Raytheon Pushes for More NCADE Funding
Click here for more news / Clique aqui para mais notícias
By Amy Butler
PARIS
Raytheon plans to begin flight testing of the two-stage Network-Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE) ballistic missile killer within 40 months, but the company is hoping to get more funding from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to deliver missiles within four years, according to a senior Raytheon official.
Michael Booen, the company’s vice president for directed energy programs, says Raytheon expects to achieve a $1 million per unit price for the weapon. Development of the air-launched ballistic missile interceptor is expected to require about $500 million. The company began developing NCADE with company funding.
MDA requested $3.5 million for NCADE in the Fiscal 2010 budget request, although Booen says he had hoped for about $15 million. So Raytheon plans to push Congress for more funds. He says that if additional funding is provided, he could deliver 20 of the weapons to the Pacific region within four years to help counter the threat of a ballistic missile attack from North Korea.
Based on the AIM-120 body, the missile would incorporate the imaging infrared seeker from the AIM-9X and two solid-rocket motor stages. Officials last year had hoped to develop a liquid-fueled second stage for higher thrust, but dashed those plans after encountering developmental challenges.
Raytheon hasn’t yet selected whether Alliant Techsystems or Aerojet will provide the second-stage motor.
NCADE could be an option for MDA as it continues to study options for intercepting ballistic missiles early in flight. An advantage of Raytheon’s design is it can mate with aircraft already certified to launch the AIM-120.
Lockheed Martin is also proposing an air-launched version of the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement for use on the F-15.
Air-launched hit-to-kill (ALHTK) options have also recently gotten the interest of the U.S. Air Force. The chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, penned a June 2 letter to the MDA Director, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, about “growing interest” in USAF in
ALHTK options. He asks O’Reilly to support a joint study of ALHTK options and to consider whether ALHTK should become a program of record.
Schwartz says that the service recently identified “several ALHTK” alternatives based on experience in Unified Engagement 2008, a wargame.
Photo: Raytheon
