Lockheed Martin's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Weapon System successfully destroyed an errant United States satellite, preventing it from an uncontrolled and unpredictable reentry and potential crash to Earth.
In the mission, the SPY-1B radar on the cruiser USS Lake Erie detected the satellite during its orbit and, through the capable equipment and computer programs comprising the Aegis Weapon System, computed a targeting solution to guide an SM-3 missile to intercept the satellite. Once the SM-3 was launched from the ship's MK 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS), Aegis guided the missile to the terminal phase of the intercept.
Lockheed Martin engineers recently worked with U.S. Navy, Missile
Defense Agency, national laboratory and other industry engineers and scientists to modify the Aegis BMD Weapon System to specifically take on this one-time emergency mission.
With the co-location of the Navy's Combat Systems Engineering
Development Site and Lockheed Martin in Moorestown, NJ, the work to design and test the modifications required for this mission was made much easier. The real-time collaboration between engineers and Sailors with the land-based Aegis BMD Weapon System was a critical factor in meeting the timeline for the mission.
"Aegis BMD and the team behind it have answered every call to defeat threats to our nation and allies," said Fred Moosally, president of Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors. "From the engineers designing and developing Aegis BMD to the men and women in uniform carrying out the mission, Aegis BMD delivers!"
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