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Antisatellite Missile
The U.S. Air Force began developing this air-launched antisatellite missile (ASAT) to destroy enemy satellites after the Soviet Union demonstrated its ability to attack satellites in space. At the tip of this two-stage missile was a Miniature Homing Vehicle (MHV) with infrared seekers and 64 small solid-fuel rocket motors. Once it separated from the missile, the MHV homed in and destroyed a satellite by direct collision, rather than by a warhead, a concept known as "hit-to-kill." The ASAT's maximum intercept altitude was at least 560 kilometers (350 miles).
Five of these ASAT's were flight tested. One launched from an F-15 fighter successfully intercepted and destroyed an orbiting U.S. satellite in 1985. The Air Force cancelled the ASAT program in the late 1980's. |