Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) announced today that its propulsion systems played a crucial role during the first flight test of Raytheon’s Standard Missile-3 Block IIA guided missile.
During the Controlled Test Vehicle-01(CTV-01) flight test conducted by the U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency, the SM-3 Block IIA was launched from the Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center in Southern California. The non-intercept test was designed to analyze performance of the guided missile’s nosecone, steering control section, booster separation, and second and third stage separation.
Aerojet Rocketdyne’s MK 72 booster provided the first-stage propulsion on the SM-3 Block IIA.
“At Aerojet Rocketdyne, we are proud to work with our partner Raytheon in advancing state of the art propulsion technology required to meet the challenge presented by the growth, both in numbers and sophistication, of threat ballistic missiles,” said Aerojet Rocketdyne Vice President of Missile Defense and Strategic Systems Michael Bright.
The SM-3 Block IIA represents the newest generation of U.S. missile defense capabilities and is a key component of the European Phased Adaptive Approach for deployment at-sea and ashore. Larger rocket motors and key technology improvements increase the area that can be defended by missile defense efforts and increase the probability of kill against a larger threat set. With the success of this first flight test, the SM-3 Block IIA is on track for deployment in 2018.
Aerojet Rocketdyne is a diversified company delivering innovative solutions that create value for its customers in the aerospace and defense, and real estate markets. The company is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader that provides propulsion and energetics to the space, missile defense and strategic systems, tactical systems and armaments areas, in support of domestic and international markets. Additional information about Aerojet Rocketdyne can be obtained by visiting our websites at www.Rocket.com and www.AerojetRocketdyne.com.
