GQM-163 Coyote
The GQM-163 Coyote is a supersonic sea skimming target built by Orbital Sciences and used by the United States Navy as a successor to the MQM-8 Vandal. Orbital's proposal was chosen over the MA-31, a joint venture between Boeing and Zvezda-Strela. Orbital was awarded their contract for the development of the Coyote SSST in June 2000.
The Coyote is initially boosted by a Hercules MK-70 booster, of similar design to those used by the now obsolete RIM-67 Standard ER missiles. After the booster stage is expended the missile switches to an Aerojet MARC-R-282 solid-fuel rocket /ramjet engine for sustaining its flight. [1][2][3]
In July 2018, Orbital Sciences Corp was awarded a US$52m modification to its existing contract, for 18 Lot 12 targets plus some Foreign Military Sales.[4]
Operators
Current operators
References
- ^ Aster Slays The Russian Dragon
- ^ Directory of US Military Rockets and Missiles
- ^ "GQM-163 SSST: A Tricky Coyote to Match Wits With Defenses". Retrieved 2010-08-17.
- ^ Orbital tapped for Coyote supersonic sea skimming targets for Navy, Stephen Carlson, SpaceDaily.com, 2018-07-03
- ^ ANZAC upgrade completes final acceptance trial
- ^ Latest GQM-163 SSST contract includes first sale to Japan