This Monday, November 16, the US Navy arrived, using an anti-ballistic missile SM3-IIA, to intercept and destroy a ballistic missile with the trajectory of an ICBM, an Intercontinental missile. The test was held in the Pacific near Hawaii, and involved the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer John Finn which, using its Aegis Baseline 9 system, detected the target ballistic missile launched from the Ronald Reagan Experimentation Center. on Kwajalein Atoll, then destroyed it with an SM3-IIA missile he had just launched.
This demonstration is a real success, both for the US Navy and for Raytheon, designer and manufacturer of the SM3. Indeed, initially, the SM3 is not designed to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles, and is limited to ballistic missiles with intermediate range, having a trajectory and especially a much lower apogee and within range of the missile. To succeed in its interception, the SM3 had to strike here the atmospheric re-entry vehicle in its descending phase, while it is the fastest, thus demonstrating that, under certain conditions, it can kill an intercontinental ballistic missile.
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[…] early would allow escort ships to deploy their anti-ballistic weapons, the SM-3 missile, to intercept the threat before it strikes its target. At the same time, the threat [...]