The PTV served as an intercept target for the U.S. Army Lower Tier Project Office Patriot missile defense system. The PTV was launched on December 10, 2015 from Fort Wingate into the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico and was intercepted during reentry.

Orbital ATK has been supporting the U.S. Air Force with ballistic target systems for more than 20 years. The development of the first PTV target vehicle took just over two-and-a-half years and relied heavily on flight-proven designs from other Orbital ATK launch vehicles, such as the Medium Range Target, Storm target and Pegasus space launch vehicle.

Orbital ATK is one of the country’s most experienced developers and operators of missile defense-related launch vehicles. The company supports virtually all of the country’s major missile defense programs with highly reliable and cost-effective target vehicles.

Source: Orbital ATK