Strategic Deterrence Mission Area
Program Areas
Air Force Strategic Systems Program Area
In 2018, APL stood up the Air Force Strategic Systems (AFSS) Program Area to broaden APL’s deterrence mission contributions to the Air Force, building on more than 60 years of support to the Navy’s submarine-launched ballistic missile weapon system. Over the past decade, focused efforts have expanded to include the Air Force’s Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and the Missile Defense Agency’s flight test programs, Air Force and Navy nuclear mission assessments and interactive simulations, and the Sentinel follow-on ICBM replacement program. The AFSS mission is to provide critical science, engineering, analytical, and subject-matter expertise to the Air Force.
The program area collaborates with related strategic deterrence efforts across the Laboratory’s departments and sectors. We focus on applying our expertise in the following areas:
- Systems engineering
- Ballistic flight environments
- Mission assessments
- Weapon system command and control
- Strategic testing and evaluation
- Modeling and simulation
- Weapon systems accuracy and sustainment
- Advanced capabilities and prototyping
- Virtual reality and augmented reality training systems
Strategic Hypersonics and Advanced Payloads Program Area
The Strategic Hypersonics and Advanced Payloads Program Area is focused on bringing complementary capabilities from early concept through deployment.
The program area champions the Conventional Prompt Strike weapon systems from inception through deployment and integration of advanced capabilities. We also prototype groundbreaking strategic reentry and related concepts to ensure the effectiveness of our nation’s strategic deterrence forces. Bridging these lines of work is a thrust area to develop new and novel testing capabilities to bring these hypersonic and reentry systems to the warfighter as fast as possible.
These major efforts rely on the legacy and technical foundation APL has built over the past 60 years through testing and evaluation of the Navy’s sea-based nuclear deterrence system.
The program area focuses its areas of expertise in the early development, prototyping, testing, and fielding of weapon systems and subsystems. All disciplines needed to bring a flight vehicle from paper napkin sketch to real hardware are brought to bear on problems such as aerodynamics, electrical system design, mechanical and structural engineering, embedded software development, and radio frequency engineering. Systems engineering and digital engineering are native to all that the program area does in addition to a tight coupling between APL and our government sponsors. Definition and execution of subsystem and full system tests that span design, setup, safety, and analysis are key elements to many of the activities.
Strategic Weapon Systems Engineering Program Area
For more than 60 years, Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) has been the technical and operational lead for the Navy’s sea-based nuclear deterrence systems. During this time, the Laboratory has had an enduring role as SSP’s independent evaluator. Because SSP and the nation have committed to the Navy’s deterrent capability through the rest of the century, it is critical to extend the life of the Trident II D5 weapon system for continued use on the Ohio submarine platform as well as the new Columbia-class platform.
Building on our independent evaluator strengths, the Laboratory continues to make critical contributions to the mission. We provide SSP with system-level technical and operational understanding and analyses to make the best acquisition decisions today and ensure the most capable, robust, and cost-efficient system for future deterrent needs in the face of uncertainty, technological change, future mission needs, and potential threat disturbances.
Our system-level contributions within our acquisition development roles build on key capabilities critical to the independent evaluator role, including accuracy and reliability expertise, analyses across the spectrum of subsystems, operational understanding, testing and evaluation, and navigation. APL facilitates SSP’s effectiveness at the system level by leveraging our expertise in the Submarine Security Technology Program operational understanding and assessments, ballistic missile defense technology and capabilities, national-level analyses in cost estimation, threat trends and understanding, mission-level understanding and planning, and decision analysis expertise as well as our cross-disciplinary expertise with Air Force Strategic Systems and expertise in asymmetric, including cyber domain, specialty areas.
Core analysis capability, performance modeling and simulation, and the independent evaluation role build the foundational strength to ground all analyses and studies in the right data and information, building confidence and understanding for the sponsor’s decision-making. In areas such as navigation and underwater launch, the Laboratory has basic phenomenological understanding essential to grounded, system-level understanding based on applied physics.
Strategic Systems Performance Analysis and Evaluation Program Area
The Strategic Systems Performance Analysis and Evaluation (SSPA&E) Program Area includes the Nuclear Weapons Surety Independent Evaluator (NWSuIE) for the Nuclear Weapons Surety and Security System, a Trident II D5 weapon system subsystem external to the submarine. NWSuIE analysis implements the same analytical framework and discipline as the Trident II D5 submarine-based weapon subsystems. SSPA&E provides an independent and unbiased analysis of the Surety and Security System’s performance.
The program area encompasses:
- Patrol
- Flight test
- Demonstration and shakedown operation evaluation
- Range systems for flight tests
- Nuclear weapons security assessment and engineering programs, and the interactive simulations program, which focuses on providing agile and engaging immersive training simulations for warfighters
The portfolio is expanding to also cover the Air Force Ground Based Strategic Deterrent and reshaping with a goal of performing more broadly strategic enterprise assessment for the Navy and the Air Force.