Ben Bova - Able One

“There’s the Russians, too,” the CIA director pointed out.

The President raised both hands, silencing them all.

After a moment’s thought, he said, “We will activate our missile defense system. And alert our own retaliatory forces: missiles, submarines, and the manned bombers.”

“Defense Readiness Condition Three?” asked Defense.

“DefCon One,” said the President. “Let’s not waste time on this. Full alert, everybody ready to go.”

Before anyone could object, the President turned to the Secretary of State. “Let Beijing and Moscow know our moves are strictly defensive. Tell Tokyo what’s going on. Maybe they’ll want to attack that missile site. That way we could keep our hands clean.”

“I wouldn’t depend on that,” the Security Advisor muttered.

The President went on, “But we will not make an attack on North Korea. Not yet. We’ll give Pyongyang the opportunity to clean their own house. Our moves will be strictly defensive.”

“And when those two nukes are launched?” asked the Security Advisor.

“We’ll hope to hell we can shoot them down,” the President replied. “And if we can’t, if they hit an American city, we’ll blow those fuckers off the face of the earth.”

Dead silence in the Oval Office.

Then the Secretary of Defense muttered, “Maybe we ought to get the chaplain in here.” The President glowered at him.

They rose and left the Oval Office, all except the chief of staff, who got up from the couch by the fireplace and settled in one of the emptied chairs in front of the President’s desk.

“It’s a mess, Norm, isn’t it?” said the President.

“Yeah, but I think you’re doing the right thing.”

The President shook his head. “I wonder. Why’d they knock out all the satellites?”

“Economic terrorism. Wall Street’s shut down. Markets all over the world have closed.”

“Damn. I’ll have to work this into tonight’s speech.”

“In San Francisco? You’re still going?”

“I won’t cancel it,” the President said. Then, rubbing at the bridge of his nose, he added, “My wife wanted to go with me, but I told her I’d only be there for a few hours.”

“The First Lady will be safer here,” the chief of staff agreed. “You would be, too, you know.”

“No, I’ve got to go,” the President said. “There’s enough panic out there, with all the satellites out. My job is to show the people that everything’s under control.”

“Even when it isn’t?”

The President flashed his famous grin. “Especially when it isn’t, Norm. Especially when it isn’t.”

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has developed a research, development, and test program focusing on a layered defense system based on the three phases of a ballistic missile’s trajectory: boost, midcourse, and terminal.

Boost Phase Defense

The boost phase is the part of the missile flight from launch until its rocket engines are exhausted and it stops accelerating under its own power. Typically, the boost phase ends at altitudes of 300 miles or less, and within the first 3 to 5 minutes of flight. During this phase, the rocket is climbing against Earth’s gravity.

Intercepting a missile in its boost phase is the ideal solution. We can defend a large area of the globe and prevent midcourse decoys from being deployed by destroying the missile early in its flight. Of the boost phase defenses, the Airborne Laser (ABL) is the most mature.

Midcourse Phase Defense

The midcourse phase of a ballistic missile trajectory allows the longest window of opportunity to intercept an incoming missile: up to 20 minutes. This is the part of the missile’s flight where its engines have stopped thrusting so it follows a more predictable coasting path. The midcourse interceptor and a variety of radars and other sensors have a longer time to track and engage the target compared to boost and terminal interceptors. Also, more than one interceptor can be launched to ensure a successful hit.

A downside to the longer intercept window is that the attacker has an opportunity to deploy countermeasures against a defensive system. The warhead and decoys are detached from the spent rocket stages during the midcourse phase. However, the interceptor and other sensors have more time to observe and discriminate countermeasures from the warhead. The midcourse defense segment has ground-and sea-based elements, including the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) and the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (Aegis BMD).

Unlike the Airborne Laser, which fires a beam of light energy to destroy the missile, the midcourse and terminal phase systems employ smaller, high-velocity missiles to strike the incoming warhead; this is known as the “kinetic kill” method.

Terminal Phase Defense

A missile enters the terminal phase when the warhead falls back into the atmosphere. This phase generally lasts from 30 seconds to one minute.

The primary elements in the terminal defense segment are:

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), which will destroy a ballistic missile’s warhead as it transitions from the midcourse to the terminal phase of its trajectory. THAAD consists of four principle components: truck-mounted launchers; interceptor missiles; radars; and command, control, and battle management (C 2BM). The system has rapid mobility so that it can be airlifted to almost anywhere in the world within hours.

Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3), the most mature element of the ballistic missile defense system. Built on previous Patriot air and missile defense infrastructure, PAC-3 missiles were deployed to Southwest Asia as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Arrow, a joint effort between the United States and Israel, provides Israel with a capability to defend its borders and U.S. troops deployed in the region against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. The system became operational in 2000.

Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), a co-developmental program with Germany and Italy to develop an air and missile defense system that is mobile and transportable. Using the combat-proven PAC-3 as a platform, MEADS’ role in ballistic missile defense is to bridge the gap between man-portable systems like the Stinger shoulder-fired missile and the higher levels of the ballistic missile defense system, such as the THAAD system.

Missile Defense Agency

Overview and BMD Basics

The mess hall was big and crowded, but not as noisy as Harry expected from the size of the place. The rest of his laser team was finishing up their breakfast by the time Harry worked his way down the counter and carried his tray to their table. He could spot them from across the cafeteria by their white Anson Aerospace coveralls, like a cluster of ice floes in a sea of Air Force blue.

“She’s hot, I tell you,” Wally Rosenberg was saying as Harry dragged a chair from the next table and sat down between him and Taki Nakamura.

“What do you think, boss?” Angie Reyes asked. He was a chemical technician, in charge of the volatile mix of iodine and oxygen that powered the big laser. Reyes was a wiry bantam cock of a guy, short, slim, dark-haired. He had replaced Pete Quintana; Rosenberg kidded that the company’s management wanted to keep its quota of Hispanics on the project.

“Think about what?” Harry asked, taking his English muffin and mug of coffee off the tray.

“Our new pilot,” Rosenberg answered. A chemical engineer, Rosenberg always had a sly grin on his long, horsey face. “I say she’s hot.”