Tag Archives: MDA

U.S. Deploys First SM-3 Block IB Missile

U.S. Deploys First SM-3 Block IB Missile

A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) is launched from the Aegis-class guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70). US Navy Photo

A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) is launched from the Aegis-class guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70). US Navy Photo

The U.S. Navy and the Missile Defense Agency have started to deploy the Raytheon Standard SM-3 Block 1B operationally, the company said in a Wednesday statement. Read More

First European Aegis Ashore Begins Construction

First European Aegis Ashore Begins Construction

The deckhouse for the Aegis Ashore system bound for Romania at the Lockheed Martin Aegis facility. Missile Defense Agency Photo

The deckhouse for the Aegis Ashore system bound for Romania at the Lockheed Martin Aegis facility. Missile Defense Agency Photo

The U.S. and NATO have begun construction on the first deployed Aegis Ashore installation in Deveselu, Romania as part of a wider ballistic missile defense (BMD) strategy on Monday, according to several press reports. Read More

Inside Aegis Ashore

Inside Aegis Ashore

The deckhouse for the Aegis Ashore system bound for Romania at the Lockheed Martin Aegis facility. Missile Defense Agency Photo

The deckhouse for the Aegis Ashore system bound for Romania at the Lockheed Martin Aegis facility. Missile Defense Agency Photo

From the outside, the so-called deckhouse of the Aegis Ashore anti-missile system looks nothing like its seagoing counterpart installed on American warships. The multi-story modular building might seem more at home in an industrial park.

Just like the shipboard version, however, the shore-side deckhouse provides the power, space and cooling to accommodate the servers, consoles and pipes needed to operate an SPY-1D(V) Aegis radar system, along with the command-and-control equipment needed to launch interceptors or to dispatch ballistic missiles. Read More

MDA Destroys Missile in Successful BMD Test

MDA Destroys Missile in Successful BMD Test

USS Lake Erie fires a SM-3 interceptor in February. MDA Photo

USS Lake Erie fires a SM-3 interceptor in February. MDA Photo

The Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Navy intercepted a simulated ballistic missile in the third successful test of the Navy’s next generation Aegis ballistic missile defense system, MDA officials told USNI News on Thursday.

The target missile – fired from a test range in Hawaii at 5:25 p.m. local time on Wednesday – was detected by the SPY-1 radar aboard USS Lake Erie (CG-70). The ship launched a SM-3 Block IB equipped with a BMD kill vehicle that successfully destroyed the simulated threat missile in low Earth orbit. Read More