REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (February 18, 2016) -- The U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command's U.S. Army Redstone Test Center, or RTC, is the hotspot for things that go boom on Redstone Arsenal. By nature of its mission, RTC has the regular opportunity to test an array of missiles, sensors, aviation equipment and more.
RTC had the privilege of conducting a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, boost motor test Feb. 10. The test was unique in relation to the more routine boost motor tests typically performed by RTC. The THAAD boost motor has a thrust vectoring nozzle, meaning it moves various directions, and it has to be temperature conditioned 48 hours prior to testing while the motor is installed on the test stand.
RTC is the only agency used by the THAAD Project Office to perform stockpile reliability testing on this boost motor. Stockpile reliability testing is conducted to assess the dependability of these assets after time in storage.
"This THAAD boost motor had been in storage for approximately five years," said Jason Bell, RTC test engineer. "The test we conducted, on behalf of the THAAD Project Office within the Missile Defense Agency, was to ensure data collected during our test of an aged motor showed no degradation in performance versus early production and qualifications tests performed by the boost motor manufacturer."
These tests employ a single, fixed nozzle to gather data. This particular test at RTC used a multi-nozzle, vectoring data acquisition method that rotates and moves with the various thrusts created by the THAAD.
Typical boost motors in the Army's arsenal employ a fixed nozzle. There is only one thrust measurement needed to collect boost motor thrust data. However, because THAAD has a vectoring nozzle, the test requires data to be collected from multiple thrust measurements. Accomplishing this requires RTC to set up a six degree of freedom test stand. The stand was designed around a THAAD boost motor, but is capable of being adapted to accommodate other boost motors as well.
This specific test, as with all stockpile-reliability test programs, require boost motors to be tested at a certain temperature. This meant using portable temperature conditioning equipment to condition the THAAD boost motor to negative 17 degrees Fahrenheit for 48 hours prior to the test.
THAAD is an anti-ballistic missile system designed to intercept short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles inside or outside the atmosphere, during their final, or terminal phase, and destroy it before it reaches its target.
Initial development of THAAD began around 24 years ago, when the first fielded units deployed May 2008. The next stockpile reliability test for the THAAD is tentatively planned for 2018.
"This test required a high level of coordination between the manufacturer, RTC, and the THAAD Project Office. We are proud to offer exceptional technical expertise by local professionals in support of local defense companies," said Col. Patrick Mason, RTC commander. "Ultimately, we all work together to support the American warfighter, a mission of which we are phenomenally proud."
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