The U.S. military says it has successfully tested an interceptor that can shoot down ballistic missiles as well as airplanes.
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Raytheon announced that its Standard Missile-6 intercepted and destroyed a short-range ballistic missile target at sea.
“Each generation of the Aegis Combat System adds new capabilities to keep pace with emerging threats, and these tests were really designed to demonstrate the compatibility of new BMD capabilities with the entire system”, said Paul Klammer, Lockheed Martin’s director of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program.
U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency ‘s Aegis Combat System took part in a successful four-event test of the combat system’s air warfare (AW) and ballistic missile defense (BMD) capabilities.
While the recent SM-6 tests went well, use of an older missile in the Standard Missile series remains suspended. “U.S. Navy commanders need each functionality and adaptability to satisfy all kinds of missions, and that is precisely what SM-6 gives”.
The modified missile, known as the SM-6 Dual 1, is expected to replace the older Standard Missile-2 Block IV missile in the MDA’s Sea-Based Terminal program.
Lockheed said the latest Aegis configuration for destroyers, called Baseline 9.C1, used commercial technologies and open architecture systems to merge ballistic missile defense and anti-air-warfare capabilities into an integrated system.
During the first test event in the series, John Paul Jones sailors on July 28 fired a modified SM-6 to destroy a ballistic missile. In contrast, cruise missiles typically fly flatter, lower-altitude trajectories and are powered during all or most of their flights.
“SM-6 is the only missile in the world that can do both anti-air warfare and ballistic missile defense from sea”, said Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems. Learn more here.
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SM-6 uses both active and semi-active guidance modes and advanced fuzing techniques. SPY-1 capability has been greatly enhanced with the introduction of a new Multi-Mission Signal Processor (MMSP).
