paperboy@afnews.af.mil (Incoming news) (06/25/91)
From: Incoming news <paperboy@afnews.af.mil> <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><>> <<>> Assistant Secretary Of Defense <<>> <<>> Public Affairs June 1991 <<>> <<>> Pentagon, Washington DC Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat <<>> <<>> A/V 225-3886 (912)695-3886 1 <<>> <<>> - - - - - - - 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 <<>> <<>> DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NEWS 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 <<>> <<>> 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 <<>> <<>> MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1991 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 <<>> <<>> 30 <<>> <<>> * * * * * * * * <<>> <<>> <<>> <<>> Department of Defense News Editor: Mr. Frank Falatko <<>> <<>> <<>> <<>> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <<>> <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><>> * SDIO AIRBORNE SUVEILLANCE TEST ==================================================================== SDIO AIRBORNE SUVEILLANCE TEST The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization's (SDIO) Airborne Surveil- lance Testbed (AST) conducted the first real-time discrimination of multiple reentry objects within the atmosphere on June 20 at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific. The AST successfully acquired a Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile target complex consisting of a simulated reentry vehicle and a variety of penetration aids. During the seven hour treaty compliant mission, the AST objective was to collect heat intensities and angular measurements of the targets. This allowed for a demonstration of real-time functions of track and discrimination and handover of targets complex data to a command center on the ground. AST accomplished all primary mission objectives. The AST is managed by the U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command for SDIO. AST is a modified Boeing 767 aircraft with a cupola which houses a sophisti- cated, long-wave infrared sensor. Also on board is a data processor capable of processing 15 billion operations per second which interprets the data acquired by the sensor in real-time and allows discrimination between actual reentry vehicles and decoys as they travel through the atmosphere. The sensor views through an open window in the cupola during the aircraft's missions at alti- tudes of over 40,000 feet. The data obtained from this mission is critical to continued SDI technol- ogy development and benefits a wide spectrum of SDI programs. -- __________________________________________________________________ | Air Force News Center (AFNEWS) | | Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, USA | | paperboy@afnews.af.mil | |__________________________________________________________________|