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US military tests ballistic missile interceptor off Hawaii
Posted On Aug 04 2015
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The Missile Defense Agency has worked with U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Navy to conduct four tests on the interception functions of the Lockheed Martin-developed Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and Raytheon missiles.
“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.
In a first-of-its-kind test, a Navy ship shot down a ballistic missile with a naval air-defense missile made by Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems, the company and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said Monday.
The Navy could use the SM-6 to shoot down missiles that weren’t intercepted earlier. The modified SM-6 used with Aegis was be known as SM-6 Dual 1 and is on track to achieve initial operating capability next year.
The existing version can shoot down airplanes, helicopters and cruise missiles. The U.S. Navy also fired a Standard Missile-2 Block IV that successfully intercepted its target, validating this weapon’s current capability to stop short-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase of flight.
The test proved that a modified SM-6 – designed to intercept supersonic, anti-ship cruise missiles – also can eliminate threatening ballistic missiles in their final seconds of flight, Raytheon said in a news release.
“SM-6 is the one missile on the planet that may do each anti-air warfare and ballistic missile protection from sea”, stated Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Methods.
About Standard Missile-6SM-6 delivers a proven over-the-horizon, air defense capability by leveraging the time-tested advantages of the Standard Missile’s airframe and propulsion.
The missile incorporates the advanced signal processing and guidance control capabilities from Raytheon’s Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.
