HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Lockheed Martin [LMT] is examining new air and missile defense systems like launching a Patriot PAC-3 MSE from sea and air platforms and miniature missiles for more hit-to-kill systems uses, a company executive said here Wednesday.
Lockheed Martin is looking at firing its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) missile from “any platform that could carry the thing,” Tim Cahill, vice president for air and missile defense, told reporters at a roundtable during the Space and Missile Defense Symposium.
The PAC-3 MSE is used to defend against aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.
Cahill noted the company is only internally looking at the expanded PAC-3 MSE capability. There are no requests for proposals or government funding yet but they are exploring the issue. He acknowledged they probably could not fit the missile on a plane in the size range of an F-16 but noted there are larger aircraft that carry bigger missiles than the PAC-3 MSE.
The company is also examining a ship-based capability for the missile. Currently the Navy uses the Raytheon [RTN]-built Standard Missile (SM)-family of missiles for air and missile defense. Cahill said they are being careful to not make this case to the Navy before they figure out what to offer, but said the PAC-3 MSE brings a different lower tier hit-to-kill capability that does not exist for the Navy now.
The PAC-3 MSE is smaller and cheaper than SM missiles while it also intercepts ballistic missiles in the atmosphere rather than space. Cahill said that makes the weapons complementary, not competitors.
Lockheed Martin is also looking, internally, at various size options for the PAC-3 capability and how those could apply in non-traditional environments. This ranges from the standard 19-foot PAC-3 MSE, six-foot missiles, and even 2.5-foot missiles.
Cahill said the six-foot option “tends to be kind of a sweet spot for packaging on various platforms.” This includes ground vehicles, aircraft, and navy vessels.
The 2.5-foot missiles are called Miniature Hit-To-Kill (MHTK) and are meant to intercept rocket, artillery and mortar (RAM) threats.
Cahill said the company has already test-fired the MHTK from the Army’s new Multi-Mission Launcher and the system would generally use a small launcher. That way it can be used in a block of sixmissiles that could easily be mounted on the back of a truck or Humvee, he said.
However, he said the MHTK would probably not be used in a dismounted shoulder-launch configuration because it is designed to destroy a target with kinetic energy alone. Shoulder-launched missiles, like the Stinger, are usually aimed at larger aircraft and the MHTK would just punch a relatively small hole in those, he said
Last week the company confirmed it is planning to fire the MHTK at airborne RAM targets at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. in November or December in hopes of persuading the U.S. Army to buy the system (Defense Daily, Aug. 5).
Lockheed Martin is also looking at an export version of the MHTK.
Separately, the company is also still developing the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense-Extended Range (THAAD-ER) idea. Cahill underscored it is strictly an internal Lockheed martin effort and they do not know what the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) intent is regarding it.
The system is being developed for users who see an advantage in extra range, particularly in the Asian and Middle Eastern regions. Cahill said a threat actor will always try to get around a country’s defenses, potentially adding maneuverable ballistic missiles or eventually hypersonic capabilites.
THAAD-ER’s extra range makes it more possible to intercept a threat before any initial maneuvers that could get around a more traditional THAAD or missile defense system.
Although most of these systems are being developed through internal research and development funding, the PAC-3 MSE is in service on Army Patriot batteries. Cahill said the MHTK also has some Army funding and hardware testing, but no buyers currently.