Angeline Leishman
Raytheon Technologies‘ missiles and defense business has finished an early engineering test of a divert and attitude control system designed by Aerojet Rocketdyne for the Missile Defense Agency’s Next Generation Interceptor.
The MDA contractor said Thursday it demonstrated the functions of liquid propellant DACS’ thruster valve and nozzle in an effort to reduce risk to the technology’s overall technical baseline.
“Early risk reduction work allows us to make data-informed design and testing decisions, and ultimately that’s going to help us get this critical capability to the nation as soon as possible,” said Scott Alexander, executive director of integrated missile defense solutions at Raytheon Missiles and Defense.
The NGI program is part of the U.S. Ground-based Midcourse Defense platform initiative, under which Raytheon and its partner Northrop Grumman provide the interceptor booster, kill vehicle, ground systems, fire control and engagement coordination.
Meanwhile, Aerojet Rocketdyne currently provides kill vehicle and kinetic warhead propulsion for MDA initiatives.
