The Multiple Kill Vehicle MKV-L was demonstrated in a successful hover test at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
The objectives of the test were to have the MKV-L hover under its own power and then prove its ability to recognize and track a target in a flight environment, which looks like near Earth orbit.
See the MKV-L's propulsion system demonstrate its maneuverability in the MKV-L video below.
The MKV-L approach delivers a carrier vehicle and its bandolier of kill vehicles to the battle. Using its long-range seeker to sort out the objects, the carrier vehicle deploys its kill vehicles, assigning each a target to destroy, and guiding them until the last few moments, when they execute the kill autonomously.
Where have I seen this idea before? In terms of its maneuverability and proposed space operation, the MKV-L reminds me of the seeker remote from Star Wars. Obviously, the seeker remote was not intended as an offensive weapon (but it could have been!).
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ROCKET SHIP, WE HAD LESSENED
THE CENTRIFUGAL SPEED THAT
HELD IT BALANCED IN THE SKY.' - Philip Nowlan and D. Calkins, 1930.
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