Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

In keeping with the transparency established by his predecessors as it pertained to the development and operationalisation of the numerous strategic assets which are becoming increasingly essential to Lodamun’s defence, the Director of the Strategic Defence Agency confirmed that the work to improve GUARDIAN (Global Unified Anti-missile Response and Defence with Integrated Advanced Networking) had been bearing fruit with significant room for improvement. At a press conference held at the agency’s headquarters in Kensington, Admiral Sean Howell noted that building off of the system’s lacklustre performance in previous tests, significant work had been done in improving its subsystems alongside expanding its situational awareness. He noted that the radar networks employed by the batteries ultimately make the missile, pointing to the fact that without knowing both the trajectory and the precise location of the target relative to the battery itself, effective interception becomes impossible. He noted that it was important to separate the Guardian missile defence system from its ability to be employed against aircraft (i.e. combat aircraft, drones etc) and its ability to be employed against ballistic missiles (i.e. SRBM, MRBM). 

Guardian’s performance in intercepting aircraft is without question as aircraft fly slower and in more predictable trajectories, which ultimately provide the system’s radar system (although outdated) without enough time to detect, track and finally lock onto targets. Against ballistic missiles, which are primarily known for their steep, high-speed ascent followed by a similar steep, high-speed and evasive descent. He added that when the existence of threat clouds is factored in, which is but one of the means by which missile defence against ballistic missiles is complicated, the Guardian’s performance is thus put into perspective. Threat clouds are the clusters which form when a ballistic missile is in its midcourse phase (i.e. when it reaches the edge of terra’s atmosphere) and are primarily comprised of the debris from the separation of the warhead from the booster, the warheads themselves and decoys employed to confuse ground-based systems. In the absence of an improved radar system to aid the batteries in discriminating/discerning debris and decoys from the actual warheads, effective interception becomes impossible.

Via a joint collaboration between the SDA, the Armed Forces Projects Agency (AFPA) and Carthorn, the Guardian missile defence system had been provided with an enhanced radar suite. Called SA/TPX-78, the system represents the culmination of decades of research by the AFPA into low-tier air and missile defence. In providing a 360° field of view, the system is a set-up from the previous sector-scanning AN/TPX-66, which provided a 120° field of view, thus making it particularly vulnerable from angles in excess of 120°. It was noted that although this new radar struggles to address critical gaps in Guardian’s radar detection landscape, particularly as it pertains to hypersonic weaponry, it ultimately provides the system with an enhanced ability to discriminate/discern targets from “junk”. “AN/TPX-66 was a largely outdated platform. Although it had proved its worth in the past, when put up against a lot of the modern targets on the battlefield be it stealth aircraft, hypersonic weaponry and various ballistic missile threats, the system cannot cope and places the batteries and thus our defence at a unique disadvantage. In collaborating with our partners in the AFPA and Carthorn we were able to detail the specification we want and work in some technical research we had worked on with the AFPA previously into this new radar platform,” Admiral Howell explained.

 Pointing to Guardian’s recent performance, he confirmed that the system, as a result of its enhanced radar and situational awareness had successfully intercepted an SRBM, but had ultimately failed to intercept an MRBM. Here it was noted that although the radar had provided the system with an enhanced picture of the “threat environment”, the missile employed by the battery was not fast enough and ultimately failed to intercept. MRBMs are known to fly at speeds in excess of Mach 7, making interception extremely difficult, especially for those systems which operate at a lower Mach. Admiral Howell noted that the agency would ultimately settle on the reality that Guardian ought to primarily be deployed against SRBMs and that the system should not be pushed to be a “jack of all trades”.