“Excalibur” Bristol Aerospace Ltd. For many years, Bristol Aerospace of ian infrastructure. Winnipeg, Manitoba, a division of Raytheon considers the Magellan Aerospace Corp., has sup- Patriot to be “the corner- plied two types of rockets for use as stone of air defense for the targets in testing/training exercises for new millenium.”5 the U.S. “missile defense” weapons Bristol’s promotional lit- program: (1) the Excalibur Target and erature proclaims that the (2) the Black Brant rocket. Excalibur target: “is considered an ex- (1) The Excalibur Target cellent representation The Canadian-made Excalibur Target of a Scud-type ballis- System is a two-stage ballistic rocket tic missile and is fast whose flight “may be tailored to simu- becoming a preferred late various threats.” The lower target of choice for the “booster” segment of the rocket, i.e., training of Patriot units. its first phase, uses solid-propellant The targets are Instrumentation & Training Simulation, for Office Exec. Program fuel for the initial launch. Once airborne, launched at a nominal the second or “dart” segment of the elevation angle of 82.5 degrees and reach an www.peostri.army.mil/PRODUCTS/TBMTT rocket then separates from the booster. Army, U.S. altitude of approxi- It carries sophisticated electronic radar Bristol Aerospace’s two-stage, ballistic equipment called the Radio Frequency mately 90 km. The flight Signature Augmentation System (RF trajectories of the tar- missile, dubbed “Excalibur,” is used as SAS).1 This equipment electronically gets take them down a target in U.S. “missile defense” enlarges the target’s radar cross-sec- range 50 km where the weapons testing and training exercises. tion in order to mimic larger missiles.2 Patriot units track the The RF SAS is manufactured by incoming targets. If a target is con- U.S. government documents Boeing, the number-one ranking com- sidered a ballistic missile threat, they record a contract for pany within the “The Big Four” U.S. will launch an intercept missile and “four Excalibur Targets...to assist the prime contractors for “missile defense” detonate a warhead to destroy the 108th Brigade in conducting a Pa- weapons. The Excalibur dart was origi- target.”6 triot live-fire at McGregor Range, nally “developed and manufactured...as Excalibur targets have been ....on 3-4 May 2000.” a High-Altitude Supersonic Target for used in “missile defense” testing/train- This was awarded to Bristol as a “sole the Canadian Navy.”3 ing programs since July 1999. At that source contract.” The reason no other The Canadian Navy’s creation time, during NORAD’s “Roving Sands companies were asked to bid on this and production of the original Excalibur Air Defense Firing Exercise,” Bristol’s job was because the U.S. Directorate dart, funded by the Canadian taxpayer, Excalibur was of Contracting at Fort Bliss Texas con- was like launching the booster phase “used in the first ever TBM [Theater sidered Bristol to be of a rocket whose secondary segment Ballistic Missile] target engagement “the only vendor currently capable now serves the testing needs of the U.S. at the McGregor Range, New of producing a target that can dupli- “missile defense” weapons program. Mexico. Three Excalibur targets were cate a Tactical Ballistic Missile simu- successfully launched. They were lation for the Patriot missile system.” detected, tracked, and classified as Bristol was contracted to supply the Excalibur’s Role threat TBMs.”7 targets as well as “associated services” in “Missile Defense” The rest, as they say, is history: such as “necessary personnel, tools Bristol’s Excalibur targets are used to “In May 2000, the U.S. Army 108th and equipment required to conduct the simulate enemy missiles in order to test Air Defense Brigade...successfully live-fire training.”9 Patriot missiles and to train their opera- employed five Excalibur targets dur- In March 2001, Bristol’s parent tors. The Patriot Air and Missile ing an exercise at McGregor company, Magellan Aerospace, issued Defense System, built by Raytheon and Range.”8 a media release to announce that the Lockheed Martin “is the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile world’s most advanced Bristol Aerospace Limited Command would again be us- ground-based air defense sys- (A Division of Magellan Aerospace Corp.) ing Bristol’s Excalibur Target tem.” The U.S. Department of 660 Berry Street System as “targets for live-fire Defense has spent over US$3 Winnipeg, MB R3C 2S4 training of tactical Patriot Phone: 204- 775 8331 billion on the Patriot Missile units.” Bristol had by then Fax: 204- 885 3195 4 System since the 1991 war that Email: [email protected] teamed up with Boeing, the destroyed much of Iraq’s civil- Web: www.bristol.ca world’s number one prime con- 28 Press for Conversion! (Issue # 56) June 2005 “Black Brant” tractor for “missile defense” weapons that can carry payloads development. With Bristol as Boeing’s of between “70 and 850 “principal subcontractor,” their “pursuit kilograms to altitudes of the Theater Ballistic Missile target from 150 to more than market” was successful. The vice presi- 1,500 kilometers.” The dent and general manager of Boeing’s various versions of this Weapons Programs, Mike Marks, called rocket are said to belong Bristol’s Excaliber Target “a key train- to the “Black Brant fam- ing tool for the U.S. Army.”10 ily.” Members of this By 2002, Bristol was reporting “family” now range in that it had designed and tested a new size from the single-stage motor for the Excalibur target rocket and BBV, which is about 5.3 that it had “a five-year contract to sup- metres long and 0.44 me- ply targets to the U.S. Army for Patriot ters in diameter, to the training exercises.”11 BBXII, which is a much more powerful, four- (2) Black Brant Rockets stage vehicle.16 Prior to its career Besides the Excaliber Target System, www.space.gc.ca/asc/img/fusee-black-brant.jpg Bristol Aerospace makes another tar- as a “missile defense” get to test weapons for the U.S. “mis- test target, the BB had a Agency sile defense” program. The Canadian- long history of employ- made Black Brant (BB) rocket has been ment by the U.S. military. used many times in a variety of “mis- However, it was thanks sile defense” testing/training exercises. to the Canadian govern- ment that the BB pro- A Bristol publication happily looks for- Space Canadian ward to a lucrative future of manufac- gram got its start. (The turing BBs for this purpose. It contains Canadian government The “Black Brant,” developed for the an article stating that: has always been ready to government’s Canadian Armaments Re- “a new market has slowly developed use this country’s scien- search and Development Establishment, over the years. Several new theatre tific, engineering and fi- has been used by Canada’s military, the nancial resources to help ballistic missile defence systems are U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force either in use or in development. The subsidize America’s un- Black Brant has been used success- quenchable military and NASA. As usual, Canadian taxpay- fully for some of these systems and needs.) ers are subsidising U.S. military needs. the company [Bristol] continues to In 1958, thanks to It has been used since at least 1998 explore new opportunities in this the Canadian govern- for “missile defense” weapons tests. market.... the story of this Bristol- ment, the rocket later made rocket will continue into the known as Black Brant was first launched not only been kept alive – thanks to 21st century.”12 at the Fort Churchill Rocket and Re- subsidies from these and other Cana- Not surprisingly, the Canadian search Range in northern Manitoba.17 dian and U.S. government agencies – it government was the driving force pro- This facility was jointly built by the Ca- has grown into a powerful rocket sys- pelling the initial creation of the BB in nadian and U.S. governments.18 tem that is now aiding the development the late 1950s. And, it was the Cana- The Canadian Armament Re- of the most advanced weapons sys- dian military that came up with this rock- search and Development Establishment tems of the future through the so called et’s first mission. Since then, the gov- (CARDE) had created a new solid rocket “missile defense” program. ernment has continued to support Bris- propellant and therefore needed a new The U.S. Navy tested BB III tol’s ongoing refinement of the BB. rocket to test it out.19 rockets in 1963, 1965 and 1966. NASA Bristol Aerospace literature BB’s first mission was to “char- and the U.S. Air Force have also con- boasts that the BB is “the most reliable acterize the ionosphere in order to im- tracted Bristol to build later BB family suborbital rocket in the world today.”13 prove military communications.”20 members, and NASA still regularly buys During its near half-century of use, To get the BB program off the Bristol’s BBs. about 80014 of these sub-orbital, ground, the Canadian government’s Between 1967 and 1972, the U.S. unguided rockets have been launched CARDE came together with private in- Army purchased some of Bristol’s BB from 21 locations around the world.15 dustries’ Bristol to give birth to their VI and BB VII rockets for their testing This “expendable launch vehicle” is a BB. The three first users of the BB were programs. Through the 1980s and 1990s “sounding rocket” designed to carry CARDE, the Defense Research Tel- to the present, the U.S.