Network Centric Airborne Defense Element (missile)

Template:TOC-right The Network Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE) is both a new approach to ballistic missile defense (BMD), simultaneously seen as a low-risk, moderate capability anti-ballistic missile (ABM), largely derived from commercial-off-the-shelf technology. As opposed to all other U.S. ABMs, it would be launched from an F-15 Eagle aircraft rather than from the ground. The Missile Defence Agency awarded a study contract early in 2007; based on early successes, it awarded an additional $10 million in September 2008.

While the initial focus is on ABM applications launched from a specific air superiority fighter, both other missions and other launching platforms are being considered. Since it its physical form factor will be very close to the operational AIM-120 AMRAAM missile, any AMRAAM-capable aircraft (e.g., F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-15E Strike Eagle, F-18 Hornet, F-18 Super Hornet, F-22 Raptor, Joint Strike Fighter should carry it. In moving to these platforms, the major challenge, other than in with the planned upgrade of the Strike Eagle radar, have different radars.

Radically different launchers are also under consideration, including unmanned aerial vehicles, warships and even remotely controlled surface plaforms, and aerostats. At least for the airborne types, it would probably be simplest to port the designated F-15 radar, the AN/APG-63 V(3). That radar might need supplementation to get sufficient range from surface, but inherent in the NCADE concept is that the launch platform would receive information from other local, theater, and national sensors.

A somewhat similar Russian system, the Novator R-172, apparently has been intended as a very-long-range air-to-air missile to be used against radar, intelligence, and other C3I-ISR aircraft that fly far behind the battle line.

Since the terminal guidance of NCADE is infrared, it may offer improved performance against stealth aircraft, which put more effort into low radar observability than low radar observability.

Boost phase capability

It would be focused on boost phase intercept, for which no operational or near-operational U.S. BMD system was designed. Still experimental, the U.S. Air Force Airborne Laser, carried by a Boeing 747 aircraft, would be able to engage in both the boost and terminal phases. The challenge for a boost phase kill mechanism is that it needs to operate near the launch site. A Boeing 747 would need considerable escort to exist in a hostile airspace; a fighter is far more survivable.

The RIM-161 Standard SM-3, while designed for terminal phase intercept, is launched from a warship: a Burke-class destroyer, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, or a Japanese Kongo-class destroyer. Engaging a North Korean missile launched from a facility near the coast of the Sea of Japan is a plausible scenario, but there are many other launch sites that would be far inland.

Derivation and design

NCADE is a two-stage missile. Its first stage would be a derivative of the AIM-120 AMRAAM, already operational on the F-15 Eagle as its beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile. This would carry the second stage, which would put a modified version of the infrared seeker from the AIM-9X Sidewinder onto a new rocket motor intended for maneuvering against a boosting, or at least ascending, ballistic missile.

Pre-launch targeting would come from the latest version of the F-15 radar, the AN/APG63V(3), which is the second version of the AESA radar for the F-15. The fighter, however, could be cued toward the target by a variety of sensors, ranging from space-based infrared launch detection and tracking satellites, to forward-deployed AN/SPY-2 seaborne or AN/TPY-2 land-based transportable radars. RC-135 COBRA BALL aircraft use electro-optical MASINT sensors for tracking and analyzing missile launches.

An NCADE-modified seeker, on an AIM-9X fired from an F-16 Fighting Falcon, successfully intercepted a boosting test rocket in December 2007. Development now focuses on the divert and attitude control (DACS) system, a general term for the type of maneuverability needed for missile intercept.

The second stage will be quite small, so that the overall NCADE will be approximately the same size as the existing AMRAAM. It will make use of a new high-energy monopropellant, hydroxylammonium nitrate, which, while powerful, is also stable and could be approved for shipboard launch. Given that the F-18 Hornet, F-18 Super Hornet and future F-35C Lightning II carrier fighters all support the AIM-120, and, at least in the latter two, have radars comparable to the AN/APG-63, a carrier-based NCADE is a reasonable projection.

Potentially relevant experience

In the 1980s, an anti-satellite missile, the ASM-135, was developed to be carried by modified F-15 aircraft. While it was successfully flight tested against a satellite, the program was cancelled for a variety of reasons. Costs were escalating dramatically and there were concerns it would violate treaties on the militarization of space. Nevertheless, engineering data from the experience of launching a large missile from an F-15, aimed at a target at the edge of space, should contribute to reducing the risk of the NCADE program.

Possible Russian counterpart

Russia has been developing the Novator R-172 missile, for its new Su-35BM fighter. This combination has been seen as an extremely long-range "AWACS killer", or general threat to C3I-ISR aircraft.