Lockheed Martin has received a $53 million technology risk reduction contract to improve seekers, avionics, and system integration for the Multi-Object Kill Vehicle (MKV), the Missile Defense Agency announced on March 9. MKV is a ballistic missile defense system carried on board an interceptor missile and is designed to destroy multiple incoming missiles, including decoys, at the same time. The MKV development program was active in the mid-2000s but was delayed in 2009 when then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reshaped the Pentagon budget and cut funding for missile defense programs. But in 2015, Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed were each given $9 million proof-of-concept contracts. Raytheon already built the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, which is part of the Ground-Based Interceptor system deployed in 2010. The EKV has successfully demonstrated its ability to destroy a single ballistic missile in three ground-based launch tests.
B-21 Raider First Flight Now Postponed to 2023
May 20, 2022
The Air Force says the B-21 Raider won't make its first flight until 2023; about a six-month delay from the last official estimates. No reason was given for the delay. While other programs have recently chalked up schedule slips to supply chain and labor shortages, the Air Force has said…