MDA Fires Rocket Motor for New Target

MDA Fires Rocket Motor for New Target: "

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) test fired the rocket motor of a new Flexible Target Family (FTF) target vehicle.

The LV-2 target vehicle will be a two-stage launch vehicle that employs C4 rocket motors from retired U.S. Navy Trident missiles in both stages. MDA officials hope to use the FTF later this year for the first time as a target for a missile defense test.

The FTF program is designed to use as much commonality as possible in crafting targets for missile defense tests, eliminating maintenance hungry and out-of-date legacy systems.

The test took place Jan. 22 at China Lake Naval Warfare Center, Calif.

Below is a pic of the test (pardon the writing, please)

'

'

credit: MDA

Also, a graphic of the configuration LV-2

'

'

credit: MDA

"

(Via Ares.)