Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) can refer to two related missile defense concepts:
- Most common: the Raytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in defense systems and defense and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
-manufactured interceptor component with subcontractor AerojetAerojet is a major rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Sacramento, California with divisions in Redmond, WA; Orange, VA; Gainesville, VA; and Camden, AR. They are the only US propulsion company that provides both solid rocket motors and liquid rocket engines...
of the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse DefenseGround-Based Midcourse Defense is a component of the national missile defense strategy of the United States administered by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency . While the administration is managed by the MDA, the operational control and execution is provided by the US Army with support functions...
(GMD), part of the larger National Missile Defense system.
- Any exoatmospheric (outside the atmosphere) kinetic kill interceptor.
The Raytheon EKV is launched by the Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) missile, the launch vehicle of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System.
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Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) can refer to two related missile defense concepts:
- Most common: the Raytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in defense systems and defense and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
-manufactured interceptor component with subcontractor AerojetAerojet is a major rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Sacramento, California with divisions in Redmond, WA; Orange, VA; Gainesville, VA; and Camden, AR. They are the only US propulsion company that provides both solid rocket motors and liquid rocket engines...
of the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse DefenseGround-Based Midcourse Defense is a component of the national missile defense strategy of the United States administered by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency . While the administration is managed by the MDA, the operational control and execution is provided by the US Army with support functions...
(GMD), part of the larger National Missile Defense system.
- Any exoatmospheric (outside the atmosphere) kinetic kill interceptor.
The Raytheon EKV is launched by the Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) missile, the launch vehicle of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System. The EKV's own rockets and fuel are for corrections in the trajectory, not for further acceleration.
An EKV is boosted to an intercept trajectory by a boost vehicle (missile), where it separates from the boost vehicle and autonomously collides with an incoming warhead. EKV devices appear in both ground and ship based missile defense systems.
Characteristics (of the Raytheon's EKV)
- Weight: approx. 140 lb (64 kg)
- Length: 55 in (1.4 m)
- Diameter: 24 in (0.6 m)
- Speed of projectile: roughly 10 km/s (22,000 mph)
External links
- http://www.raytheon.com/products/ekv/
- http://www.oss.goodrich.com/ExoatmosphericKillVehicle.shtml