The Strategic Defense Inititive Organization or, as it is widely known, SDIO, conducted two successful "technology validation experiments" in 1986. The Flexible Lightweight Agile-Guided Experiment (FLAGE), demonstrated the feasibility of tracking and destroying missiles at low altitudes as they approach U.S. military or civilian targets. In one FLAGE test, a ground-based interceptor destroyed a simulated nuclear warhead traveling at over 3,000 miles per hour. Another test, called Delta 180, demonstrated the ability of KEW technology to track and destroy a missile warhead in space with a ground-launched guided missile. In the test, a target missile was launched into space and then tracked, intercepted, and destroyed by a second ground-launched missile. Space,-Based Kinetic-Kill. Vebicles (SBKKVs) deployed on space-based platforms would be used to target and destroy enemy Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) immediately after an ICBM is launched and as it leaves the atmosphere and rises into space. SDIO has made rapid progress in developing methods to produce lighter high- performance missiles, advanced propellants, and more efficient engines. SDIO is preparing for experiments in space in 1990 to test components developed and tested on the ground.