A Pentagon “quality assurance assessment” of Raytheon’s exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV), part of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) System, identified 48 “nonconformances” that could affect the reliability of the system, which is designed to destroy ballistic missiles in flight. Raytheon and partner Boeing said they have already addressed most of the issues.
Boeing leads the GMD program for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), with Raytheon Missile Systems, of Tucson, Ariz., supplying the EKV. The system uses space, ground and shipboard sensors to assess an intermediate or long-range missile threat and then launch an interceptor to destroy the missile in the mid-course segment of flight. Once released from its booster rocket, the EKV uses guidance data transmitted from the system’s ground support and fire-control components and its own onboard sensors to collide with and destroy the target warhead.
Since 2005, the program has completed 10 flight-tests; these included seven intercept tests, of which three resulted in failures attributed to the EKV. In the latest flight-test on June 22, the program successfully destroyed a target over the Pacific Ocean with an interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
The report of the Department of Defense inspector general, released on September 8, identified instances in software management, supply chain management and configuration management of the EKV in which Raytheon, Boeing or the MDA did not comply with the AS9100C quality management system standard as required under a contract the MDA awarded in June 2012. The IG described 22 of the 48 instances of noncompliance as “major.” Raytheon was responsible for 15 of these, Boeing six and the MDA one. Raytheon was responsible for 25 “minor” violations and Boeing one.
The MDA, Boeing and Raytheon are working “to ensure that all of the findings and recommendations are understood, a root cause analysis is performed, and corrective action plans are initiated.” According to the report, all but four of the nonconformances were corrected as of July 24.
In an emailed statement, Raytheon said that it has completed all but one of the actions for which it is responsible. “The recent successful flight-test demonstrates our commitment to improving the kill vehicle’s quality and reliability. Raytheon’s EKV was deployed in 2004 as a prototype because of urgent national defense priorities. We welcome the opportunity to redesign the EKV and look forward to working closely with the Missile Defense Agency and our industry partners to make the kill vehicle more producible and reliable.”
Boeing said that it has completed all of the Boeing-related actions the IG identified. “Further, we continue to work with our suppliers to ensure that rigorous standards are flowed throughout the supply chain to achieve high quality assurance for the Homeland Defense system,” the company said. “Boeing remains committed to providing a quality defense capability for our customer and the nation against long-range ballistic missile threats.”