| has gloss | eng: Hera is a target missile for development testing of missile defense systems such as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and Patriot PAC-3. In 1992, the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command awarded the Theater Missile Defense (TMD) Targets contract to Coleman Aerospace with Space Vector and Aerotherm as sub-contractors. Coleman developed Hera using the second and third stages of the Minuteman II and the guidance section of the Pershing II. The Rocket Systems Launch Program at Detachment 12, USAF Space and Missile Systems Center, provided technical program management services involved with removing the liquid injection thrust vector control system from the retired MMII second stages in favor of a flex-seal system enabling robust flight control from launch to burn out. First launch was on April 24, 1995 at White Sands Missile Range. |