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The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency Test-Fired its New, Larger SM-3IIA Interceptor Missile in Space
[Scout Warrior] The SM-3 IIA can hit bigger targets, such as incoming enemy ballistic missiles, at longer distances than previous SM-3 interceptor missilesThe Missile Defense Agency and Raytheon fired a new SM-3 missile variant into space and destroy an approaching enemy missile target - as a way to develop a new interceptor better able to detect and attack ballistic missile threats approaching the earth’s atmosphere from space. For the first time, the new SM-3 IIA missile intercepted a ballistic missile target firing from the USS John Paul Jones - a Navy destroyer. "John Paul Jones detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1D(V) radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target," a MDA statement said. The new SM-3IIA missile is slated to fire from a land-based missile defense site planned by the Pentagon for Poland by 2018, a Missile Defense Agency spokesman, told Scout Warrior in a statement. The SM-3 Block IIA is being developed cooperatively by the United States and Japan to defeat medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The SM-3 Block IIA interceptor operates as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and can be launched from Aegis-equipped ships or Aegis Ashore sites, MDA Spokesman Chris Johnson said in a written statement. Posted by: Besoeker 2017-03-07 |
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