Common Kill Vehicle Technology
Abstract
In calendar year 2014, Phase I of the Common Kill Vehicle (CKV) resulted in the transition of industry concepts for a Re-designed Kill Vehicle (RKV). The concepts informed the Agency's development of system requirements. These requirements are the foundation for product development of the RKV. The Agency's focus in FY 2016 is to develop government and industry concepts for a MOKV as a second phase of common kill vehicle technology. A key element is the requirement for industry to comply with a modular, open architecture with common standards and interfaces defined by the government. These requirements make future upgrades easier and broaden our vendor and supplier base. In FY 2016, the Agency will award several contracts with industry to define concepts for a Multi-Object Kill Vehicle (MOKV) based on this open architecture. The Government will develop MOKV system engineering guidelines from the industry concept(s), government analysis, modeling, and simulation along with hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) prototype concept demonstration(s). The kill vehicle HWIL prototype concept(s) and identified technologies will formulate the trade space across cost, risk, and kill vehicle performance to establish requirements that are feasible and affordable for the engineering, manufacturing and development of a future MOKV. The effectiveness of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) relies on balancing in the performance requirements across the elements in the architecture. For example, the goal of the sensor portion of the architecture is to detect, acquire, track and discriminate the lethal object(s) from the spent stage, deployment debris, and countermeasures the enemy may deploy to spoof the system. If the warfighter launches several interceptors at each object designated lethal by the system it is critical that the system do this with nearly perfect accuracy. The sensor architecture performance is not perfect, and analysis shows that having multiple kill vehicles on each interceptor dramatically improves the performance of the system, while it significantly reduces the burden of our interceptor inventory, reducing our cost to defend the Homeland. The Agency's past efforts on multiple kill vehicle research showed that the most difficult technical challenge for Multi Kill Vehicles (MKV) was managing the many-on-many engagements that occur. In FY 2016, the Agency will resume tackling this challenge by investigating the engagement management concepts authored by industry as well as our government concepts. The Agency will test these algorithms and strategy using our HWIL, and invest in key technologies that will enable an MOKV concept including Kill Vehicle-to-Kill Vehicle communications, and more accurate and lighter weight inertial measurement unit (IMU). The MOKV industry prototype concept(s) will identify and reduce development risk; identify technology readiness; and demonstrate critical technical features and capabilities. The Agency will use industry concept models to assess MOKV performance and the utility of a MOKV architecture. The prototype demonstration will validate the industry concept models for higher confidence and prove the viability of the MOKV. These results will inform Agency requirements development efforts that may support a future milestone decision. Accurate and reliable IMUs are essential for accurate navigation during the long Kill Vehicle flight times required to engage Intercontinental Ballistic Missile threats. The Multi-Object Kill Vehicle (MOKV) investments will develop precise, small, lightweight, highly reliable, and low cost Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) to increase Kill Vehicle performance for long Kill Vehicle flight times. Continued investment will satisfy the IMU performance needed for the small, high performance Kill Vehicle concepts that can defeat future interceptor threats. This IMU will demonstrate improved performance over current state of the art by reducing navigation error. The initial hardware IMU prototype will demonstrate reduced size, weight and power requirements. High band width Kill Vehicle-to-Kill Vehicle and Kill Vehicle-to-ground communications will enable engagement management for MOKV architecture. The MOKV investments will focus on minimizing size, weight and power of a software defined radio that provides flexible communication capabilities that are robust and reliable. Design and development efforts of this communications technology in 2016 will lead to a future prototype demonstration of high band-width communications using software defined radio technology.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2016
- Source ID
- MD85_0603294C_3_0400_PB_2016
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- Root: Common Kill Vehicle Technology
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