Tuesday's successful intercept and
destruction of the large-caliber rocket carrying a live
warhead took place at 12:45 p.m. MDT during a live-fire
test of the MTHEL testbed at the Army's White Sands
Missile Range, N.M.
The large-caliber rocket is capable of
twice the range, achieves more than three times the
altitude, and carries a much larger warhead than
previous targets. Many countries already possess
large-caliber rockets. The destroyed rocket is
representative of threats faced by U.S. and Israeli
forces.
"The destruction of a new threat type
once again demonstrates the capability of the MTHEL
testbed," said Wes Bush, president of Northrop Grumman's
Space Technology sector. "We are excited about the
historic accomplishments and we are fully prepared to
move to the next stage of building the MTHEL prototype."
The rocket shot down is faster and has
more mass than Katyusha rockets the MTHEL testbed has
destroyed since testing began in 2000.
A more compact, mobile and easily
transportable THEL, the MTHEL prototype will give the
Army its first deployable laser weapon system. Northrop
Grumman began work on the existing testbed in 1996 when
it was called the THEL/Advanced Concept Technology
Demonstrator (ACTD).
MTHEL will be the first tactical and
mobile, directed-energy weapon capable of shooting down
rockets and other tactical targets in flight to protect
deployed forces and civilians of the U.S. and its
friends and allies.
The existing MTHEL testbed was
designed, developed and produced by a Northrop
Grumman-led team of U.S. and Israeli contractors for the
US Space & Missile Defense Command, Huntsville, Ala.,
and for ImoD. In addition to Northrop Grumman's Space
Technology and Mission Systems sectors, US companies
involved in testbed development are Ball Aerospace,
Boulder, Colo., and Brashear LP, Pittsburgh, Pa. Israeli
companies that supported THEL ACTD development are
Electro-Optic Industries, Ltd., Rehovat; Israel Aircraft
Industries, Ltd., Yehud Industrial Zone; RAFAEL, Haifa;
and Tadiran, Holon.
In testing to date, the MTHEL testbed
has destroyed 28 Katyusha rockets and five artillery
shells in flight.
