Building on our history of delivering reliable and flight-proven space launch vehicles and missile defense targets, Orbital has emerged as a major supplier of interceptor booster vehicles for the nation's missile defense systems.
Under a contract from The Boeing Company, Orbital is the sole supplier of interceptor boosters for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. Orbital has delivered over 50 boosters since the beginning of the contract in early 2002, and with the award of the GMD development and sustainment contract in late 2011, Orbital will support Boeing and the program for an additional seven years.
The GMD interceptor is designed to intercept and destroy hostile ballistic missiles in their midcourse phase of flight before they reenter the Earth's atmosphere. Our Orbital Boost Vehicle (OBV) interceptor has successfully conducted ten test flights and is being deployed in silos in Alaska and California.
Quick Facts The first OBV interceptor was emplaced in a missile silo at Fort Greely, Alaska on July 22, 2004
GMD OBV successfully flight tested a two-stage configuration in June 2010. The most recent GMD OBV flight test was successfully conducted in December 2010.
