A Look Inside BAE System's Missle Program in Nashua

NASHUA, NH - This week, after the Russian ministry of defense showed pictures of what it claimed to be remains of U.S. cruise missiles used during the recent airstrikes in Syria, a Popular Mechanics writer took a look at the possibilities if one was captured. Writer Joe Pappalardo's quest for answers took him to the BAE Systems Jam Lab in Nashua.

To visit BAE's lab is to glimpse this struggle firsthand, and to see how captured hardware becomes an intelligence asset. BAE does not buy anti-air systems from Russian or Chinese vendors. Instead, unspecified "friends of the government" (read: intelligence agencies of the U.S. and its allies) deliver missiles captured from the field. These captured missiles are subjected to a prolonged afterlife of relentless testing.

A captured missile's first stop is a clean room, where it is strapped to a testbed so engineers can study the commands that its guidance system relays to its steering fins. The jam lab researchers determine how the missile tracks its targets, and any new methods are revealed by this electronic vivisection.

This first assessment is just the beginning of a captive missile's long "undeath." Over and over, the missile's brain goes through target acquisition and tries to guide itself to a heroic, suicidal demise. Thousands of 10-minute simulations allow researchers to change variables and retest for years if need be. During the visit, PM saw a missile's brainstem that was trapped in this limbo of never-ending testing for more than seven years.

The article also delves into the competition between American and Russian weapon-makers, which you can find here.