Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System Completes Successful Intercept Flight Test

The Lockheed Martin, Missile Defence Agency (MDA), U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Navy sailors aboard the USS Lake Erie (CG 70) successfully conducted a flight test in 19 september of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system, resulting in the intercept of a complex separating short-range ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean by the Aegis BMD 4.0 Weapon System and a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB guided missile.

At approximately 2:30 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time (8:30 p.m. EDT), a complex separating short-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The target flew northwest towards a broad ocean area of the Pacific Ocean. Following target launch, the USS Lake Erie detected and tracked the missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar. The ship, equipped with the second-generation Aegis BMD weapon system, developed a fire control solution and launched two SM-3 Block IB guided missiles to engage the target. The first SM-3 that was launched successfully intercepted the target warhead. This was the first salvo mission of two SM-3 Block IB guided missiles launched against a single separating target.

Program officials will assess and evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

This test exercised the latest version of the second-generation Aegis BMD Weapon System, capable of engaging longer range and more sophisticated ballistic missiles. This was an operationally realistic test, in which the target’s launch time and bearing are not known in advance, and the target complex was the most difficult target engaged to date.

This event, designated Flight Test-Standard Missile-21 (FTM-21), was the fourth consecutive successful intercept test of the SM-3 Block IB guided missile with the Aegis BMD 4.0 Weapon System.

FTM-21 is the 27th successful intercept in 33 flight test attempts for the Aegis BMD program since flight testing began in 2002. Across all Ballistic Missile Defence System programs, this is the 63rd successful hit-to-kill intercept in 79 flight test attempts since 2001.

Aegis BMD is the naval component of the MDA’s Ballistic Missile Defence System. The Aegis BMD engagement capability defeats short- to intermediate-range, unitary and separating, midcourse-phase ballistic missile threats with the SM-3, as well as short-range ballistic missiles in the terminal phase with the Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) Block IV missile. The MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD program.

Lockheed Martin’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System Successfully Completes Highest Target Intercept Yet

Building on the success of test (FTM-21) on 19 September , FTM-22 marked the eleventh time the USS Lake Erie (CG 70) and crew have successfully performed in Navy and MDA at-sea test events against cruise and ballistic missile targets using the second generation Aegis BMD System on 4 October, KAUAI, Hawaii.

“This threat scenario against a medium-range target represented the potential threats that we’re facing in today’s Defence environment – and this latest Aegis BMD mission success, run by the Sailors of the USS Lake Erie, demonstrated the readiness of our missile Defence capabilities to take on those threats,” said Nick Bucci, director of BMD development programs at Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Training business. “As the targets and threat scenarios become more advanced, our Aegis BMD system is keeping pace with innovative solutions to safeguard our global security.”

The Aegis BMD 4.0.X configuration enables the Navy to quickly defeat sophisticated ballistic missile threats by integrating sensors from space, land and sea for persistent and reliable detection. The central component of the Lockheed Martin-developed Aegis BMD Combat System is the SPY-1 radar, the most widely fielded naval phased array radar in the world. The Aegis system and SPY-1 radar provide the U.S. and allied nations with advanced surveillance, anti-air warfare and missile Defence capabilities.

The Missile Defence Agency and Navy are jointly developing Aegis BMD as part of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defence System. Currently, 27 Aegis BMD-equipped warships have the certified capability to engage ballistic missiles and perform long-range surveillance and tracking missions, as well as an additional four ships in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force. The U.S. Navy plans to procure seven new Aegis BMD-equipped destroyers, and has also planned to develop two Aegis Ashore systems to perform ballistic missile Defence.