PROGRESS REPORT MISSILE MONITORING PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-03172A000200010003-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 21
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 1, 1961
• Content Type: REPORT

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1,...4ixrd I
0
Aero Geo Astro Corporation
? Alexandria, Virginia
All requests for this report shall
be approved by the Office of Aaval
Research (Code )418)
1:
Progress Report
Missile Monitoring Program
1 April 1961
Office of Naval Research
Contract 3163 (00)
AERO GEO ASTRO
CORPORATION
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
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sEcumre NOTICE
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATION-
AL DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE
ESPIONAGE LAWS, TITLE 1E, V, S. C., SECTIONS 793 AND 794, THE
TRANSMISSION OR THE REVELATION OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MAN-
NER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PROHIBITED BY LAW.
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L 0634
COPY 09-3 Cf_2_2-4-z_COMES
PROGHP,SS REPORT
OF
MISSILE MONITORING PROGRAM
1 April 1961
Prepared by
Aero Geo Astro Corporation
13624 Magnolia Avenue
Corona, California
Prepared under Office of Naval Research Contract 3163(00)
This document contains information affecting the national defense of the
United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title 18, U.S.C,
Section 793 and 794. The transmission or the revelation of its contents
in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
L.. can.
igBy pa3 z3
DOC 0 REV DATE
ORIG CCA11370/ DPI TYPE
ORIG CLASS S PAGES 2- i REV CLASS
AUST NEXT ggy 4u1ht AB 18-2
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
2
2.
System
2
3,
Data
3
4.
Pacific Missile Range Tests
3
5.
Atlantic Missile Range Tests
4
6.
Summary
6
TABLE OF FIGURES
I.
Test 1053: Trajectory of Discoverer Launched from PMR
7
2.
Test 1053: Discoverer Launch; Patuxent Radar Site
8
3.
Test 3504: Trajectory Atlas Launched from AMR
9
4.
Test 3504: Atlas Launch: Patuxent Hadar Site
10
5
Test 412: Polaris Launch: Boulder Radar Site
11
E.
Test 826: Bluescout Launch; Boulder Radar Site
12
7.,
Test 5101: Redstone Launch: Boulder Radar Site
13
8-.
Test 5101: Redstone Launch: Patuxent Radar Site
14
9.
Test 413: Polaris Launch: Boulder Radar Site
15
10.
Test 815: Polaris Launch: Boulder Radar Site
16
11.
Test 816: Pershing Launch: Boulder Radar Site
17
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1. INTRODUCTION
This report discusses VLF radar detection of ballistic missile launches at
Atlantic Missile Range and Pacific Missile Range during the period 24 JunaurY
to 15 March, 1961. The two Aero Geo Astro stations, used previously for monitoring
the recent French nuclear test and for the detection of large moteor showers',
were modified to enable them to look at launches from both coasts. The radar at
Boulder, Colorado, has about a 1600-mile range to AMR launches and about a 900-
mile range to PMR launches, while the Patuxent, Maryland, station is used for
medium-range detection (700 miles) of AMR launches and long-range detection (2500
miles of PMR launches. In general, the results confirm previous detection of
large missile launches obtained from Corona, California. These results show
that the detection usually begins shortly before the missile penetrates the D
layer, with some indication of even lower detection. In general, the reflection
lasts for many minutes.
In addition to monitoring the large missile launches, a number of smaller
missiles (primarily Polaris) have been monitored. These missiles have not been
previously detected by VLF radar. The radar frequency limits have been raised
to include NSS (22.3 kc) whereas previous detections covered the frequency range
from 14 to 18 kc. The measurements are not precise enough to determine any small
frequency dependence of the scatter over this frequency range; however, no gross
effects have been noticed.
2. SYSTEM
The bi-static radar systems are described in some detail in a previous
report'. Simplified operation is as follows:
The VLF pulse from a station (NPG or NSS) is picked up on a reference
antenna and delayed in a sonic delay line system an amount equal to the
round-trip propagation time to the target area. This delayed pulse is used
as the reference signal for the R-F correlator. The backscatter energy
is picked up on a loop antenna (in the case of AMR launches, the Patuxent
station uses a loop monopole combination giving a cardioid pattern),
amplified and fed to the correlator. The output of the correlator is re-
corded on a paper chart recorder. Both the delayed reference channel and the
signal channel are gated off for the duration of the stationts transmitted
pulse. This gating, or blanking, prevents the system from correlating on
that portion of the direct transmit pulse which is received on the signal
antenna. The leading and tailing edge of the pulse are quite long (a few
milliseconds) so that considerable care must be taken in order to completely
blank out this leakage signal. For medium-range operation (such as Patuxent
to AMR), the tail portion of the pulse cannot be blanked as this occurs
during reception of the target echo. This undesirable station leakage is
greatly reduced by centering the null of the cardioid antenna pattern on
1
"Progress Report on Licor Instrumentation," Aero Geo Astro Corporation,
23 January 1961.
2 -
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the station. It is planned to switch the operation of the VLF RADAR
station at Patuxent from NSS to NAA (Cutler, Maine) when NAA goes on a
regular schedule. The operation and sensitivity of the Patuxent
station is expected to improve when full use can be made of NAA.
3. DATA
All of the tests monitored at both sites between 24 January 1961 and
15 March 1961 will be discussed in this section. A considerable number of
tests, during this period, were not monitored due to down time while changing
the stations over from nuclear detection to missile monitoring.
For each test, the effective radar cross sections have been calculated
using the VLF radar equation'. In all of the calculations, the attenuation
coefficient was assumed to be 2 db per thousand kilometers. It is known,
however, that this coefficient varies from day to night and under other
conditions, so that the calculated cross sections may be a few db in error.
Field intensity measurements of the VLF stations were made at Boulder,
Colorado, during the test intervals so that times of abnormal attenuation
are recorded. In the future, field intensity measurements will be made
simultaneously at Patuxent, Maryland; Boulder, Colorado; and Corona, California
so that the attenuation constant can be determin2d for each test. The
measured cross sections(o) haveranged between 100 and 107 square meters
which compares favorably with measurements made at the 200-mile range earlier
at Corona. .Radars are calibrated by using both MIT signal and typical pulse
code signals. The calibration is generally indjcated in db relative to a
signal field intensity of 1 v/m, (i.e., a -20db calibration indicates that
a MT signal of a .1 tiv/m produced a deflection of one division.) Code trans-
mission requires higher signal field intensity than an: for the samedeflection
due to the lower duty cycle. At the Boulder site, this factor is typically
about 17 db.
Many other precautions are taken in and around test time to minimize
the possibility of false target indications. Meteor shower records are
examined in order to determine if any have occurred near the test time. The
preliminary reports of solar activity by the High Altitude Observatory,
University of Colorado, are also referred to for various geophysical phenomena,
such as aurora, solar radio noise bursts, magnetic storms, sudden enhancements
and sudden cosmic noise absorption. Attempts will also be made to correlate
apparent drifts in the reflectiong center with high altitude wind measurements,
as they become available, for the particular tests.
L. PACIII1C MISSILE RANGE TESTS
Test No. 1053. This was a Discoverer launch on 18 February 1961. The
trajectory is shown in Figure 1. This launch was detected at the Patuxent
1
"Progress Report on Licor Instrumentation," Aero Geo Astro Corporation,
23 January 1961.
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site using NSS as the source. The signature is shown in Figure 2. The
station was off the air from a few minutes before To to about To + 2
minutes. The signature appears to begin- at about To + 2-1/2 minutes and
reaches a first peak at around 3 minutes. The calculated cross section
for this first portion is about 2 x 106 square meters. There is a larger
rise beginning at about +4 minutes. This time coincides closely to the
Agena ignition; however, this is most probably a coincidence. The cross
section corresponding to this peak: is about 6 x 107 square meters. Only
one channel was available at this time so that the decreasing signal
beginning at about +7 minutes does not necessarily indicate the decay
rate of the perturbation but could represent a drift in the reflecting
area.
5. ATLANTIC MISSILE RANGE TESTS
Test No, 3504: This was an Atlas launch on 24 January 1961. The trajectory
is shown in Figure 3. At the time of this test, the loop monopole nulling
system was not in use at Patuxent; therefore, there was quite a large
residual correlated output due to the slow tail-off of the pulse. The
portion of the signature around T-3 minutes, 'as shown in Figure 4, shows
the residual offset due to the low duty cycle beeping transmission. From
about -1 minute to +1 minute, the station is off the air. At about +1
minute, the station comes on its regular code transmission and a larger
offset occurs, believed primarily due to the higher duty cycle. Just
prior to 2-1/2 minutes, there is a sharp change in signal level. This is
attributed to the missile launch. It appears in this case that the matter
signal is essentially out of phase with the pulse leakage signal. The
missile would be about at 60 kilonetersaltitude at this time. The change
in signal level about 20 seconds earlier might possibly be associated with
the missile. This occurs at an altitude of about 50 kilometers. The
dashed lines in the signaure are for portions of the time when the
station either went off the air for a short time, or reduced duty cycle
radically. This shows the probable signal level for a constant duty cycle
transmission. The cross section was calculated to be about 3 x 106
square meters.
Test No. 412: This was a Polaris launched at 1619:09 GMT on 1 March 1961.
The field intensity of MPG, as measured at Boulder during this times, was
about 3.7 mv/m. The signature is shown in Figure 5. It is noted that
there is a fairly sharp rise in the signal level shortly before To + 1-1/2
minutes. The trajectory for this test is not available as of this
writing; however, assuming a typical Polaris trajectory, this places the
missile at about 60 kilometer altitude at To 4. 1-1/2 minutes. The calculated
backscatter cross section is 8 x 106 square meters.
Test No. 826: This was a Bluescout launch on 3 March 1961. 'The field
intensity of MPG at Boulder was 3.3 mv/m. The onset of the signature, as
shown in Figure 6, apparently begins at about +80 seconds with the further
increase at about 2 minutes. The missile altitudes corresponding to thpse
times are not known at present. The calculated cross section is 4 x 10'
square meters..
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Test No, 5101: This was a Redstone launch at 0230 GMT on 9 March 1961.
It was nighttime over the propagation path thus giving a higher field
intensity reading at Boulder for NPG; i.e., 4.8 mv/m. The signature is
shown in Figure 7. There is a possible onset of signal at about 1-1/2
minutes but more probably, the signature begins just prior to +2 minutes.
The peak of the signature occurs at about 2-1/4 minutes. The trajectory
of this launch is not available; however, for a typical Redstone launch,
the missile would be at about 57 kilometers at To +2-1/4 minutes. The
calculated cross section is 2 x 100 square meters.
This launch was also monitored at Patuxent using NSS as a source.
The signature is shown in Figure 8. There is no indication of detection
immediately or shortly after launch; however, with only one channel avail-
able, most of the signature return could have been in the quadrature
channel. It appears that the ionized cloud, or perturbation,may have
drifted to allow- the signature to begin to appear in this channel at
about +5 minutes. The signal reached a peak in this channel at about
+15 minutes and then began to decrease. This decrease of signal could
be due to decay of the perturbation, but it could also be a slow drift
in. range.
Test No, 413: This was a Polaris launch at AMR on 9 March 1961 at
I8,11 GMT. The MPG field intensity was measured as 2.9 mv/m at Boulder.
This is 'considerably below the usual field intensity measured at
Boulder, and could indicate an increase in the attenuation factor. A
geomagnetic storm also occurred during this period. The increased
attenuation rate may have been related to this storm in some fashion
although the storm did not produce any noticeable scatter effects during
the monitoring time. The results at Boulder are considered negative for
this test. If the attenuation rate wap the usual 2 db per 1000 NM, the
cross section would have been below 10' square meters; however, it is
believed that the negative result is due to a higher than normal
attenuation rate along the VLF path.
There is an indication of a detection on this launch at the Patuxent
site using NSS as the source. The signature is shown in Figure 9. The
signal was somewhat out of a good null as is noticed from the signature
previous to To. At about To, the station went off code to their regular
transmission of "beeps", or dashes with long spacing between them. This
transmission is of a constant duty cycle but with considerably lower
average power. This portion of the record is shown expanded in the figure.
The signature apparently begins at about 80 seconds and reaches a peak
at around 90 seconds. For a typical Polaris launch, these times correspond
to approximately 45 and 60 kilometer altitude. When the station comes
back onto its regular code transmission, it is noted that the deviation
from zero is greater than it was previous to the test.
Test No, 815: This was a Polaris missile launched on 15 March 1961. The
signature obtained at Boulder is shown in Figure 10. There is some
indication of scatter beginning at bout +1-1/4 minutes. There is a larger
signal change occurring in the region of 13 to 14 minutes after To.
Trajectory information is not available on this launch at present so that
little analysis has been done.
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Test No. 816: This test, which likewise has not been analyzed in any
detail, was a Pershing launch on 16 March 1961. Pershing missiles
typically burn out at about +70 seconds. It is noted from the signature
shown in Figure 11 that there is no indication of scatter during the
burn period. There is some slight indication of scatter beyond this
period, particularly around +5 minutes.
6. SUILARY
In summary, it may be stated that there is strong evidence that the
smaller missiles, such as Polaris, produce ionized trails and/or ionospheric
perturbations which may be detected by VLF backscatter systems. The scatter
cross sections generally ranged between 106 and 107 square meters.
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124'
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Figure 5. Test No. 412. Polaris Launch: Boulder Radar Site.
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