Amazing Aegis BMD
Aegis Defense System Targets Unfriendly Fire
An enemy blasts a deadly missile toward a U.S. target. The missile leaves the Earth's atmosphere -- and within minutes it is tracked and destroyed by another missile launched via a powerful shipboard system called Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense.
The Aegis BMD system guides missiles using kinetic forces and infrared tracking. The Aegis missiles carry no explosives so they have to hit their targets directly. Engineers at a Navy research lab in Dahlgren, Va., are teaching sailors to use the system to prepare them for real test missions on Navy ships. Once the sailors learn to use Aegis in the lab, they can harness its awesome power from the open water.
Melanie Lashus, the project manager, says it's amazing to use this technology. "I never thought growing up -- and even in college -- that I would get to be part of something this cool," she says.
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CONCEPTS EXPLORED
Aegis BMD technology
inertia
kinetic forces
trajectories
infrared
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RELATED LINKS
http://www.mda.mil/global/documents/pdf/aegis.pdf
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MILITARY BRANCH
Navy
LAB'S NDEP PAGE
n/a
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