An Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), developed by Raytheon, an RTX business, successfully destroyed an Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile during a recent test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System. The test was conducted today in the Pacific region by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Northern Command. This was the 13th intercept for the program, which protects the U.S. by destroying incoming ballistic missiles while they are outside the Earth’s atmosphere. With more than 30-years of experience in developing advanced interceptors and sensors, Raytheon is the leading provider of missile defense capabilities. This test further validates Raytheon’s expertise in supporting the Missile Defense Agency’s current fleet of ballistic missile defense sensors and interceptors.
The EKV is the Raytheon-manufactured interceptor component with subcontractor Aerojet of the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), part of the larger National Missile Defense system. The 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. The EKV is launched by the Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missile, the launch vehicle of the GMD system. Raytheon is currently developing the next evolution of ballistic missile interceptors and kill vehicles that will provide warfighters with a more robust missile defense capability against current and future threats. Raytheon’s EKV is developed in Tucson, Arizona and the AN/TPY-2 and X-Band Radar are developed in Andover, Massachusetts.
The Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle defends the United States against long-range ballistic missiles by destroying them while they are still in space. Also known as EKV, the kinetic-force weapon is the intercept component of the Ground-Based Interceptor and part of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System. When the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System tracks a threat, it launches a Ground-Based Interceptor, which uses a three-stage solid rocket booster to fly out of Earth’s atmosphere at near-hypersonic speeds. Once it has exited the atmosphere, EKV’s job begins. The Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle seeks out its target using multi-color sensors, a cutting-edge onboard computer and a rocket motor that helps it steer in space. EKV guides to the target and, with pinpoint precision, destroys the threat using nothing more than the force of a massive collision. No traditional warhead is necessary.
Raytheon, an RTX business, is a leading provider of offensive and defense solutions to help the U.S. government, our allies and partners defend their national sovereignty and ensure their security. For more than 100 years, Raytheon has developed new technologies and enhanced existing capabilities in integrated air and missile defense, smart weapons, missiles, advanced sensors and radars, offensive and defensive cybersecurity tools, interceptors, space-based systems, hypersonics and missile defense across land, air, sea and space. RTX is the world’s largest aerospace and defense company. Through industry-leading businesses – Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon – the company are advancing aviation, engineering integrated defense systems for operational success, and developing next-generation technology solutions.
