Lockheed Martin says PAC-3 ACE will target lower costs while PAC-3 Edge is designed to intercept hypersonic missile threats – Defence Industry Europe

Lockheed Martin says PAC-3 ACE will target lower costs while PAC-3 Edge is designed to intercept hypersonic missile threats  Defence Industry Europe

Lockheed Martin has outlined plans for two PAC-3 interceptors with different priorities: reducing the cost of air defense and engaging more demanding threats. Lockheed Martin has outlined plans for two PAC-3 interceptors with different priorities: reducing the cost of air defense and engaging more demanding threats. At the AUSA exhibition in Washington on October 12–14, the company provided further details of the lower-cost PAC-3 ACE and the hypersonic-focused PAC-3 Edge. ACE would replace several expensive PAC-3 MSE components with simpler alternatives. Edge would use more advanced propulsion, guidance and maneuvering systems to improve interception capability. PAC-3 ACE, disclosed during the summer, is intended to cost less than half as much as PAC-3 MSE.

It would use PAC-3 guidance algorithms and be fully integrated with the Integrated Battle Command System, or IBCS. A single-pulse rocket motor would replace MSE’s dual-pulse motor. The design would also dispense with the attitude control motors, or ACM, that provide precision maneuvering and account for a substantial share of MSE’s cost. ACE would engage targets with a fragmentation warhead rather than depend on a direct kinetic hit. Some commentators question its effectiveness against ballistic missiles, estimating performance comparable to or below the older PAC-2 GEM-T. Jason Reynolds, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of integrated air and missile defense, said “many countries” were interested in