The US Army is seeking bids from industry for development of a Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM) for use by helicopters and ground vehicles against armoured threats. The hypervelocity missile technology demonstration programme would produce a missile that is smaller than the army's Line of Sight Anti-Tank (LOSAT) weapon. The US Army wants a 1.2m (4ft) long missile with a velocity of 2,300m/s (450,000ft/min) for optimum penetration performance. It would weigh under 23kg (51lb) and have an effective range of 5km (2.7nm) with growth to 8km. The CKEM demonstration will run four years from 2001.
Source: Flight International