Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Engine System Completed Multiple Kill Vehicle Ground Test

ANOGA PARK, Calif.– A divert and attitude control system built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) has completed a demanding hot-fire test for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV) payload system at the National Hover Test Facility at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The test was a precursor to next summer’s hover flight test in the same facility. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is the prime contractor for the Multiple Kill Defense System. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.

"The completion of this propulsion test achieves a key knowledge point for the program,” said Don Stevenson, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s program manager. “We have been developing and building divert and attitude control systems for missile defense for more than two decades, and it is this extensive experience that we leveraged for the MKV test.”

During an engagement with the enemy, this high-performance propulsion system maneuvers the carrier vehicle and its cargo of kill vehicles into the threat complex to intercept the targets.

The Multiple Kill Vehicle adds “volume kill capability” to the Ballistic Missile Defense System for both land- and sea-based weapons. A single interceptor equipped with this payload greatly increases the ability to destroy complex threats. This “many-on-many” strategy eliminates the need for extensive pre-launch intelligence, ensuring a robust and affordable solution for missile defense.