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Northrop Grumman Fires Rocket Motor For Missile Defense Interceptor

KEI (pictured) is a mobile missile-defense system that, when deployed, will be able to destroy a hostile threat during its boost, ascent or early midcourse phase of flight.
by Staff Writers
Promontory UT (SPX) Sep 18, 2006
The Northrop Grumman Corporation and Raytheon Company team for the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) missile defense program successfully fired a Stage 1 rocket motor today. This test marks the second in a series of risk-reduction ground firings for the KEI rocket motors that will lead to the first KEI booster flight test in 2008.

Program Achieves Another Critical Milestone, Leading Up to 2008 Booster Flight

Built by teammate ATK Launch Systems Group in Promontory, Utah, the first-stage rocket motor ignited properly and fired for a full-duration burn, demonstrating proof-of-concept of the first-stage rocket motor for this high-acceleration, high-velocity and highly maneuverable missile.

Initial results from the test matched expectations for performance and integrity. Using the detailed data collected from this first of five Stage 1 ground tests, the team will continue to make adjustments to optimize design performance. The rocket motors provide the high acceleration and velocity to allow the KEI interceptor to deliver the unique capability to intercept long-range ballistic missiles in multiple phases of flight.

"This test, combined with the successful test of the Stage 2 motor earlier this year, proves that both KEI booster stages have exceptional performance," said Craig Staresinich, vice president and general manager for the Northrop Grumman KEI program. "Our team has effectively applied mature, flight-proven technologies in a new way to produce a highly maneuverable, high-acceleration missile that can meet the boost/ascent or early midcourse mission. Achieving this milestone ensures that we are on track for the program and verifies our approach to mission assurance in building and deploying this important system for our nation."

Northrop Grumman is leading the team charged with developing and testing a KEI capability under contract to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Raytheon leads the interceptor development work for the KEI program with ATK as its principal subcontractor responsible for performing the Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 rocket-motor development work. Teammate Orbital Sciences developed the thrust vector actuators, which steer the rocket motor nozzles to ensure high-performance control of the missile in flight.

"Mission success is clearly the driving objective for the KEI team," said Chuck Ross, vice president of Raytheon's KEI team. "We've made excellent technical progress to date, as demonstrated by our Stage 1 rocket-motor test firing as well as our successful 2nd stage test earlier this year. Raytheon and our teammates are committed to keeping the program on track for the critical 2008 boost flight knowledge point and ultimately providing our nation with this important capability."

Over the past two years, the KEI testing program has met several critical proof-of-concept milestones for both the hardware and software to mitigate risk. These include successful completion of the Stage 2 static-motor firing earlier this year, four successful tests -- ahead of schedule -- of the system's battle-management capability, and several successful high-speed wind tunnel tests.

As a primary supplier of missile defense technology, Northrop Grumman plays a key role in all phases of our nation's layered missile defense system. Northrop Grumman's domain expertise delivers essential capabilities and technologies that integrate functions across all elements of the ballistic missile defense system. Programs such as KEI, the Space Tracking and Surveillance System, Joint National Integration Center, the chemical laser portion of the Airborne Laser, and the fire control capability for the Ground-based Midcourse System are just a few of the contributions the company is making to the nation's missile defense efforts. For more information about

Missile Defense at Northrop Grumman

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Missile Defense Success Cause Global Reaction
Washington (UPI) Sep 14, 2006
The successful Sept. 1 test of a U.S. Ground-Based Interceptor is already having repercussions around the world. On Sept. 6, Alexanbdr Vondra, foreign minister of the Czech Republic, boldly stated that European members of NATO would have to build an effective anti-ballistic missile system in cooperation with the United States.







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