Pentagon Probing Issues With Raytheon-built EKV

摘要

Persistent problems with the kill vehicle atop the interceptors deployed to protect the United States against ballistic missile attacks have triggered a quality control investigation by the U.S. Defense Department's inspector general. In a Sept. 24 letter to U.S. Navy Vice Adm.James Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General said it has begun a "quality assurance assessment" of the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), which is built by Raytheon Missile Systems of Tucson, Ariz. The EKV, designed to separate from its booster rocket and destroy incoming missile warheads by force of impact, is the business end of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, which serves as the primary U.S territorial shield.