The U.S. Army says it has been developing what would be the smallest U.S. launch vehicle, a "nanomissile" to deploy swarms of tiny satellites.

The Army is looking at launching large numbers of small orbiting satellites that can be put in space with small, inexpensive launch vehicles, SPACE.com reported Monday.

"The interest we have in the orbital part is that these nanosatellites we're building have price points that are between $300,000 and $1 million per satellite," John London of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command said.

"One of the reasons we like satellites of this class is we can afford to put a lot of them up there to where the entire constellation is still relatively inexpensive," he said.

The Army's proposed Multipurpose Nanomissile would stand about 12 feet tall with a liquid-fuel core booster and relatively inexpensive strap-on solid-fuel rocket motors.

The core booster uses a nitrous oxide-ethane blend to produce 3,000 pounds of thrust, says Steve Cook, director of space technologies for Dynetics Corp., one of two companies contracted by the Army to develop the Nanomissile.

If completed, it will be the smallest launch vehicle available in the United States, Cook said.

earlier related report
Engineer convicted of selling missile technology to China
Washington (AFP) Aug 9, 2010 - A former B-2 stealth bomber engineer was found guilty Monday of selling sensitive military technology to China, the United States Justice Department said in a statement.

Noshir Gowadia, 66, was convicted of five offenses following trial in a federal court in Hawaii. Gowadia had been accused of passing on design information which would allow cruise missiles to avoid infra-red detection.

Gowadia was found guilty of illegally communicating classified information, as well as illegally retaining defense information following a 40-day trial.

"Mr Gowadia provided some of our country's most sensitive weapons-related designs to the Chinese government for money," Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris said in a statement.

"Today, he is being held accountable for his actions. This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation's military secrets for profit."

Gowadia was arrested in October 2005 and accused of communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it. Further charges were added on subsequent indictments issued up until 2007.

He was employed as an engineer with Northrop Grumman Corporation for nearly two decades between 1968 to 1986, where he had a role in developing the propulsion system and low observable capabilities of the Stealth bomber.

Gowadia continued to work on classified projects as a contractor for the US Government until 1997 when his security clearance was terminated.

During his trial, prosecutors alleged Gowardia made repeated trips to China between 2003 and 2005 to provide defense services in the form of design, test support and test data analysis of technologies related to China's cruise missle program.