Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kwajalein infrastructure and RTS headquarters, click to enlarge.

An exoatmospheric kill vehicle (kinetic penetrator, mid-phase) is launched from Meck Island on 3 December 2001

The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, commonly referred to as the Reagan Test Site (formerly Kwajalein Missile Range), is a missile test range in the Pacific Ocean. It covers about 750,000 square miles (1,900,000 km²) and includes rocket launch sites at the Kwajalein Atoll (on multiple islands), Wake Island, and Aur Atoll. It primarily functions as a test facility for U.S. missile defense and space research programs. The Reagan Test Site is under the command of the US Army Kwajalein Atoll, or USAKA (pronounced /uːˈsɑːkə/).
The mission control center, along with most of the personnel and infrastructure, is located at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.^[1] Eleven of the atoll's islands are operated by the U.S. military under a long term lease with the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Equipment installed at the test site includes various tracking radars, stationary and mobile telemetry, optical recording equipment and a secure fiberoptic data network via the HANTRU-1 undersea cable. The Reagan Test Site also serves as a tracking station for manned space flight and NASA research projects.
Launch activities at the test site include ballistic missile tests, ABM interception tests, meteorological sounding rockets and a commercial spaceport for SpaceX at Omelek Island.
Previous names for the installation:^[2]

• Naval Station Kwajalein (Post WWII–1959)
• Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kwajalein (1959–1964)
• Kwajalein Test Site (1964–1968)
• Kwajalein Missile Range (1968–1986)
• United States Army Kwajalein Atoll (1986–1991)
• Kwajalein Missile Range (1991–1999)
• Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (1999–present)

Contents

• 1 See also
• 2 Notes
• 3 References
• 4 External links

See also

United States Air Force portal

• Nike Hydac
• Project Nike

Notes

1. Jump up ^ "Mission Control Center". Smdc.army.mil. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
2. Jump up ^ "U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll Reagan Test Site" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-10.

References

• Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS) Official Site
• U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA)