All hands Ready? Arrrr!!
Navy/Missile/Notes/News.
MDA to Use Awesome Destroyer USS John Finn for Defense-of-Hawaii Missile Intercept Test
The Mighty Missile Defense Agency is nearing its planned defense-of-Hawaii test event with an Arleigh Burke destroyer and a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA, to prove the ship can serve as a back-up to ground-based homeland defense systems if needed.
The FTM-44 flight test, which was planned for May but postponed due to COVID-19-related restrictions, would prove that the SM-3 IIA could go beyond its originally designed scope and be used to stop an intercontinental ballistic missile, MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said in a briefing online this week. If successful, the destroyer and SM-3 IIA pairing would add another layer to the layered homeland defense model the MDA is developing.
An ICBM target is on station on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and Pearl Harbor-based USS John Finn (DDG-113) is ready to conduct the test, Hill said.
He did not specify when the test would take place but said that it’s congressionally mandated to happen by the end of the year and that MDA and the Navy are making final adjustments based on ongoing COVID restrictions.
“We’ll be launching the ICBM, the ship will maneuver and launch an SM-3 Block IIA outside its design space to take on an intercontinental ballistic missile track. It’s going to be a pretty great event and we’re looking forward to that,” he said, calling it “the first empirical data capture” event to prove that the SM-3 IIA can be successful against this type of threat.
If successful, he said the Navy would have to work out how its fantastic warfighters would employ this homeland defense capability and which agencies they’d have to coordinate with, but he said the first step is proving it is technologically feasible.
Even as MDA pushes the boundaries of what’s possible for Navy ships and weapons to contribute to ballistic missile defense for the homeland, Hill said he also has big hopes for the Navy’s ability to contribute to defense against hypersonic weapons as well.
More here:
https://news.usni.org/2020/08/05/mda-to-use-destroyer-uss-john-finn-for-defense-of-hawaii-missile-intercept-test#more-78996
SEALS IN SPACE?
It is no secret that Navy SEALs, the special operations force of the U.S. Navy, are constantly striving to out-perform themselves and each other, but how far can they go? In 1984, one of them went above and beyond his teammates and made history.
“At the time, NASA was taking astronaut candidates who were not just pilots,” said Capt. William Shepherd, retired SEAL, and the first commander of the International Space Station.
Not long after, Shepherd learned he would become a member of the NASA Astronaut Corps, making him not only the first military non-aviator, but also the first Navy SEAL to go through astronaut training in U.S. history.
"We are now at a crossroads, deciding whether we are bound to inhabit only the Earth, or if humans are to live and work far from the home planet,” said Shepherd in an interview regarding the 5th anniversary of continuous life aboard the International Space Station. “Let us continue now with new explorations which are more expansive and more bold; voyages which will define us as a space-faring civilization."
Although Shepherd was standing in the ranks among the most highly trained warriors in the world, he looked towards the stars to achieve more, he wasn’t the only one. Capt. (SEAL) Chris Cassidy, a current astronaut, spent more than 10 years in the SEAL teams and was directly influenced by the previous achievements of Shepherd.
"In my experience with the SEAL teams and with going through BUD/S, it's given me the confidence to know I can accomplish anything that I want,” said Cassidy in an interview with U.S. Navy SEAL & SWCC Page. “If you look at SEALs after their life in the teams, you’ll find people in all different sectors of industry doing all types of things. I personally always had an interest in astronauts, and I followed Capt. Shepherd's career and was inspired by him to be an astronaut."
In 2004, Cassidy was selected for NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Class and joined a group of fellow explorers including pilots and engineers. Shortly after selection, he began intensive training that included land survival, T-38 jet ground and flight training, Shuttle orbiter systems training, space station systems training, science and engineering briefings and orientation tours at all NASA centers, including the Kennedy Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
It is possible that astronaut could be Lt. (SEAL) Jonny Kim.
In 2002, Kim decided to leave his hometown of Santa Monica, Calif. to enlist in the Navy and join the ranks of Naval Special Warfare operators.
“I didn’t like the person I was growing up to become. I needed to find myself and my identity,” said Kim in an interview with former SEAL, Jocko Willink. “And for me, getting out of my comfort zone, getting away from the people I grew up with, and finding adventure, that was my odyssey, and it was the best decision I ever made.”
After completing Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S), Kim was assigned as a Special Warfare Operator to SEAL Team THREE Charlie Platoon and served as a Special Operations Combat Medic, sniper, navigator and point man on more than 100 combat operations spanning two deployments to the Middle East including Ramadi and Sadr City, Iraq.
His experiences as a medic taught him about teamwork, humility and service. Upon returning home, he decided to challenge himself yet again and applied for a commissioning program that put him on the path to become a medical doctor. Kim’s application was accepted and he began his residency to Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.
In 2017, Kim was a resident physician in emergency medicine with Partners Healthcare at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He finally met his goal of becoming a doctor, but he didn’t stop there. That same year, he applied to become an astronaut and was accepted, joining NASA’s team on the Artemis program.
“I was told that with the right attitude, and with enough hard work, if you get up after every time you fail, you can amount to something and you can do positive work. You can leave a positive mark for our world, and that's what I aim to do,” said Kim.
Kim’s unwavering perseverance led him to be the outstanding American that many call a hero, and he encourages many others to follow in his path of greatness as well.
“Don't let that hunger for the unknown go away,” said Kim. “That curiosity is so important, so you should maintain that passion for what you do. Never in a million years would I have thought I could have been an astronaut candidate. I didn't have the confidence from my childhood, but dreams are possible and all good things in life are hard to get, so persevere and don't give up!”
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/375363/seals-space
Arrr!