New US heavy missiles explode when tested

The first test of the BrilliantA missile model occurred unexpectedly when the turbocharger suddenly exploded.

Northrop Grumman, the aerospace company, on May 30, first fired BrilliantA 's phase 1, a model of heavy-duty boosters in development, at a test site in Promontory, Utah. However, the experiment did not go as planned when a minor incident occurred at the end of the combustion process.

BrilliantA rocket encountered a problem when firing phase 1.

According to OmegA Vice President Kent Rominger, Northrop Grumman company representative, a turbocharger nozzle seems to have exploded. Recorded scenes show that some fragments were shot away at 122 seconds since the first phase was fired.

Although an unexpected incident, Northrop Grumman still judged it to be a successful test when the rocket engine worked well and produced a maximum thrust of up to 2 million lbs, equivalent to 907,184 kg (force ). The company plans to conduct a similar test with the second phase of the missile this summer.

"Except for the incident with the nozzle, everything works very well," Rominger stressed. "It is still too early to conclude what happened. Such unintended incidents are the reason why we need to test sessions. We will study in depth to fix the problem."

Northrop Grumman is developing BrilliantA to carry out commercial and national security missions. This is a three-stage missile model, both medium and heavy. If all goes according to plan, BrilliantA will make its first test flight in 2021 and start operating in 2022.

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