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Thermoteknix Success in ‘Hit to Kill’ Ballistic Missile Defense Test Aegis Missile Launch Thermoteknix’ MIRIC® TB2-30 miniature infrared camera took part in another successful ‘hit to kill’ missile defense test on June 22nd, off the island of Kauai, Hawaii. A standard Missile 3 was launched from the Aegis cruiser USS Shiloh to intercept a separating target with an integrated multi-purpose sensor payload developed in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). This was designed to collect video and infrared imagery of the target’s boost and post-boost phases of flight; video coverage of the target’s re-entry separation; and spectral, radiometric and video coverage of the intercept. "Hit to kill" technology uses direct collision of the interceptor missile with the target, destroying the target using only kinetic energy from the force of the collision and this was the seventh successful intercept test involving the sea-based component of the USA’s ballistic missile defense system.
The Thermoteknix MIRIC TB2-30 infrared camera was mounted on the exterior of the missile and filmed throughout the missile’s flight with thermal images beamed via telemetry to the control center up to and including the point of interception. A Thermoteknix MIRIC® TB2-30 movie recorded during Aegis operations can be viewed online here.
Home 22nd September 2008 14:53 GMT |
