The Northrop Grumman-Raytheon team developing the Kinetic Energy Interceptor for the Missile Defense Agency has completed the first static test firing of the missile’s second-stage rocket motor. It was successful, say company officials. It marks one more step in the push to the program’s first booster flight test in 2008.
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.