U.S. Tests Missile Defense Kill Vehicle Rocket

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency on Wednesday announced the successful test of a prototype rocket that would carry the multiple kill vehicle system (see GSN, May 11).

“The test series conducted July 15-16 … proved the feasibility of using monopropellant divert and attitudinal control, a variant of a liquid propulsion system in wide use by many U.S. and international satellites in orbit today, for small kill vehicles,” the agency said in a press release.

Multiple kill vehicles are expected to be ready for use by 2013. They are designed to be able to bring down incoming missile warheads, along with countermeasures that would be deployed to confuse the missile defense system, the agency said (U.S. Missile Defense Agency release, July 19).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.