Hera is a target

missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...

for development testing of missile defense systems such as

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in th ...

and

Patriot PAC-3 The MIM-104 Patriot is a mobile interceptor missile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary such system used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives it ...

History

In 1992, the

United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command The United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) is the Army Service Component Command (ASCC) for United States Strategic Command and United States Space Command. It was established in 1985 as the Army Strategic Defense Command ...

awarded the Theater Missile Defense (TMD) Targets contract to Coleman Aerospace with Space Vector Corporation and Aerotherm as sub-contractors. Coleman developed Hera using the second and third stages of the

Minuteman II The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. , the LGM-30G (Version 3) is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and represents th ...

("MMII") and the guidance section of the

Pershing II The Pershing II Weapon System was a solid-fueled two-stage medium-range ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the Pershing 1a Field Artillery Missile System as the United States Army's primary nuclear-capable thea ...

. The Rocket Systems Launch Program at Detachment 12, USAF

Space and Missile Systems Center Space Systems Command (SSC) is the United States Space Force's research and development, space development, Military acquisition, acquisition, space launch, launch, and Military logistics, logistics field command. It is headquartered at Los An ...

, provided technical program management services involved with removing the liquid injection

thrust vector control Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the veh ...

system from the retired MMII second stages in favor of a flex-seal system enabling robust flight control from launch to burn out. First launch was on April 24, 1995, at

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity t ...

. Because of its range,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

claims Hera qualifies as an

IRBM An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range between (), categorized between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ballistic missiles by ran ...

and hence violates Item 1, Article 6 of the

INF Treaty The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union (and its successor state, the Russian Federation). US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhai ...

. Hera is also used in the USAF

Sounding Rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...

Program. There were twelve tests using the Hera missile system launched from

Fort Wingate Fort Wingate was a military installation near Gallup, New Mexico, United States. There were two other locations in New Mexico called Fort Wingate: Seboyeta, New Mexico, Seboyeta (1849–1862) and San Rafael, New Mexico, San Rafael (1862–1868 ...

over the

Datil Mountains The Datil Mountains are a small range on the northern edge of the Mogollon-Datil volcanic field, just northwest of the Plains of San Agustin in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The range lies in Socorro County, New Mexico, Socorro and Catron Count ...

between 1997 and 2004. In March 2009, the tests were resumed with a thirteenth flight over the

. Other tests using the HERA were conducted entirely within the missile range, such as the aborted 13 September 2006 test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. During

THAAD Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in th ...

flight test FTT-11 on December 11, 2009, the Hera target missile failed to ignite following its airborne deployment, subsequently crashing into the ocean. In the wake of this incident,

Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a component of the Federal government of the United States, United States government's United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense responsible for developing a comprehensive Missile defense, defe ...

Director LTG Patrick O'Reilly sharply criticized L-3 Coleman Aerospace quality control practices, and in March 2010 suspended further Hera purchases. The suspension was lifted on May 9, 2011 when the Air Force

and the

were satisfied that Coleman had completed the necessary corrective actions. On October 30, 2013, the Pentagon announced that L3-Coleman had won a $74 million contract"L-3 Coleman Nabs MDA Targets Contract"
/ref> to continue to develop and supply medium-range ballistic missile targets to the Missile Defense Agency, beating out three competing bidders including

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

and

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Lockheed Martin Space is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It has its headquarters in Littleton, Colorado, with additional sites in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Sunnyvale, California; Santa Cruz, California; Huntsville ...

Notes

References

Designation Systems: Coleman Hera
* ttp://english1.people.com.cn/english/200011/16/eng20001116_55316.html People's Daily: Russia Urges US to End "Hera" Ballistic Missile Development{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624201232/http://english1.people.com.cn/english/200011/16/eng20001116_55316.html , date=2009-06-24
Вашингтон реанимирует "Першинги"
(in Russian) Pershing missile Target missiles