Boeing Test Kit For Cruise Missile Works

A test instrumentation kit for the Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM) / Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) passed tests, The Boeing Co. [BA] reported.

The tests were conducted at the Utah Test and Training Range, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

According to the company, the Air Force used the test instrumentation kit, or CATIK, to monitor missile performance.

After launching the ALCM, configured with a simulated warhead, from a B-52 Stratofortress bomber, the U.S. Air Force used the CATIK to monitor in-flight missile performance and transmit the information to the flight test control center.

ALCM is a self-guided weapon that carries a nuclear warhead, while CALCM, designed in the 1990s, carries a conventional warhead.

When launched, ALCM weapons fly to their targets using terrain correlation mapping, and CALCM weapons use Global Positioning System guidance.

During flight tests, they fly a preprogrammed course over the range for approximately four hours.

Boeing will deliver the first production CATIK units in early 2007 under a contract worth approximately $38 million.

“We are very pleased with the success of this first flight,” said John Griffith, Boeing ALCM/CALCM program manager. “The new CATIK will allow the Air Force to continue the flight test program through 2030.”