Space Force Station.
Credit U.S. Space Force
Installation officials say the name-change won’t affect Clear’s main mission, which is to scan the horizon for incoming enemy missiles and alerting the U.S. missile defense system, including the base at Fort Greely, to the threat.
Clear’s ability to carry out that mission will be greatly enhanced in 2023 when an advanced, $1.5 billion radar system becomes operational. Construction work on the Long Range Discrimination Radar has been completed, and the Missile Defense Agency hopes to conduct a key operational flight test for the LRDR next year.
There are no Space Force personnel at Clear. Officials say for now Air Force military and civilian personnel will continue to operate the installation.
Clear becomes part of Space Force program kodiakdailymirror.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kodiakdailymirror.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Pentagon budget 2022: Missile Defense Agency budget ticks lower at USD8.9 billion
by Daniel Wasserbly
The White House’s proposed budget for the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) continues a slow downward trend for the agency, with USD8.917 billion requested in fiscal year 2022 (FY 2022).
MDA had budgeted for USD9.187 billion in FY 2021, USD9.431 billion in FY 2020, and USD10.491 billion in FY 2019.
The FY 2022 request, which is likely to be somewhat altered by lawmakers who must then pass it in both congressional chambers before the president enacts it, includes USD1.733 billion for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system that is designed to defend against limited long-range attacks from states such as North Korea. It has also requested USD926.1 million to begin a Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) to augment the system’s older strategic interceptors.
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The Government Accountability Office says the covid-related delays will prevent the Missile Defense Agency from conducting its first operational flight test for the Long Range Discrimination Radar until the fall of next year. That’s about nine months later than the agency estimated in 2019.
Large arrays at the Long Range Discrimination Radar will enable the LRDR to scan farther and with greater acuity to better detect and track enemy missiles and their warheads.
Credit Missile Defense Agency
Construction on the facility basically has been completed. But the test is an important milestone in the latter stages of the project.
The radar is designed to provide much greater capability for detecting an enemy missile soon after launch and tracking it and the trajectory of its warhead amid decoys and other radar-distracting objects.
Yearlong delay hits operational test of Alaska-based missile defense radar 2 days ago Clear Air Force Station’s $347 million Long Range Discrimination Radar complex is seen June 6, 2018. (John Budnik/U.S. Army) WASHINGTON The U.S. Air Force’s ballistic missile defense radar being installed at Clear Air Force Station, Alaska, won’t have its only operational flight test for another year, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. The Long Range Discrimination Radar was supposed to have its flight test in the third quarter of fiscal 2021 after two ground tests, but the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected the program overall, has resulted in the need to move the test back to the final quarter of fiscal 2022.