The First Successful U.S. ICBM Intercept Test, Step By Step
July 20, 2017
Flight Test Ground-Based Interceptor (FTG)-15
Credit: NASA/AW&ST Art Department
1. ICBM Target Launch from Kwajalein Atoll
Credit: Missile Defense Agency
North Korean-style ICBM target launches from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, headed toward California, over 5,000 mi. away.
2. Terrestrial Tracking and Discrimination Radars
Credit: Missile Defense Agency
Space-based infrared sensors detect the ICBM’s fiery launch and cue tracking and discrimination radars on land and at sea in the Pacific. The information is relayed to the central launch command and fire control center in the U.S., which prepares a response based on trajectory and expected impact point of the threat.
3. GBI Launch from Vandenberg AFB, California
Credit: Missile Defense Agency
Three-stage Configuration 2 Ground-Based Interceptor armed with the newest Capability Enhancement CE-II Block 1 Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle is launched from a production-like test silo at Vandenberg AFB.
4. Kill Vehicle Target Discrimination
Credit: Missile Defense Agency
The kill vehicle’s onboard seeker uses advanced algorithms to distinguish the deadly warhead (in red square) from potential decoys (in white squares), countermeasures and space debris as it aligns for intercept using its divert and attitude control system.
5. Kill Vehicle Terminal Phase
Credit: Missile Defense Agency
The final image of the target reentry vehicle before impact. If this had not been a test, it probably would have contained an armed nuclear warhead,
6. Kill Vehicle-Target Collision
Credit: Missile Defense Agency
6. Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle and target reentry vehicle collide in a fiery collision, as seen through an infrared sensor. In a real-life scenario, multiple interceptors would be fired against a single warhead in case the first shot misses.
On May 30, the Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense system conducted its first successful intercept of an intercontinental ballistic missile target. A series of images from the trial, designated “Flight Test Ground-Based Interceptor (FTG)-15,” shows the disparate systems that achieved the goal of missile defense—neutralizing a target safely above the atmosphere.
