HiREX? "ARPA Project Defender Upstage Interceptor"

[Sferrin]

http://www.icollector.com/CUTAWAY-MODEL-OF-A-HIREX-MISSILE-NOSE-CONE_i16419356

"Purported to have been built for ARPA (Advanced Research Project Agency) who also worked Boeing. This plastic model shows the internal workings including generators, reservoirs and fuel lines. Set within a display rack with a metal plaque reading "ARPA Project Defender Upstage Interceptor". SIZE: 59-1/2" long. CONDITION: Generally good with some scuffs and stains. 1-12568"



Was this a real thing or did somebody get scammed? ???

 

[Orionblamblam]

Looks real enough, though the seller doesn't know how to describe what they've got. No "fuel lines" in a solid propellant rocket.

Not quite sure what it actually is, though. It's not a Sprint, and it doesn't quite match up with what I have on HiBEX, so I'd guess that this is an unbuilt concept for, as the label says, a new upper stage for an interceptor. Most of the nozzle seems to be missing.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

Well Upstage was definitely real enough, and as Boeing built the original HiBEX it seems likely they at least had a proposal for the UpSTAGE as well.

That said, this looks like the HiBEX itself. That coiled tube appears to be the "finjector" freon tank.

 

[Sferrin]

Well Upstage was definitely real enough, and as Boeing built the original HiBEX it seems likely they at least had a proposal for the UpSTAGE as well.

That said, this looks like the HiBEX itself. That coiled tube appears to be the "finjector" freon tank.

HiBEX was very different than this. The fineness ratio is all wrong for one thing. Maybe an early THAAD KV? This things diameter appears to be about 10.4".

 

[Orionblamblam]

The model *appears* to have a much shorter rocket motor than HiBEX. This would make sense for an upper stage. HiBEX needed the ginormous motor to accelerate fast through the thick lower atmosphere; an upper stage would be slight less horrifically constrained. This thing also seems to have a far longer and narrower nozzle than HiBEX or either stage of Sprint.

It also *seems* to have more freon. This would indicate that maneuvering is very important, appropriate for a hit-to-kill upper stage.

 

[GeorgeA]

One version of UPSTAGE incorporated TVC via fluid injection, while the other used pyrophoric fuels for external burning. In either case a manifold at the aft end of the missile body was used to inject the liquid. This model may be one of the variants showing the internal lines and such.