Teledyne Brown Engineering launched a Zombie target missile, part of the company’s Tactical Range Air Defense Missile (TACRAM) contract under the authority of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) Technical Center’s Target Division at Redstone Arsenal.
Teledyne Brown Engineering, based in Huntsville, designs and builds the affordable, flexible target missile to be used for testing advanced missile defense systems. The Zombie missile was launched at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and was successful intercepted.
Teledyne Brown has developed three variations of the Zombie missile using decommissioned U.S. Government-supplied rocket motors. The most recent variation is the two-stage Zombie “Black Dagger,” a realistic threat ballistic missile target consisting of a Pathfinder Zombie target missile with the addition of a Mark 70 Terrier Missile booster.
“This program is a testament to our military’s resourcefulness and ingenuity,” said Jan Hess, president of Teledyne Brown Engineering. “Together with SMDC, we were able to repurpose decommissioned rocket motors to create a missile that will enable the Army to test our nation’s defense system.”
The TACRAM program provides threat-representative capabilities necessary to test the effectiveness of the missile defense assets at a lower cost than testing in the past. This TACRAM contract is planned to continue through April 2025.
