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Overview
The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) System is the first missile defense program deployed operationally to defend the homeland against ballistic missile attacks conducted by terrorists or rogue states. The system provides early detection and tracking during the boost phase, midcourse target discrimination, precision intercept and destruction of inbound ICBMs through force of hit-to-kill technology.
Capabilities:
- Detects and tracks missiles early during their boost phase
- Provides target discrimination, precision intercept and destruction of the target in mid-course flight through hit-to-kill technology
- Provides post-attack kill assessment with the Sea Based X-Band Radar (SBX)
Team GMD members:
- Boeing: Prime Contractor
- Raytheon: Kill vehicles, radars
- Northrop Grumman: BMC2
- Orbital Sciences Corporation: Booster vehicles
- Bechtel: Facilities design and construction
- Teledyne Brown Engineering: Integrated systems testing capabilities and technical services
GMD has been in development since 1998 and is based on technologies pioneered by the MDA in the 1980s and 1990s. Extensive ground and flight tests have demonstrated the system's successful performance against long-range ballistic missile targets.
For more information, read the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (PDF) overview.
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