Synergistic Structures for Interceptor Kill Vehicle Solid Rocket Propulsion

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA-DV) is focusing on technology integration to improve the performance of next generation kill vehicles (KV). MDA recognizes that meeting the evolving agile threat will require synergizing next generation propulsion technologies into the kill vehicle structural backbone. Simply packaging the largest mass components into a traditional missile structure, as is seen with current fielded KV structures, results in an assembly with redundant structure and excessive mass. For the Phase I program, San Diego Composites, Inc. teamed with another small business and demonstrated how a solid propulsion system, one that is controllable, throttleable and uses non-toxic fuels, can be integrated into the next generation kill vehicle configuration to reduce redundant structure. The objective of the Phase II program is to expand the synergistic KV structure approach to not only include the solid propulsion system, but also the batteries, another large mass component in the KV. A typical KV battery is a right circular cylinder, which is not a volume efficient form factor, especially as the KV gets smaller. The use of conformal batteries is the key to integrating the batteries into the irregular free space of a compact KV. In the Phase II program, the integration of solid propulsion components, as well as conformal batteries, will be demonstrated via hardware manufacturing and testing. The goal at the end of the program is to take the integration of these technologies to a technology readiness level of four.