The Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile, produced by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, has been awarded the Aerospace Industry Award 2000 for the Space and Missiles category. Flight International magazine sponsors the competition.

The award was presented Wednesday night at the Aerospace Industry Awards 2000 during Asian Aerospace 2000 in Singapore.

The category in which the PAC-3 Missile won its award, Space and Missiles, recognizes achievements in the design, manufacture or operation of missiles and other armament systems powered by non-air- breathing motors.

The PAC-3 Missile is a high velocity, hit-to-kill missile and is the next generation Patriot missile being developed to provide increased capability against the entire spectrum of lower tier threats. Patriot PAC-3 is the U.S. Army's only high and medium altitude air and missile defense system capable of countering multiple tactical missiles, advanced cruise missiles and aircraft while operating in severe electronic countermeasure environments. The PAC-3 Missiles, when deployed in a Patriot battery, will effectively quadruple the Patriot system's firepower, since sixteen PAC-3 Missiles load-out on a Patriot launcher, compared with four Patriot missiles.

The PAC-3 Missile demonstrated its ability to successfully intercept and destroy tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs) carrying simulated warheads of mass destruction in two successful tests during 1999, plus another successful test in early February 2000. The next planned flight test of the PAC-3 Missile will be against a target simulating a low-flying advanced cruise missile.

The first three guided test flights of the Developmental Test (DT) program achieved direct, body-to-body kinetic kills of TBM re-entry vehicles. In extreme environments at tremendous speeds, the PAC-3 Missile demonstrated the ability to detect, home-in and intercept TBMs in its first three attempts.

The first guided flight on March 15, 1999, was against a re-entry vehicle carrying a simulated chemical submunition warhead. The second successful guided intercept was on September 16, 1999, against another re-entry vehicle, this time carrying a simulated bulk chemical warhead. And the third successful test, February 5, 2000, was against a re-entry vehicle carrying a simulated warhead. In all three cases, the TBM warheads were destroyed at threat-representative ranges and altitudes.

In both 1999 tests, and in the February 2000 test, all technical objectives were successfully achieved. The intercepts achieved the desired accuracy, and target impact occurred at the selected aim-points on all flights.

The first two intercepts during 1999 resulted in the transition of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development program into low-rate production. The initial production contract was signed in early December, with the initial fielding scheduled for 2001.

The PAC-3 Missile features high velocity, a high-G airframe, inertially guided flyout, active radio frequency acquisition and homing to intercept. The end-game RF seeker is a Ka band radar that incorporates high power with a coherent, range-gated and pulsed doppler design.

Contracts totaling $143 million for PAC-3 Missile Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP), special hardware and long lead-time items were awarded to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in December 1999.

In addition to the successful PAC-3 Missile EMD flight tests, the PAC-3's predecessor missile, the Extended-Range Interceptor, demonstrated three hits in a row during the demonstration/validation program in 1994. Two of those tests involved TBM targets and one involved an air-breathing target (simulating a cruise missile or aircraft).

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is the prime contractor responsible for the PAC-3 Missile segment upgrade, which consists of the PAC-3 Missile, missile canisters (in four-packs), the Fire Solution Computer and the Enhanced Launcher Electronics System.