The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) recently completed a successful Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) theater-level ground test, conducted to integrate new capabilities into the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) architecture. This test, identified as the Fast Contingency Analysis and Activation Team (CAAT) East (FCE)-C HWIL Test Event, is the third in a series of FCE Ground Tests focused on theater/regional defense capabilities.

The test was conducted during the week of Oct. 19-23, 2009, from the MDA BMDS Ground Test Center located at the Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center (MDIOC) in Colorado Springs, Colo. The test used the MDA Missile Defense System Exerciser (MDSE) to connect and control BMDS HWIL laboratories located across the United States to emulate the functionality resident in participating BMDS systems.

The HWIL labs participating in the event included the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) Lab, Colorado Springs; Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Lab, Moorestown, N. J; Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Lab, Azusa, Calif.; AN/TPY-2 X-band Radar Lab, Woburn, Mass.; the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) Lab, Huntsville, Ala.; the U.S.-Arrow Israeli Test Bed, Huntsville; and the Tactical Communications Environment Segment, San Diego, Calif.. Operational Community participants included the BMDS Operational Test Agency (OTA).

Ground tests play a vital role in the development of new technologies for missile defense by providing program officials detailed information about emerging hardware and software system functionality, while reducing the cost and schedule demands that would be required to provide the same information through an extensive flight test program. These efforts enable actual flight test data to be reconstructed and injected into geographically distributed HWIL representations of BMDS sensors and weapon systems. They also support development and validation of BMDS simulations for component weapon and sensor performance, communications, and interoperability, as well as threat and environment simulations. In this test, FCE-C HWIL provided a demonstration of the ability to conduct a system-level, theater-centric defense of critical assets.