Aerojet Rocketdyne [AJRD] on Monday said it completed the qualification static fire test of the solid rocket motor that will power the Missile Defense Agency’s next generation Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) targets used in missile defense testing.
The MRBM range denotes missiles that can travel 1,000-3,000 km, or 621–1,864 miles.
The company said the testing was conducted by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Aerojet Rocketdyne personnel at AFRL’s test facility at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. at the end of March.
The company said this advanced solid rocket motor is called the eSR-19, a redesigned version of the SR-19 used in the second stage of the Minuteman III nuclear-armed strategic missiles. The eSR-19 incorporates a lighter filament-wound composite case alongside other performance-enhancing improvements and will be used for both stages of the MDA’s air-launched MRBM-target vehicle.
The company boasted this was the newest achievement in Aerojet Rocketdyne’s legacy Large Solid Rocket Motor (LSRM) capabilities. It previously added investments into the workforce and new modern LSRM facilities.
The eSR-19 was developed by company subsidiary Coleman Aerospace. The motor was designed and fabricated in Aerojet Rocketdyne’s facilities in Huntsville, Ala.; cast and cured in Camden, Ark.; and are planned to later be integrated into the target systems by Coleman Aerospace in Orlando, Fla.
Aerojet said with the testing complete, delivery of the flight test motors will occur later this year.
“I applaud the dedicated efforts by teams across Aerojet Rocketdyne to meet this important milestone. Our steadfast workforce and advanced solid rocket motor propulsion remain crucial to helping protect our nation and our allies,” Eileen Drake, Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and president, said in a statement.
MDA currently uses several targets for the MRBM-range threats. The T1 and T2 targets are used for the lower half of the MRBM range with the same design, but T2 is capable of a “more complex scene” for testing, according to an MDA factsheet.
A T3 target is a specialty system to replicate an unspecified “specific threat” while the T-4, T4-E and T4-Q meet some requirements of a medium range threat and a T5 features an “advanced target.”