Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle
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Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) can refer to two related missile defense concepts:
- Most common: the Raytheon-manufactured interceptor component with subcontractor Aerojet of the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), part the larger National Missile Defense system.
- Any exoatmospheric (outside the atmosphere) kinetic kill interceptor.
The Raytheon EKV is launched by the Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) missile, the launch vehicle of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System. The EKV's own rockets and fuel are for corrections in the trajectory, not for further acceleration.
An EKV is boosted to an intercept trajectory by a boost vehicle (missile), where it separates from the boost vehicle and autonomously collides with an incoming warhead. EKV devices appear in both ground and ship based missile defense systems.
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[edit] Characteristics (of Raytheon's EKV)
- Weight: approx. 140 lb (64 kg)
- Length: 55 in (1.4 m)
- Diameter: 24 in (0.6 m)
- Speed of projectile: roughly 10 km/s (22,000 mph)[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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