U.S Plans:  Mercury Computer System Chosen for Tests

U.S. government contractor Raytheon has chosen Mercury Computer Systems Inc.’s multicomputer systems for use in testing the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), Mercury announced today.  Mercury’s commercial off-the-shelf RACE series computers will be used to test the SM-3’s Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile (LEAP) kinetic warhead.

“Our previous successes with Mercury’s systems in the Exo-Atmospheric Kill Vehicle program, for the [U.S.] Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the [U.S.] National Missile Defense program, aided in our decision to use their products for LEAP,” said Michael Leal, a program director at Raytheon’s business unit in Tucson, Arizona.

The SM-3 is designed as part of the Navy Theater Wide (NTW) system, a sea-based theater ballistic missile defense system.  The kinetic warhead for the SM-3 is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, according to Mercury.  The NTW system is to be deployed on the U.S. Navy’s AEGIS ships.

“The state-of-the-art SM-3 is intended to provide U.S. and allied forces protection from rogue theater ballistic missiles and is designed to reduce the threat posed by … weapons of mass destruction by providing a wide defended area,” said Mercury Vice President and General Manager Vince Mancuso (Mercury release, Dec. 4).

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