missile defense. It does reinforce the need for increased testing and for more proficient and effective systems. But no weapon system is perfect. It is for just such reason that there should therefore be backups and layers in our defenses.
» MDA press release on test attempt
» More stories on: Land-Based Systems, Testing - American
» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)
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