Industry Interview: Aerojet

Scott Neish
Interim CEO and President, GenCorp
President, Aerojet

Scott Neish joined Aerojet in 2002 when Aerojet acquired the Redmond, Wash.-based in-space propulsion business from General Dynamics. Neish previously held numerous technical and management roles at Aerojet Redmond’s predecessors.

Q: Aerojet’s boost motor recently passed the final qualification static test firing for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense [THAAD] program. Please describe your support for that program including your near-term testing milestones.

A: Aerojet has provided the boost motor for the THAAD program since the program transitioned from the previous manufacturer in 2005. Aerojet’s THAAD boost motors have demonstrated 100 percent mission success for all flight and static tests. The major near-term milestones include completion of the last engineering manufacturing development motor in early 2009 and the first fire unit fielding production motor static test, which is scheduled for November 2008.

Q: As a follow-up, what is the status of your support for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement program?

A: The MSE program will develop and formally qualify for production an upgrade to the solid rocket motor [SRM] that we currently produce for the PAC-3 missile. The MSE propulsion system will include several significant technology advancements. These include a composite case upgrade that allows the airframe to operate at a higher temperature and a very high performance dual-pulse, boost-sustain propellant configuration. We have just completed a series of highly successful ground test firings across the full operating temperature range. These tests along with a formal readiness review conducted with Lockheed Martin and the Army’s Lower Tier Project Office [LTPO] release us for formal qualification. The MSE propulsion upgrade has already flown on Lockheed’s successful control test flight missile in May of this year. We’ve already delivered the propulsion system for the first guided test flight scheduled for early next year. So, we are well on our way with completion of development and a successful flight test to bring this very significant capability upgrade into production.

Q: Please update us on your progress in developing a miniature solid propellant divert and attitude control [DACS] system for missile defense applications.

A: In the spring of this year, Aerojet successfully completed the second of two hot fire tests of an embedded divert subsystem demonstrating the miniature DACS mission duty cycle in a near flight weight configuration. This test confirmed our thruster design and provided important data anchoring our analysis models.

Q: Your forecast please, of your top three military space and missile programs for calendar year 2009.

A: The family of Navy Standard Missile products, MDA’s THAAD and the Army’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System [GMLRS] represent our three largest military programs. All three programs are growing. We produce the MK-104 dual-thrust rocket motor used on all three Standard Missile variants [SM-2, SM-3 and SM-6]; the firststage booster, MK-72 used on SM-3 and SM-6; the MK-125 warhead used on SM-2 and SM-6, and we are introducing the throttling divert and attitude control [TDACS] that will be used on the SM-3 Block 1B upgrade. On THAAD, we are transitioning from development and qualification to serial production. Finally, on GMLRS, we are in the process of increasing annual production from approximately 1,500 to more than 4,000 motors in 2010. All of these programs appear to be well supported by the Department of Defense and Congress.

Q: Please describe your recent R&D efforts to address insensitive munitions and other areas of interest to the military space and missile communities.

A: Since introduction of insensitive munitions [IMs] in the 1980s, Aerojet has been an active leader in all IM areas. We have received national and international awards demonstrating our contributions. Aerojet is a leader in IM seminars, symposiums and community education. We address IM for system solutions and our designs address thermal, shock, and impact stimuli. Our R&D IM efforts have increased in response to government-mandated IM requirements. Aerojet developed one of the first threat hazard assessment models and it is used to identify key motor threats at program onset. Our modeling incorporates the latest industry- and Aerojet-developed tools to predict motor response to IM stimuli and reduce testing. We routinely conduct MIL STD 2105 [IM requirements] tests at our Arkansas and New Mexico facilities. We have developed and demonstrated propellant and explosive formulations with improved sensitivity and increased performance. We have demonstrated innovative composite motor cases for reduced response to thermal threats. We are working with the large prime system contractors to test and develop IM-system mitigation methods for the Standard Missile System, GMLRS, and PAC 3 MSE.

Other recent R&D efforts of interest to the military space and missile communities are research in hydrocarbon boost propulsion, hypersonics, electric propulsion, and improved performance addressing the goals of the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology Program. ♦