L3Harris Urges Realistic Missile Defense Testing to Accelerate Interceptor Fielding.

Scott Alexander, president of Missile Solutions at Aerojet Rocketdyne within L3Harris, wrote in Defense News that U.S. missile defense testing must mirror real operating conditions with more realistic targets. He argues that industry and government should compress the design-to-test-to-production cycle to field systems faster with higher reliability.

On Oct. 6, 2025, an opinion piece by Scott Alexander (L3Harris/Aerojet Rocketdyne) urging missile defense programs to test under operationally realistic conditions, increase target fidelity, and shorten the path from design to testing and production. Writing from Huntsville, Alabama, he highlights recent target and propulsion testing as proof points and frames speed and realism as essential to reliability. Faster, more realistic testing can accelerate fielding against hypersonic and other emerging threats.
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On March 24, 2025, a C-17 air-launched an MRBM with an HTV-1 forebody off Hawaii’s Pacific Missile Range Facility during FTX-40 (Picture source: US DoD)

In his piece, he cites recent campaigns, notably in Hawaii, where an air-launched MRBM from a C-17 with an HTV-1 forebody allowed sensors and fire-control systems to train against profiles resembling hypersonic threats. He also highlights Aerojet Rocketdyne’s propulsion role across major interceptor families, from THAAD to PAC-3 to Standard Missile, and points to test assets able to operate at speeds up to Mach 6 and to evaluate materials at 5,000°F.

The March 2025 trials under the Stellar Banshee banner show a representative missile sequence: first and second solid stages using eSR-19 motors; a flight profile designed to produce realistic signatures; detection and tracking at sea by USS Pinckney; and, ultimately, a simulated engagement that stresses the full architecture. The engineering goal is not a public demonstration but clean data sets: margins on useful thrust, measured skin temperatures, measured accelerations, and the adjustments that follow for guidance laws, discrimination, and timing. The questions are concrete: does the algorithm degrade when the target performs a light maneuver near the end of ascent, does the Kalman filter hold as clutter increases, does the propulsion chain remain stable at an altitude band where temperature drops.

L3Harris presents itself as a cross-program propulsion supplier for Missile Defense Agency interceptors now in production. In practice, this includes solid stages for intercept vehicles and target missiles, as well as Divert and Attitude Control Systems that determine terminal accuracy in both exo- and endo-atmospheric flight. For THAAD, the interception window depends on propellant mass, thermal endurance, and the ability to deliver late impulses to correct angular error at the endgame. For PAC-3, the scale changes, endo-atmospheric control precision dominates, and energy reserves must remain available despite rapid, repeated commands. For Standard Missile, naval integration and vertical launch add constraints, including storage and compatibility with launcher cells. In each case, propulsion sets access to the rendezvous box and keeps some margin for last-second correction when the threat profile shifts.

The column then turns to test infrastructure. In Orange County, Virginia, high-altitude and hypersonic laboratories validate DAC sequences and drive engines to regimes up to Mach 6. Working at these speeds means checking flow behavior, internal erosion, insulator durability, valve response, and the repeatability of impulses. Multi-axis thrust stands reduce uncertainty in propulsor dynamics. Material testing at 5,000°F informs service life for liners, local buckling margins, and interface strength. In Camden, Arkansas, the scale is industrial: more than 6,000 motor tests per year, now seven days a week, a sixth bay dedicated to development, and a modular, reconfigurable stand to change motor geometry or type without slowing throughput. This operational detail weighs directly on qualification timelines and, by extension, unit fielding schedules.

The operational value of realistic sequences is direct. Combat systems and crews see trajectories that compress timelines and stress track correlation. Radars and processors engage with credible signatures rather than abstractions. Weak points surface earlier, for example, a track loss at a particular elevation angle, unexpected heating on a divert stage at a certain altitude, or a bus latency that narrows the firing window. The test-analyze-correct loop works if it remains short. That is the stated objective: bring iteration closer to production and save weeks, not for box-ticking but to avoid setbacks during the next exercise.

At the same time, classic ballistic profiles continue, quasi-ballistic trajectories are expanding, and hypersonic experimentation changes the warning and interception equation. The United States seeks to maintain a layered shield for the homeland and for deployed forces. That requires a coordinated industrial base, standardized interfaces, and deliveries that do not stretch indefinitely. The article invokes the Arsenal of Democracy, implying broad industrial mobilization. If threats accelerate, test and qualification cycles cannot stay static.