Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle

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Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) can refer to two related missile defense concepts:

Most common: the Raytheon-manufactured interceptor component with subcontractor Aerojet of the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), part of the larger National Missile Defense system.
Any exoatmospheric (outside the atmosphere) kinetic kill interceptor.

Raytheon's Kill Vehicle (EKV)

The Raytheon EKV is launched by the Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) missile, the launch vehicle of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System. Its mission is to engage high-speed ballistic missile warheads in the midcourse phase of flight and to destroy them using only the force of impact, or hit-to-kill.

EKV consists of an infrared seeker in a flight package used to detect and discriminate the incoming warhead from other objects. The EKV also has its own propulsion, communications link, discrimination algorithms, guidance and control system and computers to support target selection and intercept.

An EKV is boosted to an intercept trajectory by a boost vehicle (missile), where it separates from the boost vehicle and autonomously collides with an incoming warhead. EKV devices appear in both ground and ship based missile defense systems.