Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC

The US Army has awarded Aerojet a three-year, $5 million contract to develop controllable thrust propulsion for future US Army tactical missiles, including the Modernised Hellfire, Common Modular Missile and Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM).

Starting this year, the firm will produce concept designs for flight testing by 2003. The goal is to develop controllable rocket motors.

Initial studies are underway with testing expected to begin next year.

The CKEM technology demonstration could provide the US military with a next-generation hypervelocity missile that is smaller, lighter and faster than the Line of Sight Anti-tank weapon. It would be used against armoured vehicles and helicopters.

The US Army says development of a more efficient, high performance rocket motor is required to achieve the higher velocities necessary for the required kinetic energy (KE) lethality.

TRW, meanwhile, continues to develop innovative "gel" missile propulsion. Gel propulsion systems are fuelled with a highly viscous, semi-solid propellant and combine the best characteristics of solid and liquid fuels. It stores like a solid but flows like a liquid when pressurised.

Gel propulsion is being developed by a TRW/Talley Defense Systems team under the US Army's Future Missile Technology Integration programme. The industry team recently demonstrated the technology during a second flight test at Eglin AFB, Florida. A missile powered by gel propellant and mated with a target seeker was launched from a Bradley fighting vehicle. It hit near the target, demonstrating the propulsion system's predictable performance.

TRW recently won a US Army study contract to develop gel propulsion for the Common Modular Missile and Modernised Hellfire.

Modernised Hellfire would yield a longer range, more capable fire-and-forget anti-tank missile. The US Army aims to shed weight from the Hellfire and replace its rocket motor. The project is to get under way next year and is viewed as a hedge against problems with the future Common Modular Missile, an anti-tank weapon to be fired from attack helicopters and ground vehicles (Flight International 27 June - 3 July).

The project may, however, yield common components, such as a warhead or seeker, that would be mated to different airframes.

Source: Flight International