Common Kill Vehicle Technology

Abstract

On 15 March 2013, the Secretary of Defense announced steps to bolster protection of the homeland and stay ahead of long range ballistic missile threats. These steps included adding Ground-Based Interceptors (GBI), restructuring the Standard Missile-3 Block IIB program and shifting resources to develop advanced kill vehicle technology to improve all ballistic missile defense interceptors that operate outside the earth's atmosphere. The Agency is defining the concepts for the redesign of the Agency's Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicles (EKVs) with modular, open architecture and designed to common interfaces and standards, making upgrades easier and broadening our vendor and supplier base. With the recognition that the threat from our potential adversaries is growing in number and complexity, the Agency is taking a phased approach to common kill vehicle technology. In Phase I, investments focus on mature technology and concept design to enable the replacement of EKVs in our current Ground-Based Interceptor force with a more capable, testable, reliable, producible, scalable and cost effective kill vehicle. Phase II evolves kill vehicle capabilities, relying on a Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) architecture that balances performance across the sensor, Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) and kill vehicle elements, improving BMDS discrimination and potentially adding capability to destroy several objects within a threat complex with multiple kill vehicles. The Agency anticipates deploying these capabilities across the interceptor fleet in the next decade to address the evolving threat. In FY 2015, we will focus on maturing key technology and defining the system architecture necessary for the acquisition of multi-object kill vehicles.

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Document Details

Document Type
R2 Budgetary Justification
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2015
Source ID
0603294C_3_0400_PB_2015
Change Summary Explanation
Beginning in FY 2014, the Common Kill Vehicle technology effort was transferred to Common Kill Vehicle Technology Program Element, 0603294C, per the FY 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 113-76). Prior work was accomplished in the Standard Missile-3 Block IIB Program Element, 0603902C.
Service Agency Name
Missile Defense Agency

Entities

Organizations

  • Missile Defense Agency

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Battle Management
  • Budgets
  • Contractors
  • Defense Systems
  • Elements
  • Engineering
  • Focal Plane Arrays
  • Focal Planes
  • Ground Based
  • Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles
  • Investments
  • Kill Vehicles
  • Procurement
  • Standards
  • Systems Engineering

Readers

  • Economics
  • Missile Defense Systems.

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