GQM-163 Coyote

U.S. Navy sea-skimming missile test target

Maximum speed Mach 3.0-4.0 at 5,000–55,000 ft (1,500–16,800 m), Mach 2.6 at 15–30 ft (5–9 m) ^[1]

The GQM-163 Coyote is a supersonic sea-skimming missile target built by Northrop Grumman^[2] (formerly Orbital ATK) and used by the United States Navy as a successor to the MQM-8 Vandal. Orbital's proposal was chosen over the MA-31, a joint venture between Boeing and Zvezda-Strela. Orbital was awarded the development contract for the Coyote SSST in June 2000.

The Coyote is launched by a Hercules MK-70 booster, of similar design to those used by the obsolete RIM-67 Standard ER missiles. After the booster stage is expended the missile switches to an Aerojet MARC-R-282 solid-fuel rocket/ramjet engine for sustained flight. ^[3]^[4]^[5]

In July 2018, Orbital Sciences Corp was awarded a US$52m modification to its existing contract, for 18 Lot 12 targets plus some Foreign Military Sales.^[6]

Operators

United States of America

US Navy

France

French Navy

Australia

Australian Navy^[7]

Japan

Japan Maritime Self Defense Force^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b "Home" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2016-10-19. Retrieved 2023-04-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ "Northrop Grumman wins potential $250M Navy contract". Virginia Business. 2020-12-22. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
^ "Air Defense: Aster Slays The Russian Dragon". www.strategypage.com.
^ "Orbital Sciences GQM-163 Coyote". www.designation-systems.net.
^ "GQM-163 SSST: A Tricky Coyote to Match Wits With Defenses". Retrieved 2010-08-17.
^ Orbital tapped for Coyote supersonic sea skimming targets for Navy, Stephen Carlson, SpaceDaily.com, 2018-07-03
^ "ANZAC upgrade completes final acceptance trial".
^ "Latest GQM-163 SSST contract includes first sale to Japan". Janes.com. 2014-10-13. Archived from the original on 2014-10-18.