PAC-3 MSE test successWASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- Raytheon announced earlier this month it had carried out a successful test launch of the Missile Segment Enhancement version of the Patriot PAC-3 missile at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
The test was carried out utilizing "a Patriot Configuration-3 fire unit with engineering upgrades to the Post Deployment Build-6 system software," the company said in a statement.
Raytheon said the operation was the second in a series of live-fire exercises planned to test the new MSE interceptor's performance parameters within the Patriot system.
"This test demonstrated the Patriot Configuration-3 flexibility to integrate new and evolving interceptors and expand the Patriot battle-space with minimal software and hardware changes to the ground system," said Sanjay Kapoor, vice president of Patriot Programs for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.
"In support of the war fighter, Patriot continues to add capability to counter emerging threats, while providing increased system reliability and lowered life-cycle cost," he said.
Raytheon IDS is the prime contractor for the Patriot program and the system integrator for the PAC-3 MSE interceptor.
Raytheon describes the Patriot as the U.S. armed forces' only current land-based, short- to medium-range ballistic missile defense system in operational use and the U.S. Army's main theater air and missile defense system.
The Patriot system is a long-range, high-altitude, all-weather anti-aircraft and anti-missile battery of interceptors to defend against tactical ballistic missiles, jet and rotary wing aircraft and cruise missiles, the company said.
The Patriot PAC-3 MSE program is administered by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space and is implemented by the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Project Office in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Dallas, is the prime contractor on the PAC-3 MSE interceptor program.
http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2008/06/19/BMD_Wat.../UPI-20771213894138/
