Launch vehicle support equipment causes test failure

By USASMDC/ARSTRAT Public Affairs OfficeFebruary 5, 2015

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REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- A Failure Review Board has completed its investigation of the failed launch of the Aug. 25 Army's Advanced Hypersonic Weapon Flight Test-2.

The FRB determined an external thermal protective cover designed to regulate motor temperature interfered with the launch vehicle steering assembly, resulting in termination of the launch shortly after liftoff at the Kodiak Launch Complex.

The payload under test, a hypersonic glide body in test configuration, was destroyed before being deployed for flight. The FRB found no issues with the hypersonic glide body, booster motors or the Kodiak Launch Complex. The FRB also determined that the test range flight safety officer correctly followed established protocol and procedures.

The objective of the August test was to further demonstrate hypersonic boost-glide enabling technologies and collect data to support DOD's Conventional Prompt Global Strike technology development effort. The previous AHW test conducted in 2011 successfully launched a hypersonic glide body from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii to Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

CPGS is managed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. The AHW, a project under CPGS, is managed and executed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.

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