SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aerojet, a GenCorp company, has been awarded a $3.5m contract by Raytheon Missile Systems to continue risk reduction efforts on the propulsion system for the Missile Defense Agency's Network Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE) program. NCADE is an air-launched weapon system designed to intercept ballistic missiles in the boost or terminal flight phases, thus increasing the effectiveness of the country's ballistic missile defense.
The Aerojet propulsion system uses an advanced higher performance and lower toxicity propellant when compared to traditional propellants. The green propellant, Hydroxylammonium Nitrate, designated as AF-M315E, was developed and produced by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base.
Aerojet has been developing AF-M315E propellant engines for more than 10 years and recently demonstrated an engine for the NCADE system that provided more than 150 pounds of thrust for longer than 25 seconds. The ongoing support from the Air Force has been critical to developing this capability for missile defense interceptors such as NCADE. "Aerojet is working closely with Raytheon and our government partners to achieve the NCADE goals. We anticipate several demonstration tests to further strengthen the role for NCADE in our national missile defense," said Aerojet's president, Scott Neish.
Aerojet is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader principally serving the missile, space propulsion and armaments markets. GenCorp is a leading technology-based manufacturer of aerospace and defense products and systems with a real estate segment that includes activities related to the entitlement, sale and leasing of the company's excess real estate assets. Additional information about Aerojet and GenCorp can be obtained by visiting the companies' Web sites at http://www.aerojet.com/ and http://www.gencorp.com/.
