Customer Ceremony at Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in West Virginia
Highlights Milestone and Achievements
Company Continues to Develop Tactical Propulsion Innovations to
Improve Warfighter Safety
DULLES, Va.Oct. 25, 2017--
Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense
technologies marked a significant milestone recently with the delivery
of its 100,000th AGM-114 tactical motor, the high performance
rocket motor that propels the highly successful HELLFIRE missile.
The motor is currently in service with the U.S. Armed Forces as well as
16 other allied nations, and is used on dozens of platforms ranging from
helicopters, aircraft, unmanned aircraft, land combat vehicles and
combat ships.
For more than three decades, Orbital ATK has designed and manufactured
the high performance, minimum-smoke HELLFIRE missile rocket
motor at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) in Rocket Center, West
Virginia, and is the sole supplier of the rocket motor used across the
entire family of missile variants.
At a ceremony celebrating the milestone earlier this month at Orbital
ATK s ABL facility, Col. Dave Warnick of U.S. Army, Program Executive
Office Missiles and Space, Joint Attack Munitions Systems, thanked more
than 250 employees and industry partners in attendance who are a part of
the HELLFIRE program. This is a great program that has
continued to deliver a quality tool, at the quantity we need, to do our
job and keep American soldiers safe, said Warnick referring to the
increase in demand over the past few years. The HELLFIRE is
going straight from the factory to the front lines where they are being
utilized by our soldiers.
Mike Kahn, president of Orbital ATK s Defense Systems Group echoed the
sentiment. Our responsibility to the warfighter drives us to improve
and innovate. We are dedicated to deliver the best tactical propulsion
and controls products to our customers and continue to invest in our
people and facilities to assure readiness and overmatch for the future.
Orbital ATK is upgrading the current version of the HELLFIRE
rocket motor to include insensitive
munitions, called the IM HELLFIRE . By incorporating
reduced sensitivity propellants, low-cost bonded end closure composite
cases, and passive thermal mitigation systems, Orbital ATK has developed
a system that meets all current propulsion interface requirements for
the existing HELLFIRE and will provide enhanced safety for
the warfighter.
Last year, the company broke ground on its new Large
Tactical Motor Manufacturing Facility in Rocket Center, West
Virginia, which will specialize in IM-Compliant motors and is scheduled
to be fully online by summer 2018.
Also in tactical missile propulsion, Orbital ATK is developing rocket
pulse motors to operate at extremely cold temperatures that provide
increased range and flexibility for both tactical and defense
applications. Likewise, the company is demonstrating air-breathing
hypersonic propulsion systems that will reduce the time-to-target for
tactical missiles while increasing flexibility for the warfighter. The
company maintains a number of state-of-the-art hypersonic test
facilities along the east coast to expedite development of these
groundbreaking capabilities.
For more information about Orbital ATK s capabilities in tactical
missile propulsion and controls, visit www.orbitalatk.com.
About Orbital ATK
Orbital ATK is a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies.
The company designs, builds and delivers space, defense and aviation
systems for customers around the world, both as a prime contractor and
merchant supplier. Its main products include launch vehicles and related
propulsion systems; missile products, subsystems and defense
electronics; precision weapons, armament systems and ammunition;
satellites and associated space components and services; and advanced
aerospace structures. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, Orbital ATK
employs approximately 13,000 people across the U.S. and in several
international locations. For more information, visit www.orbitalatk.com.
Source: Orbital ATK
Media Contact:
Orbital ATK
Melissa Sheets, 443-591-0664
Defense
System Group Public Relations
melissa.sheets@orbitalatk.com
or
Investor
Contact:
Orbital ATK
Barron Beneski, 703-406-5528
Public
and Investor Relations
barron.beneski@orbitalatk.com