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Palmdale CA: Lockheed Martin completed penetrator warhead sled tests to successfully conclude the high-speed payload employment testing component of its Revolutionary Approach To Time-critical Long Range Strike (RATTLRS) effort. RATTLRS is a supersonic, science and technology missile flight demonstrator sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.
A simulated nose and inlet structure of an air breathing cruise missile demonstrated warhead penetration performance and survivability against hardened bunkers. During the tests, the RATTLRS airframe was accelerated to supersonic speeds of greater than Mach 2. The warhead penetrated cleanly and completely through the concrete barriers. Recovered hardware shows that the warhead remained structurally intact.
This testing validates that lightweight penetrator warheads, when coupled with high-speed vehicles, provide the penetration depth of significantly heavier penetrators. According to Neil Kacena, vice president, Advanced Development Programs deputy, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, “With this third demonstration, the RATTLRS program has shown that integrated aero-propulsion technologies enable enhanced performance capability for a variety of missions including mobile, time sensitive targets and buried targets.”
The sled test program is part of the overall risk reduction effort for RATTLRS, culminating in flight demonstrations in late 2007. Lockheed Martin conducted the supersonic sled test at the Holloman High Speed Sled Track in New Mexico. Previous sled tests addressed the high speed dispense of guided munitions, while this test demonstrated the performance capability of a high-speed penetrator warhead against a hardened target.
