SACRAMENTO, Calif.---Aerojet has been awarded a $350,000 subcontract from Orbital Sciences Corporation to develop a new liquid propulsion engine for Ballistic Missile Defense Organization target vehicles. The engine will be integrated into a booster stage that Orbital is developing for BMDO under a Phase I contract with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
The Orbital/Aerojet Phase I contract is one of five awarded to contractor teams to design a high fidelity, cost-effective booster stage for BMDO missiles that will act as targets during tests of theater missile defense systems. These systems include Theater High Altitude Area Defense, Patriot PAC-3, Medium Extended Air Defense System, Navy Area Theater Wide, Airborne Laser and other special projects.
The BMDO is asking the teams to design a low-cost booster that simulates an enemy missile's characteristics such as its infrared signature (what the missile shape and engine plume look like to infrared sensors) and its vulnerability to anti-missile defenses.
"This is an exciting opportunity for Aerojet to apply its decades of liquid engine experience to the growing market for target vehicle boosters,'' said Scott Jennings, Aerojet program manager. "The Orbital concept is based on Aerojet's upgrade to Orbital's hydrogen peroxide engine. An interesting challenge is simulating the sooty exhaust plume of typical enemy missiles with the clean-burning liquid propellants we normally use.''
Aerojet began work on its engine in January 2001. Phase I will last until June 2001 and result in a conceptual design for the booster from each of the five Phase I teams. The Army is expected then to initiate a 36-month second phase of the program, beginning as early as November 2001, that will include development and flight test of the booster stage.
Aerojet, a GenCorp company, is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader principally serving the space electronics, missile and space propulsion, and smart munitions and armaments markets.
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Aerojet Awarded Contract to Develop Engine for Missile Defense Target Vehicles
