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!).
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Poul Anderson's 'Brain Wave'
"Everybody and his dog, it seemed, wanted to live out in the country; transportation and communication were no longer isolating factors."
AI Note-Taking From Google Meet
'... the new typewriter that could be talked to, and which transposed the spoken sound into typed words.'