Solid rockets

The US solid propulsion industrial community is transferring programs of Pratt & Whitney to other organizations, as the company has decided to cease all its operations at its San Jose, Calif., site. Several solid rocket programs have been transferred to Aerojet, including the flight booster motor for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile. Internationally, the solid rocket motor (SRM) community is increasing its investment in real-time health monitoring technologies due to the high cost of large SRM surveillance and the need to assess the integrity of motors in the field. Denel reported the successful test firing of its vertically launched Umkhonto surface-to-air missile from an eight-round containerized launcher.