From one side of the country to the other, Peraton is supporting the U.S. Army’s missile defense mission, ensuring that all systems are ready when it counts. A recent example of this work is when Peraton employees helped develop a missile target for the LTZ-2 test mission.
On November 02, 2024, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) launched a Black Dagger Zombie target vehicle from Fort Wingate, New Mexico into White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico for their LTZ-2 test mission.
Zombie targets are low-cost, tactical ballistic missile targets designed to travel flight paths that accurately simulate an adversarial threat. These exercises are conducted to verify the performance of missile defense systems, in this case, the U.S. Army’s Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor system. The “Black Dagger” configuration is a two-stage target vehicle that features a Mark 70 Terrier first stage and an M124 second stage.
Across the country in Princess Anne, Maryland, Peraton supports missile defense target tests by helping design and manufacture Zombie missile targets using demilitarized solid rocket motors. This approach not only makes missile defense testing affordable while cutting down manufacturing time, but it also creates high-fidelity representations of adversarial ballistic missiles. Peraton’s Princess Anne team also travels launch sites to perform launch operations of Zombie targets.
The Princess Anne team focuses on low-cost suborbital launch services and features engineering, manufacturing, mission management, and business operations staff to support full lifecycle launch services from design through launch and post flight reporting. The team focuses on providing launch services for missile defense targets and the hypersonic community.
Peraton’s Princess Anne team and its predecessors have supported sounding rocket missions and missile defense target operations for over 25 years. Learn how Peraton continues to provide strategic solutions for our customers’ defense missions.
