News
By Kyle Gunn, The War Zone, 12-10-11
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has successfully conducted its first live intercept of a ballistic missile from the island of Guam. The test, dubbed Flight Experiment Mission-02 (FEM-02), showcased the Aegis Guam System’s advanced capabilities—details of which The War Zone was first to report. Using a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA fired from a tilting Mark 41 launcher, the system intercepted a mock medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) over the Pacific more than 200 nautical miles away. Our analysis and more here in this article by Geoff Ziezulewicz, Joseph Trevithick.
Editor’s note: Many U.S. Citizens and residents are concerned about our vulnerability to missile attack on the U.S., our hundreds of military bases around the world and critical allies. While this publication is Nassau County, FL-oriented, it is also within our charter to address national and international happenings which could directly impact us. With multiple powerful and militant adversaries, an attack or even a threat of attack is something to be concerned with. Nassau County is surrounded to the north and south by strategic military bases- for submarines, jets, helicopters and ships. Many DoD employees and some contractors are right here in the county. It is logistically impossible to defend hundreds of far-flung military bases and our huge homeland, so the nation will have to prioritize what to defend. Interesting that the highest priorities seem to be far eastern bases and allies.
This article shows just one dimension of DoD efforts to develop missile defenses. This is even more urgent, as our most dangerous opponents have all announced hypersonic missiles which are much harder to defeat. It will be interesting to see if the new administration truly wants to reduce our foreign military involvement, as they claim and how that will affect our threats. The Air Force, Navy, Army and now the Space Force are all trying to deal with the threats, not only of missiles, but massed drone fleets working in concert.
