National Military Information Center

[Lee Young-suk]

 

Welcome to the National Military Information Center

We will provide the latest news from the United States Armed Force and Department of Defense. This page is part of the US Freedom of Information Act which passed by United States Congress.

 

Mission of United States Department of Defense 

The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country. The department's headquarters is at the Pentagon, Warlington District, City of Hwaseong.

 

Military Departments

1. Joint Chiefs of Staff

2. United States Army 

3. United States Marine Corps

4. United States Navy

5. United States Air Force 

6. United States Coast Guard

 

Unified Combatant Commands

1. United States Africa Command

2. United States Central Command

3. United States Europe Command

4. United States Middle East Command

5. United States Pacific Command

6. United States Northern America Command

7. United States Southern America Command

8. United States Transportation Command

9. United States Strategic Command

10. United States Special Operations Command

Non Sibi Sed Patriae (Not For Self, But For Country)

 

News

Reactivation of Reconnaissance Satellites

 

WorldView-3 Satellite, One of the 20 Reconnaissance Satellites owned by United States

The Islamist cyber-terrorists attacked computers of National Reconnaissance Office which controlled and maintained all reconnaissance satellites owned by United States as part of Karachi attacks a long time ago. Fortunately, the United States Army Cyber Command and National Security Agency able to blockaded the terrorists from controlling the satellites. This attack caused the National Reconnaissance Office were not able to control all of 20 reconnaissance satellites although the satellites still continue to record and provide visualization.

We have fixed this problem but to open all records made by satellites on the past is need a long time.

- Director of National Reconnaissance Office

Learning from this attack, the National Reconnaissance Office cooperated with United States Army Cyber Command and National Security Agency to make a program to defend the systems of all satellites maintained by Department of Defense. As for now, the United States owned 70 military satellites and it is needed a system that will cover all of the satellites from being hijacked by cyber-terrorists.

Meanwhile, the National Reconnaissance Office also connected all reconnaissance satellites with National Military Command Center and White House Situation Room. This make the NRO will be able to provide live data and visualization from Reconnaissance Satellites directly into National Military Command Center at Pentagon and White House Situation Room.  

There are several types of reconnaissance satellites owned by NRO

1. Missile Early warning

Provides warning of an attack by detecting ballistic missile launches. Earliest known are Missile Defense Alarm System.

2. Nuclear explosion detection

Identifies and characterizes nuclear explosions in space. Vela (satellite) is the earliest known.

3. Photo surveillance

Provides imaging of earth from space. Images can be a survey or close-look telephoto. WorldView-3 is the earliest known. Spectral imaging is commonplace.

4. Electronic-reconnaissance

Signals intelligence, intercepts stray radio waves. Samos-F is the earliest known.

5. Radar imaging

Most space-based radars use synthetic aperture radar. Can be used at night or through cloud cover. Earliest known are US-A series.

 

Estbalishment of SPACETRACK program

SPACETRACK Control Center

The United States Space Surveillance Network (codenamed SPACETRACK) is a system to detect, track, catalog and identify artificial objects orbiting earth, e.g. Active/Inactive satellites, Spent rocket bodies, or fragmentation debris. The system is responsibility of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space, part of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). 

The Main Goals of Space Fence Program are

1.  Predicting when and where a decaying space objects will re-enter the Earth’s Atmosphere

2.  Preventing a space object which to radar look likes a missile, from triggering false alarm in missile-attack warning sensors.

3.  Charting the present position of space objects and plot their anticipated orbital paths.

4.  Detecting a new man-made objects in space

5.  Producing a running catalogue of man-made space objects

6.  Determining which country owns a re-entering space object

7.  Informing countries whether or not the objects may interfere with Satellites, Space Stations or Space Objects owned by the United States

8.  Providing data for future anti-satellite and artificial objects weapons systems

 The Space Fence is a second-generation SPACETRACK system which built by the US Air Force by using several renovated Outer Space Monitoring Stations including Krona-N which was built by Soviets on 1980 and was abandoned due to their economic stagnation which led to dissolution. The budget for this program is US$ 1.594 billions (FY17)

The initial space fence facility is located at Nakhodka, Primrosky (Krona-N Station) and Mallorca, Balearic Islands (Krona-M Station) along with an option for another site in Hainan Island.

The Space Fence stations used S-band radars and able to track a large number of space objects. “About 200,000 objects and make 1.5 Million observations per day” made by existing or recently retired US assets.

The Space Fence stations have been described as counter-intelligence facilities which identity and study hostile military and space objects. The first station in Nakhodka, Primrosky (Krona-N Station) is on two sites with an optical telescope and a LIDAR system as well two radars.

In common with Krona-N Station in Nakhodka, Primrosky there are also two radars on Krona-M Station. The largest on, the tree-like antenna giving the facility its name, is a decimeter band (UHF) phased array radar designed by Defense Advance Research Projects Agency. The other radar, operation in the centimeter band (SHF), consists of 5 rotating parabolic dishes in a cross which work on the basis of interferometry. Those stations have GRAU Index 40Zh6 and the military unit is number 29982.

[Lee Young-suk]

US Air Force Began to Develop X-51 WaveRider 

Design of Boeing X-51 Scramjet

tThe X-51 WaveRider is a scramjet for hypersonic flight at Mach 5 (3,300 mph; 5,300 km/h), an altitude of 70,000 feet (21,000 m). The aircraft was designated as X-51 WaveRider. It completed its first powered hypersonic flight.

WaveRider refers in general to aircraft that take advantage of compression lift produced by their own shock waves. The X-51 program was a cooperative effort by the United States Air Force, DARPA, NASA, Boeing, and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. The program was managed by the Aerospace Systems Directorate within the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). X-51 technology is proposed for use in the High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW) and some of them will be combined with nuclear warhead.

General characteristics

·         Crew: None

·         Length: 25 ft in (7.62 m)

·         Empty weight: 4,000 lb (1,814 kg)

Performance

·         Maximum speed: >3,900 mph (>6,200 km/h)

·         Maximum speed: Mach >5.1

·         Range: 460 miles (740 km)

·         Service ceiling: 70,000 ft (21,300 m)

Design and Development

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) began the HyTECH (Hypersonic Technology) program for hypersonic propulsion. Boeing and Lockheed Martin received a contract from the AFRL to develop a hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet engine which led to the development of the SJX61 engine. The SJX61 engine was originally meant for the X-51, which was eventually canceled. Then, these contractors upgraded SJX61 and applied it into X-51.

In flight demonstrations, the X-51 is carried by a B-52 to an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15 km; 9.5 mi) and then released over the Pacific Ocean. The X-51 is initially propelled by an MGM-140 ATACMS solid rocket booster to approximately Mach 4.5 (3,000 mph; 4,800 km/h). The booster is then jettisoned and the vehicle's Lockheed Martin Rocketdyne SJY61 scramjet accelerates it to a top flight speed near Mach 6 (4,000 mph; 6,400 km/h). The X-51 uses JP-7 fuel for the SJY61 scramjet, carrying some 270 lb (120 kg) on board.

Applications for Air-to-Surface Missile Technology

The U.S. Air Force planned to have X-51 applied to the High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW), a hypersonic air to surface missile project. It is envisioned to have a range of 500-600 nmi, fly at Mach 5-6, and fit on an F-35 or in the internal bay of a B-2 bomber.

Ground Testing

Ground tests of the X-51A will begin in middle of this July, A preliminary version of the X-51, the "Ground Demonstrator Engine No. 2". Testing will continue there until a simulated X-51 flight at Mach 5 was successfully completed on August 15, 2017. The testing is intended to observe acceleration between Mach 4 and Mach 6 and to demonstrate that hypersonic thrust "isn't just luck" Four captive test flights were initially planned for end of August. However, the first captive flight of the X-51A on a B-52 was conducted on beginning of July.