| Hera | |
|---|---|
 Hera rocket on launch pad | |
| Type | Surface-to-surface guided missile |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Service history | |
| Used by | United States |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Coleman Aerospace |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 11,300 kilograms (24,912 lb) |
| Length | 11.9 metres (39.0 ft) |
| Diameter | 1.32 metres (4.3 ft) (first stage) |
| Engine | First stage: Aerojet General SR19-AJ-1 solid-fuel rocket; 268 kN (60,300lbf) 2nd stage: Hercules M57A1 solid-fuel rocket; 156 kN (35,000 lbf) |
Operational range | 1,100 kilometres (684 mi) |
Hera is a targetmissile for development testing of missile defense systems such asTerminal High Altitude Area Defense andPatriot PAC-3.
In 1992, theUnited States Army Space and Missile Defense Command awarded the Theater Missile Defense (TMD) Targets contract to Coleman Aerospace withSpace Vector Corporation and Aerotherm as sub-contractors. Coleman developed Hera using the second and third stages of theMinuteman II ("MMII") and the guidance section of thePershing II. The Rocket Systems Launch Program at Detachment 12, USAFSpace and Missile Systems Center, provided technical program management services involved with removing the liquid injectionthrust vector control 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, atWhite Sands Missile Range.
Because of its range,Russia claims Hera qualifies as anIRBM and hence violates Item 1, Article 6 of theINF Treaty.[1]
Hera is also used in the USAFSounding Rocket Program.
There were twelve tests using the Hera missile system launched fromFort Wingate over theDatil Mountains toWhite Sands Missile Range between 1997 and 2004.[2] In March 2009, the tests were resumed with a thirteenth flight over theDatil Mountains.[3]Other tests using the HERA were conducted entirely within the missile range, such as the aborted 13 September 2006 test of theTerminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.[4]
DuringTHAAD flight test FTT-11 on December 11, 2009, the Hera target missile failed to ignite following its airborne deployment, subsequently crashing into the ocean.[5] In the wake of this incident,Missile Defense Agency Director LTG Patrick O'Reilly sharply criticized L-3 Coleman Aerospace quality control practices, and in March 2010 suspended further Hera purchases.[6] The suspension was lifted on May 9, 2011[7] when the Air ForceSpace and Missile Systems Center and theMissile Defense Agency 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[8] to continue to develop and supply medium-range ballistic missile targets to the Missile Defense Agency, beating out three competing bidders includingOrbital Sciences Corporation andLockheed Martin Space Systems.