The United States successfully used a ship-fired missile to intercept an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, or ICBM, in a first-of-its-kind test, according to the Missile Defense Agency.
The test involved launching an ICBM from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from Hawaii and the West Coast of the continental U.S. on Monday night local time. The destroyer in position, USS John Finn, fired a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA which successfully intercepted the target.
“The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), and U.S. Navy sailors aboard an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System-equipped destroyer intercepted and destroyed a threat-representative Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) target with a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile during a flight test demonstration in the broad ocean area northeast of Hawaii, Nov. 16,” the Missile Defense Agency said in a statement.
This was the first time that a target ICBM was intercepted by a ship-launched interceptor missile. Previous interceptor tests have been carried out with Ground-Based Interceptor missiles.
“This was an incredible accomplishment and critical milestone for the Aegis BMD SM-3 Block IIA program,” said Vice Adm. Jon Hill. “The Department is investigating the possibility of augmenting the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system by fielding additional sensors and weapon systems to hedge against unexpected developments in the missile threat.”
“We have demonstrated that an Aegis BMD-equipped vessel equipped with the SM-3 Block IIA missile can defeat an ICBM-class target, which is a step in the process of determining its feasibility as part of an architecture for layered defense of the homeland,” he added.
The test, which fulfilled a requirement from Congress to test the SM-3 IIA against ICBMs before the end of the year, was originally scheduled for May but was delayed because of the coronavirus, according to Defense News.
Raytheon Missiles & Defense is the manufacturer of the defensive missile.
“This first-of-its-kind test shows that our nation has a viable option for a new layer of defense against long-range threats,” Bryan Rosselli, the vice president of strategic missile defense at Raytheon, told the Washington Examiner in a statement.
