BAE Systems Seeker Performs in Detecting Complex Target in Latest THAAD Test

KAUAI, Hawaii — A BAE Sys­tems seek­er detect­ed and destroyed a uni­tary tar­get per­form­ing the low­est endo-atmos­pher­ic inter­cept to date for the Ter­mi­nal High Alti­tude Area Defense weapon sys­tem flight test pro­gram on June 28 at the Pacif­ic Mis­sile Range Facil­i­ty in Kauai, Hawaii.

THAAD BAE Sys­tems tech­ni­cians in Nashua, New Hamp­shire, assem­ble an infrared seek­er that pro­vides hom­ing and guid­ance data for the Ter­mi­nal High Alti­tude Area Defense weapon sys­tem. A BAE Sys­tems seek­er recent­ly detect­ed the most com­plex tar­get to date in the THAAD flight test pro­gram. Source: BAE Sys­tems Click to enlarge

The test, con­duct­ed by the U.S. Mis­sile Defense Agency and Lock­heed Mar­tin [NYSE:LMT], the THAAD prime con­trac­tor and sys­tems inte­gra­tor ver­i­fied the inter­cep­tor and oth­er sys­tem com­po­nents capa­bil­i­ty to detect and to inter­cept a uni­tary Short Range Bal­lis­tic Mis­sile. The test also demon­strat­ed the seeker’s abil­i­ty to per­form tar­get acqui­si­tion and track-and-aim point selec­tion by the interceptor’s seek­er and its avion­ics flight software. 

“This was the THAAD interceptor’s low­est endo inter­cept to date,” said Joe Colosi­mo, chief engi­neer for BAE Sys­tems in Nashua, New Hamp­shire, where the THAAD seek­er is built. “As the flight test pro­gram con­tin­ues, the sce­nar­ios become more com­plex requir­ing our tech­nol­o­gy to per­form on tar­gets that will become more chal­leng­ing to detect and hit.” 

THAAD is designed to defend U.S.troops, allied forces, pop­u­la­tion cen­ters and crit­i­cal infra­struc­ture against short to pos­si­bly inter­me­di­ate-range bal­lis­tic mis­siles. BAE Sys­tems worked on mis­sile defense seek­ers since the late 1970s and achieved the first hit-to-kill inter­cept of a bal­lis­tic-mis­sile tar­get in 1984. 

About BAE Sys­tems
BAE Sys­tems is a glob­al defense, secu­ri­ty and aero­space com­pa­ny with approx­i­mate­ly 107,000 employ­ees world­wide. The Com­pa­ny deliv­ers a full range of prod­ucts and ser­vices for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced elec­tron­ics, secu­ri­ty, infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy solu­tions and cus­tomer sup­port ser­vices. In 2009 BAE Sys­tems report­ed sales of £22.4 bil­lion (US$ 36.2 billion). 

For fur­ther infor­ma­tion, please contact 

Karen Spiller, BAE Sys­tems
Tel: +1 603 885 2818 Mobile: +1 603 566 2090
karen.spiller@baesystems.com

www.baesystems.com

Press release
BAE Systems