This is a 1/2 scale model of an early 1990s version of the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), then built by Hughes. Today's EKVs, now built by Raytheon, are the interceptor component carried in the nose of the Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) anti-ballistic missiles now being deployed in Alaska and California as a defense against long-range ballistic missiles. 

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Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

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 Related Content Model, Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, 1:2 Scale Object