The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) last Friday said that it and the Navy successfully detected, tracked, engaged, and intercepted a medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) test target using the RTX [RTX]-built Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) fired from the Aegis guided -missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88) at sea, demonstrating intercept in the terminal phase of flight.
The SM-6 was the Dual II with Software Upgrade, which MDA said is designed to defend against short-to-medium range ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of flight. Northrop Grumman [NOC] launched the two-stage solid rocket-fueled MRBM Type 3 Configuration 2 target vehicle from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii.
The Flight Test Aegis Weapons System (FTM)-32, dubbed Stellar Laelaps, was the seventh flight test of the SM-6 against ballistic missile targets and the fourth using the Dual II configuration, RTX said. MDA said the March 28 test was the second with an Aegis ballistic missile defense configured vessel, the USS Preble (DDG-88).
The USS Jack Lucas (DDG 125), which is the first Flight III Aegis Destroyer equipped with the SPY-6 radar, successfully participated in the test as part of its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation campaign. An MDA spokesman said the SPY-6 radar was turned on and tracked the target for experimental and data collection purposes.
MDA said that FTM-32 also included the “most robust participation in an Aegis test” so far by Australia, which demonstrated the radar capabilities of the ANZAC class frigate HMAS Stuart and an E-7 Wedgetail aircraft that helped with data collection and communications. MDA said the “Australian sensors also provided target data in support of a cued-organic simulated engagement, demonstrating allied interoperability.”
Lt. Gen. Greg Bilton, Australia’s Defense Force Chief of Joint Operations, said in a statement that the test was a “great example of our deepening defense engagement with the U.S. and an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the Australian Defense Force’s interoperability with the U.S. Navy.”