Modern Threats Require Modern Missile Defense Solutions
By Kailen Brant and Presley Price
As the complexity of the hypersonic missile threat landscape increases in the Indo-Pacific region, the U.S. and Japanese governments are partnering with industry teams to expand both nation’s defensive capabilities to meet these threats. While the U.S. has capabilities in place to defeat long and short-range ballistic missiles, the need to defend against highly maneuverable, endo-atmosphere hypersonic weapons remains.
Defeating a maneuvering threat flying at Mach 5 or higher requires a new breed of defensive interceptor that can strike a missile at any stage of flight, from the edge of space down to low altitudes at hypersonic speeds. Executing with speed on this vital mission requires a mission expert, technology leader and trusted partner. Northrop Grumman is applying more than six decades of tip-to-tail missile integration combined with technological breakthroughs to design and deliver a first-of-its-kind, hit-to-kill countermeasure against hypersonic threats.
Purpose-Built Solution
Northrop Grumman’s Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) team, methodically assembled to pair technical expertise and diverse ideas, is making its fully digital concept a reality.
“Our design is not a copy and paste of a legacy system, but a purpose-built solution tailored to address both current and future threats” said Kevin Wilder, Senior Director, Advanced Programs.
GPI fits into the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) missile defense architecture to provide the U.S. and its allies with reliable, layered defense against regional hypersonic missile threats. As the system evolves through development, the team leverages a completely digital environment to streamline the entire design and build process, enabling modularity, adaptability, and affordability throughout the lifecycle of the system.
The GPI design utilizes a digital systems engineering model and implements a Modular and Open Systems Architecture (MOSA), which allows GPI to be easily upgraded to meet new or emerging threat requirements, implement capability improvements as technology advances or address supply chain obsolescence, ensuring a long production life. At the system level, MOSA allows GPI to evolve as the threat changes over time or add alternate launch platforms, such as ground-launch from Aegis Ashore or other platforms.
No Traditional Assumptions
While the Northrop Grumman team leverages its 60-year knowledge base to provide a development framework, it makes no assumptions as the concept evolves. The threat landscape is anything but static. Adversaries are moving faster, developing smaller, more agile weapons with increasingly powerful payload capabilities.
“This is not your standard interceptor. Defeating a hypersonic boost-glide missile before it reaches its terminal phase requires the technology of today, not two decades ago,” said Wilder. “We do not find comfort in applying exactly what we’ve done for decades. We are confident in the technical foundations established by our prior experiences, the agility of our systems and components, and our team’s ability to perform under pressure.”
The GPI solution, at its core, is adaptable. The company is pioneering transformational missile defense, applying a combination of proven and emerging technologies, to enhance the U.S. and its allies’ defensive ecosystem.
Detection to Interception
Northrop Grumman plays at both ends of the defensive spectrum – a leader in advanced weapons and a leader in missile defense.
“An effective counter-hypersonic defense is the sum of its parts,” said Wilder. “Northrop Grumman’s breadth of capabilities across the kill chain, from left of launch to space-based sensors and C2 integration, is unmatched across the industry.”
The company’s Chandler, Arizona location produces an average of two new launch vehicle configurations, six Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) booster vehicles and 25 threat-representative target vehicles each year.
“Combining this experience with our Government and industry partner team allows us to deter and defeat both today’s and tomorrow’s emerging threats,” concluded Wilder.
With a deployed GMD system to protect the homeland against ballistic missile attacks, Sentinel - Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) system under development to protect against nuclear attacks and Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) to enable multi-domain operations, Northrop Grumman understands each layer of the missile defense strategy.