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ATK Successfully Test Fires Titan IV Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade Booster With New Nozzle Material

Mar 28, 2000

ATK (Alliant Techsystems) (NYSE: ATK), said it successfully test fired a Titan IV Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade (SRMU) booster using a new nozzle material on March 19 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

The test of the 11-story, three-segment booster lasted 140 seconds and generated 1.7 million pounds of thrust. It was conducted under the supervision of the Air Force Research Laboratory-Propulsion Directorate, and is the latest validation test for the Titan IV space launch program managed by Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, Calif.

Alliant Aerospace Propulsion Company, Magna, Utah, is under contract to Titan IV prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Denver, Colo., to produce the SRMU booster and provide operations and technical launch support services for the Titan IV.

"The test firing will provide the Titan IV program with a wealth of data to validate the performance of new materials that will be used in the booster's carbon-phenolic nozzle," said Dale Busath, Titan program director, Alliant Aerospace Propulsion Company. "The new materials are manufactured in an environmentally sound manner, and will replace materials that no longer comply or are unavailable under current environmental regulations."

America's most powerful expendable solid rocket motor, the Titan IV SRMU has greater reliability and 25-percent more lift capability than its predecessor motor, enabling the launch of payloads up to 13,000 pounds -- roughly the size of a school bus -- into geosynchronous orbit, and payloads weighing up to 48,000 pounds into low-Earth orbit.

Flight qualification testing on the SRMU booster was completed in 1993, with the first flight occurring in February 1997. Since then, SRMUs have helped launch six successful Titan IV missions, including the launch of the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn in October 1997.

There are two SRMU boosters on the Titan IV vehicle, each measuring 112 feet in length and 126 inches in diameter. The three-segment motor cases are made of graphite epoxy composite material, which reduces the inert weight of the SRMU from its steel-cased predecessor motor, despite the SRMU's larger size and greater amount of solid propellant. The SRMU also includes advanced electronics that are fully compliant with range safety requirements.

Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Titan is the nation's premier heavy-lift vehicle for interplanetary spacecraft and national security missions. Titan rockets have propelled nearly 200 space launches over the past 40 years, including NASA's Gemini manned space missions in the 1960s and the Viking and Voyager interplanetary spacecraft missions in the 1970s. A series of Titan Space Launch Systems also launched sophisticated classified spacecraft in support of U.S. national security, and Titan I and II Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles helped to establish a major deterrent force during the Cold War.

Alliant Aerospace Propulsion Company is part of ATK's Aerospace Group, which comprises the company's space and strategic propulsion and Utah- and Mississippi-based composite structures operations. The group employs approximately 1,700 people in California, Florida, Mississippi, New York, and Utah. Sales in fiscal year 1999 were $395 million.

ATK is a $1.1 billion aerospace and defense company with leading market positions in munitions, solid propulsion, composite structures, and precision electronic fuzes. The company, which is headquartered in Hopkins, Minn., employs approximately 5,800 people and has three business groups: Conventional Munitions, Aerospace, and Defense Systems. ATK news and information can be found on the Internet at http://www.atk.com/

SOURCE: ATK

Contact: Dave Nicponski for ATK, 801-251-2552, david_nicponski@atk.com