Alliant Techsystems provided the third-stage rocket motor (TSRM) and Solid Divert and Attitude Control System (SDACS) for the successful intercept test flight of the Raytheon Company’s Standard Missile-3 (SM-3). The SM-3 was launched from the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Weapon System. The successful test destroyed a ballistic missile outside the earth’s atmosphere during an Aegis BMD Program flight test over the Pacific Ocean.
The February 24 mission — the fifth successful intercept for SM-3 — was the first firing of the Aegis BMD “Emergency Deployment” capability using operational versions of the SM-3 Block I missile and Aegis BMD Weapon System.
The SM-3 was launched from the Aegis BMD cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) and hit a target missile that had been launched from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii.
ATK is a $2.4 billion advanced weapon and space systems company employing approximately 14,000 people in 23 states. News and information can be found on the Internet at http://www.atk.com .
Raytheon Company, with 2004 sales of $20.2 billion, is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 80,000 people worldwide.
