[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule

Sat Jul 16 20:09:15 EDT 2011

                             LAUNCH ALERT

                              Brian Webb
                     Ventura County, California
                  launch-alert-editor at earthlink.net
                        www.spacearchive.info

                                 2011 July 16 (Saturday) 16:47 PDT
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                   VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
                         As of 2011 July 16

                      Launch
                    Time/Window
   Date              (PST/PDT)              Vehicle          Pad/Silo
----------       -----------------       -------------       --------

JUL 27           To be announced         Minuteman III       ---
Vehicle will probably send one or more unarmed warheads on a ballistic
trajectory to an impact area in the Central Pacific. The Air Force
will announce details about the launch a few days in advance.

NET OCT 25       02:47:35-02:57:35       Delta II            SLC-2W
Vehicle will launch the NPP environmental satellite for NASA and NOAA  

The above schedule is a composite of unclassified information
approved for public release from government, industry, and other
sources. It represents the Editor's best effort to produce a schedule,
but may disagree with other sources. Details on military launches are
withheld until they are approved for public release. For official
information regarding Vandenberg AFB activities, go to
http://www.vandenberg.af.mil.

All launch dates and times are given in Pacific Time using a 24-hour
format similar to military time (midnight = 00:00, 1:00 p.m. = 13:00,
11:00 p.m. = 23:00, etc.). 

The dates and times in this schedule may not agree with those on other
online launch schedules, including the official Vandenberg AFB
schedule because different sources were used, the information was
interpreted differently, and the schedules were updated at different
times.

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            NNSA CONDUCTS SUCCESSFUL W78 JTA FLIGHT TEST
              National Nuclear Security Administration
                           2011 July 8

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Nuclear Security Administration
(NNSA), working with the U.S. Air Force, recently conducted a
successful W78 Joint Test Assembly (JTA) flight test. The joint flight
testing program helps ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of
the U.S. nuclear weapon stockpile.

The Minuteman payload consisted of a single instrumented JTA launched
from Vandenberg Air Force Base. It was the first flight test
incorporating a new command destruct system, Command Receiver Decoder,
developed for the Minuteman program. A JTA contains a set of sensors
and hardware used during flight tests to ensure that weapons perform
as intended. 

"JTA flight tests are essential in ensuring that all weapon systems
perform as designed," said Brig. Gen. Sandra Finan, NNSA Principal
Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application. "The working
relationship between NNSA and the Department of Defense is vital as we
continue our strong partnership in support of our national security."

NNSA produces JTAs in support of the Joint Surveillance Flight Test
Program between the Department of Defense and the NNSA. JTAs are built
to simulate actual weapon configurations utilizing as much war reserve
hardware as feasible. JTAs are assembled at the Pantex Plant in
Amarillo, Texas, and are not capable of nuclear yield, as they contain
no special nuclear materials.

The JTA includes a telemetry system which collects and transmits data
on the warhead. The data is fed into a reliability model developed by
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories to
evaluate the warhead reliability. 

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        SHORT RANGE AIR LAUNCHED TARGET SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED
              U.S. Missile Defense Agency News Release
                            2011 July 11

The Missile Defense Agency successfully completed a flight test
involving the launch of a Short Range Air Launched Target (SRALT) at
the Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division-Point Mugu Sea Range,
California. This flight test, designated FTX-17, successfully
demonstrated an upgraded air launch and umbilical pull separation
system, which had been redesigned to correct problems identified
during previous tests. 

At 7:04 p.m. PDT (10:04 p.m. EDT) on July 8, 2011, the SRALT missile
was deployed from a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport aircraft over the
Pacific Ocean approximately 500 miles west of the California coast.
The target missile was extracted from the rear of the C-17 aircraft by
parachute. The missile's rocket motor then ignited, sending it on a
planned trajectory over the Pacific Ocean.

The target missile's flight was successfully tracked by several
missile defense sensors in California, including an AN/TPS-59 Tactical
Missile Defense Radar at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, an X-band
AN/TPY-2 radar at Vandenberg AFB, and the Upgraded Early Warning Radar
at Beale AFB. Preliminary indications are that all data collection
objectives were met. 

This flight test was also used as a target of opportunity for several
emerging missile defense technologies. Two Space Tracking Surveillance
System (STSS) demonstration satellites tracked the target and
transmitted data to the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). This
was the first demonstration of stereo acquisition and track handover
of a short range target by the STSS satellites. Other participants
included the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications
(C2BMC) Experimentation Laboratory, Integrated Sensor Manager,
Enterprise Sensors Laboratory (ESL), Near-Field Infrared Experiment
(NFIRE), and the Airborne Infrared (ABIR) program.

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