Pylon, Missile, ASAT

This pylon was used to carry a U.S. ASAT (anti-satellite) missile below its launch aircraft. The ASAT missile was developed by the U.S. Air Force in the early 1980s as the prototype of a vehicle meant to shoot down orbiting satellites. Launched by a high-flying aircraft, the ASAT was designed to home in and destroy enemy spacecraft by kinetic energy--a concept known as "hit-to-kill." A total of five ASATs were flight tested, including one launched from an F-15 fighter that intercepted and destroyed an obsolete U.S. satellite on September 13, 1985. The program was cancelled later that year.

Boeing made this pylon and the U.S. Air Force donated it to the Museum in 1990.