SM-3 Intercept Used ATK’s Dual-Pulse Third Stage Rocket Motor and Solid Divert and Attitude Control System
ATK Propulsion Subsystems Maneuver Kinetic Warhead to Impact
Alliant Techsystems, the nation’s leading solid rocket motor producer, provided the Third Stage Rocket Motor (TSRM) and the Solid Divert and Attitude Control System (SDACS) for yesterday’s successful test flight of Raytheon Company’s Standard Missile-3 (SM-3). The Aegis BMD weapon system supported the planning, detection, and engagement of the target. The SM-3 was launched from the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) equipped cruiser, USS Lake Erie. The SM-3 intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile target outside the earth’s atmosphere during the flight test over the Pacific Ocean. This was the eighth successful intercept for SM-3 and Aegis BMD. All eight intercepts utilized ATK’s TSRM and SDACS propulsion systems.
ATK with the Aegis BMD Program, Raytheon prime and subcontractors including Honeywell, has over the past two years been working on modifications to the SDACS to achieve improved mission assurance and performance levels. This test demonstrated, for the first time in a flight test, the effectiveness of those modifications. The test demonstrated the readiness of the SM-3 to support the warfighter’s needs in defense of the U.S. homeland, its deployed forces, and those of our allies.
After the SM-3 launch, the Aegis weapon system uplinked information to the missile’s third stage and the third stage guidance commanded a flight profile to narrow the intercept envelope before handing off terminal guidance to the kinetic warhead (KW). The KW commanded the SDACS to perform a series of maneuvers to keep the SM-3 on target all the way to a lethal intercept. The target missile was launched from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii.
Raytheon Company is the prime contractor for the SM-3. ATK supplies the TSRM and the SDACS under contract to Raytheon. “This successful intercept marks yet another success for the Raytheon/ATK team, and confirms our commitment to mission assurance,” said Bart Olson, vice president and general manager of ATK’s Tactical Propulsion and Controls Division, Baltimore, MD.
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN – News), with 2005 sales of $21.9 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.
ATK is a $3.5 billion advanced weapon and space systems company employing approximately 15,500 people in 21 states. News and information can be found on the Internet at http://www.atk.com.
