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Homing Overlay Experiment, 1983-1985 - Ballistic Missile Defense |
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| Jess was hired
into Lockheed primarily for his experience with liquid rocket systems
and propellants. Lockheed had long been the Navy's prime contractor for
submarine-launched ballistic missiles (Poseidon, Trident). A liquid
propellant upper stage was being considered to improve the cross-range
capability of the missile warheads. The Navy ultimately decided against using liquid propellants on submarine missiles; the Russians had lost at least one submarine and crew from an accident aboard one of their subs. But Jess was then in the right place at the right time, to participate as Lockheed bid on, and won, a contract to demonstrate the concept of shooting down an ICBM warhead with another rocket by direct impact. Some people described it as shooting a bullet with another bullet. The rocket and the warhead would approach each other at a speed of about six miles a second. Jess was responsible for the development of the Homing and Kill (H&K) upper stage propulsion system for two successive programs spanning about 15 years of his career. |
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Jess
Kitchens
