First Cruise Kill for PAC-3

Lockheed Martin has achieved an important test success with its Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) program, intercepting a cruise missile target on Saturday.

It was the fourth successive intercept for the PAC-3 program, a high success rate in the hit-to-kill air and missile defense business that otherwise has seen several troubled programs. The latest test conducted at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, was the first for the system against something other than a ballistic missile.

The test was important because it forced the Patriot missile to fly a different trajectory than in past intercepts. After gaining altitude post launch, the missile had to pitch over to head towards the cruise missile target.

"The seeker for the first time was looking into ground clutter," stressed Robert B. Coutts, Lockheed Martin's executive vice-president in charge of the Systems Integration business.

The missile intercepted the relatively small, cruise missile target within one or two centimeters of the ideal aim point, Coutts added. The target was flying at low altitude, only about 35 meters above ground. The Army plans about a dozen more Patriot tests to assess the missile's performance in different engagement scenarios.

Low-rate production of PAC-3 has already begun. The Army and Lockheed Martin also are in the midst of trying substantially to reduce the cost of the interceptor, to make sure the Pentagon can afford to buy it in large numbers. Those reductions, if attained, would benefit the cooperative U.S./German/Italian Medium Extended Air Defense System, which is using the PAC-3 missile as its baseline interceptor.

By Robert Wall