Luna To Supply Sensors For Interceptor Kill Vehicles

MISSILE DEFENSE

"Currently, kill vehicles are expensive to design and manufacture due to the many customized components required for a particular mission to accommodate different sensors and non-standard subsystem interfaces," said Dave Kingma, director of federal systems for Luna Innovations. "Our proposed solution offers common sensor electronics and data communications that consist of adaptive sensor electronics with a standard fiber optic communications interface that could substantially reduce integration and development costs."

by Staff Writers
Roanoke VA (SPX) Apr 13, 2007
Luna Innovations anounces that it has won small business innovation research, or SBIR, programs worth $1.6 million from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Raytheon Missile Systems. "Under these multi-year programs Luna will develop low cost common, sensor electronics for use in next-generation exoatmospheric interceptor kill vehicles for ballistic missile defense," the company said.

Luna noted that "kill vehicles are designed to intercept incoming ballistic missile warheads outside the Earth's atmosphere (exoatmospheric) and destroy them by means of high speed collision."

"The development of antiballistic-missile systems is critical to the defense of our nation and it is Luna's mission to discover and advance innovative technologies that are designed to improve the way things get done," said Kent Murphy, Luna Innovations' chairman and chief executive officer.

"Additionally, Luna's ability to serve the Missile Defense Agency and prime technology integrators working in kill vehicle technology is an important milestone for our Federal Systems group."

Doug Schaefer, director of producibility and manufacturing technology for the MDA, welcomed the award. "This is a perfect example of how Luna is able to take SBIR programs and fast track them to develop solutions that address real needs," he said. "This is in line with Luna's business model of moving applied research through the prototype phase and on to what will eventually become a product."

"Our proposed solution offers common sensor electronics and data communications that consist of adaptive sensor electronics with a standard fiber optic communications interface that could substantially reduce integration and development costs."

Luna said its adaptive sensor technology would need "less time to integrate new technology," and would require "reduced inventory due to having common components." The new technology would also help "packaging and performance by reduced weight, electrical isolation, increased radiation hardness and decreased susceptibility to electromagnetic interference," the company said.

"The Luna team is experienced in designing military modules and systems," said Liz O'Keefe, deputy program manager for low-cost kill vehicles at Raytheon Missile Systems. "The Luna system will enable generic on-board processing," she said.

Luna said it would also be involved in the MDA's Next-Generation Sensor Producibility, or NGSP, Flight Experiment Program "to validate this technology."

Source: United Press International

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MISSILE DEFENSE

Iran Helps US Missile Shield

Berlin (UPI) April 11, 2007
Iran's latest claim that it is capable of enriching uranium on an industrial level has encouraged proponents of U.S. plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe, but Moscow is still not amused.

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