HUNTSVILLE — The latest test by the Missile Defense Agency and a Boeing-led industry team was a smashing triumph.
The team intercepted an intermediate-range ballistic missile target in space during the latest test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense. According to a news release from Boeing, the test validated a configuration which gives the missile defense operators more time, space, and flexibility to intercept ballistic missile threats.
“This successful test is important because it opens up the window of opportunity to intercept threats to our homeland,” said Debbie Barnett, vice president of Strategic Missile & Defense Systems. “We’re committed to continuously enhancing the GMD system’s capability to meet rapidly evolving missile defense needs for the nation.”
During the test in California, a GMD interceptor released a kinetic-force Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle during the rocket booster’s second stage of its normally three-stage sequence of flight.
The threat-representative target was air launched from the Broad Ocean Area and the interceptor was deployed from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Boeing has supported the GMD program out of Huntsville as the lead system integrator since the inception of the program in 1998 through development, test, operations and sustainment with engineers and experts who work in Alabama.
The system has been operating for nearly two decades and is an integral part of America’s layered ballistic missile defense architecture.
Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. The company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact.
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