Orbital Suborbital to Test Advanced Earth Penetrator for Air Force

SPACEWAR

Orbital provides advanced technology testbed vehicles for high-speed Earth penetrator, range safety Global Positioning System (GPS) and navigator experiments.

Dulles - Sep 22, 2003
Orbital Sciences Corporation earlier this month was issued a task order issued under the Sounding Rockets Program Follow-on (SRP-2) contract by U.S. Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center Detachment 12, located in Albuquerque, NM for a suborbital rocket that will test an advanced penetrator.

The basic contract covers the design and procurement of long-lead hardware in support of the Air Force's Missile Technology Demonstration (MTD) -3B program, with an option for missile fabrication and test and a second option for launch services.

The initial contract value is $3.1 million, while the options would increase the contract value to $7.5 million. The launch of the MTD-3B rocket is currently scheduled to take place in 2006. Orbital has previously supported the MTD program with three launches that were carried out in 1995, 1997 and 1998.

The MTD program uses real-time Global Positioning System information to provide highly accurate guidance and velocity information for high-speed Earth penetration tests.

"As the country's leading supplier of suborbital rockets to the U.S. military, we are very pleased to support the Air Force's missile testing activities, including the MTD-3 program," said Mr. Ron Grabe, Orbital's Executive Vice President and General Manager of its Launch Systems Group.

The U.S. Department of Defense employs Orbital's suborbital rockets in missile defense systems primarily as threat-simulating target vehicles and interceptor boosters for U.S. national defense systems.

MILPLEX

ATK Delivers 42 Advanced Solid Rocket Motors For LOSAT Contract

Minneapolis - Sep 19, 2003
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has completed delivery of 42 advanced solid rocket motors to Lockheed Martin for use in the U.S. Army's Line-of-Sight Antitank (LOSAT) weapon system. After additional flight test qualifications, the program is scheduled to begin Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) in 2004.

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