A BAE Systems seeker detected an incoming ballistic missile enabling the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon system to intercept its target during testing at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.
The test, conducted by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and THAAD prime contractor and systems integrator Lockheed Martin, examined how the interceptor and its seeker detect a separating target missile to destroy the warhead.“In this test, the THAAD seeker had to detect the incoming warhead among multiple pieces of the incoming target missile,” said John Watkins, BAE Systems’ THAAD program director. “To further complicate things, this was the program’s first daylight engagement, meaning the seeker had to distinguish the target from false ‘targets’ created by reflected sunlight.' Watkins likened the achievement to “hitting a bullet with a bullet while the shell casing is flying along side and someone is shining a flashlight in your eyes.” BAE Systems' seeker provides infrared imagery of the warhead to the missile computer to guide the interceptor to its target. THAAD intercept testing will continue through 2009. Upcoming tests at the Pacific Missile Range will be conducted against increasingly complex targets outside the Earth’s atmosphere. THAAD is designed to defend U.S. and allied soldiers, military assets, and population centers from the threat of ballistic-missile attacks, destroying enemy Warheads through direct “hit-to-kill” technology. BAE Systems has been working on missile defense seekers since the late 1970s. The company is scheduled to deliver the first production seekers in fiscal year 2009. |
