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!).
Russians Think US Is Weaponizing Asteroids
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LITTLE MARTIAN MOON WITH OUR
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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