A team consisting of Miltec Corporation and Northrop Grumman Corporation
(NYSE: NOC) performed a successful controlled flight test of the U.S.
Army’s Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM) on January 16.
Conducted under contract and in collaboration with the Army’s Aviation
and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., the demonstration took place
at the Eglin Air Force Base test range in Florida. All test objectives
were achieved.
CKEM is being developed as the Army’s next-generation hypervelocity missile
intended for deployment from lightweight, highly mobile manned and unmanned
ground vehicles. At 60 inches long and just under 100 pounds, it measures
about half the size of the current kinetic energy missile but maintains
a highly lethal capability against advanced armor, complex bunkers, and
other hardened targets. A kinetic weapon carries no explosive warhead,
defeating its target solely through the force of impact.
“This successful flight test conducted by the Miltec – Northrop Grumman
team marks yet another significant step in maturing the CKEM design and
technologies,” said George Snyder, CKEM Program Manager for the Army’s
Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center. “Lethality
Tests performed at the Holloman Air Force Base High Speed Test Track facility,
last year demonstrated that CKEM is capable of easily defeating heavy-armor
with overwhelming lethality provided sufficient velocity is achieved.
This test demonstrated that velocity and control are now well within the
achievable state of the art.”
Dr. William H. Forster, vice president of Land Combat Systems at Northrop
Grumman, added, “This test demonstrates that the CKEM team’s approach
is well on its way to delivering an outstanding capability for future
Army forces: a lightweight, multimission system that will provide one-shot,
one-kill lethality against heavy armor, bunkers, and fortified emplacements.”
Ivy Pinion, president of Miltec Missiles and Space Co., said, “This test
demonstrated the maturity of advancements in missile system propulsion,
control systems, avionics, miniaturized guidance systems, and missile
integration. This success further demonstrated CKEM provides a viable
option to the Future Combat System requirement for a line-of-sight kinetic
energy antitank weapon.”
Mr. Pinion added, “Our small-business strategy of advancing the technology
as rapidly as possible while proactively mitigating associated risks has
paid off. Our tests confirm that we have a CKEM design that packs an incredible
degree of lethality in a small, lightweight airframe. Having a partner
like Northrop Grumman ensures that the system will be producible and fully
capable of transitioning to the SDD phase.”
Although this test was conducted under a pre-existing technology development
contract the Miltec – Northrop Grumman team was awarded a Basic Option
of the CKEM Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program in September
2003. The period of performance of the basic contract is 4 months, with
three additional options. If all options are exercised the total contract
value will be $71.5 million over 36 months for the ATD program. Additional
tests will be performed as part of the ATD phase during the remainder
of 2004.
Miltec Corporation is a veteran-owned small business headquartered in
Huntsville, Ala., with offices in Arlington, Va., Oxford, Miss., and Anchorage,
Alaska. Miltec was founded in April 1997 with the strategic mission of
conducting missile and aerospace system design, development, integration,
and test. The company proactively leverages the knowledge base, capabilities,
talent, and technologies of this focused market into NASA programs and
commercial ventures.
Land Combat Systems is a unit of Northrop Grumman ‘s Baltimore-based Electronic
Systems sector, a world leader in the design, development, and manufacture
of defense and commercial electronic systems, including airborne radars,
navigation systems, electronic countermeasures, precision weapons, space
sensors, airspace management systems, communication systems, space systems,
marine and naval systems, government systems, and logistics services.
