Sixth Successful Test In Program

Raytheon's Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) destroyed a ballistic missile target outside the earth's atmosphere during a Missile Defense Agency/ Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Program flight test Thursday over the Pacific Ocean. It was the sixth successful intercept for the Aegis BMD program using the SM-3.

The Thursday mission was the first test against a separating ballistic missile target. The SM-3 Block I initial deployment round used in the test was an operational missile delivered by Raytheon last year for testing and availability for emergency deployment.

According to a Raytheon release, the SM-3 was launched from the USS Lake Erie -- an Aegis BMD cruiser -- and hit the target missile that had been launched from the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii.

To ensure a realistic wartime environment for the test, the ship's crew was not informed of the target launch time. Operational testers observed the exercise.

"SM-3 continues to perform flawlessly in increasingly challenging scenarios. This test, using a missile right from the Navy's inventory, was conducted in operational conditions," said Edward Miyashiro, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president, Naval Weapon Systems. "Continued success provides confidence that the nation can increase the number of systems deployed and make missile capability improvements. We are even seeing our international allies taking a closer look at SM-3 for their homeland defense. Sea-based ballistic missile defense provides a global capability."

Japan has decided to procure SM-3 and the Aegis BMD system for its Kongo class ships.

Raytheon's Missile Systems business in Tucson, AZ is developing the SM-3, and leads the integrated team effort -- including Alliant Techsystems, Aerojet, and Boeing.

(Editor's Note: The photos shown are of the operationally similar SM-2 missile.)

FMI: www.raytheon.com, www.navy.mil