The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Lockheed Martin [LMT] yesterday said they successfully tested a prototype air-launched Extended Medium-range Ballistic Missile (eMRBM) target at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz.
In the test, a full-scale prototype of the eMRBM target was released from the cargo
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| Prototype eMRBM Developed By Lockheed Martin for MDA Photo: MDA |
bay of an Air Force C-17 aircraft at 25,000 feet. The system’s parachutes deployed, and the prototype successfully separated from the carriage extraction system.
The prototype is a replica of the missile target, without propulsion, that is being used to test and validate the air-launch equipment and carriage extraction system in preparation for the maiden flight of the eMRBM missile target planned for later this year.
Supporting MDA and Lockheed Martin in the test were the Air Force, the Army and subcontractors Orbital Sciences Corp. [ORB] and the employee-owned Dynetics.
Lockheed Martin is developing the air-launched eMRBM target for the MDA for testing of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) so warfighters to gain experience with system performance in realistic scenarios.
“This new target is designed to provide the threat realism that is essential to ensuring that missile defense systems are developed against accurate representations of the systems they would likely encounter in an operational environment,” said John Holly, vice president of Missile Defense Systems and deputy for Strategic and Missile Defense Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company.
Patricia Dare, Lockheed Martin’s Targets and Countermeasures Program director, said: “The eMRBM air-launch equipment and carriage extraction system performed nominally in this test, verifying system performance and preparing the launch team for future mission operations.”
Under the Targets and Countermeasures Prime Contract, Lockheed Martin is developing and producing a total of 17 missile targets of various types and ranges, including five eMRBM targets.
Lockheed Martin was awarded the prime contract award in 2003 (Defense Daily, Dec. 10, 2003). Since the 2003 prime contract award, the company has delivered and launched 27 missile targets in tests of the BMDS. Prior to that the company produced and launched 17 missile targets under other contracts.
The company has achieved 98 percent mission success rate in providing ground-, air- and sea-launched, short-, medium- and intermediate-range missile targets since 1996.