Shavit - Proposed LK Civilian Launch Variants

Proposed LK Civilian Launch Variants

In 1998 Israel Space Agency partnered with U.S. Coleman Research Corporation (now a division of L-3 Communications) to develop the LK family of small launch vehicles. In 2001 a new French joint-venture, LeoLink, between Astrium and Israel Aircraft Industries, was created to market the LK variant. It is believed that in 2002 development of the LK variant was discontinued.

The LK-1 was closely based on the Shavit-2, but with motors and other components built in the United States to satisfy U.S. government requirements. The LK-2 was a larger vehicle using a Thiokol Castor 120 motor as its first stage. The third stage was either a standard AUS-51 motor built under license by Atlantic Research Corp., or a Thiokol Star 48 motor. All launch vehicles would have had a small monopropellant hydrazine fourth stage.

  • LK-A - for 350 kg-class satellites in 240 x 600 km elliptical polar orbits.
  • LK-1 - for 350 kg-class satellites in 700 km circular polar orbits.
  • LK-2 - for 800 kg-class satellites in 700 km circular polar orbits.

A Shavit LK air launched satellite launcher was proposed by ISA and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI). The booster would have been a standard Shavit-1 or Shavit-2 without a first stage that would be dropped from a Hercules C-130 aircraft.

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