The USS John Paul Jones recently fired from the Aegis Combat System two Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) Dual I missiles to successfully intercept a medium-range ballistic missile target in a test off the coast of Hawaii.
The test, supported by the U.S. Navy, Missile Defense Agency and Lockheed Martin, required the Aegis Combat System to detect, track, engage and launched two missiles to intercept the target. It served to demonstrate the integrated capabilities of the Aegis Weapon System and how it has evolved to counter advanced threats.
“The recent ballistic missile defense test off the coast of Hawaii demonstrates that Aegis can successfully execute complicated missions against a medium-range ballistic missile target,” Paul Klammer, director of Aegis BMD for Lockheed Martin, said. “This latest test continues to demonstrate the cutting-edge capabilities and reliability of the Aegis Baseline 9 system.”
This latest exercise, called Flight Test Standard Missile– 27 Event 2 (FTM-27 E2), was the seventh successful intercept test of the Aegis Baseline 9.1 (BMD 5.0CU) Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) tracking and engagement capabilities and the third successful SM-6 BMD intercept test using Baseline 9.1.
The Aegis Weapon System test supports the U.S. Phased Adaptive Approach to protect NATO Europe against ballistic missile threats.