Overview of Valiant Shield 2020 experiment that paired a ground-based Aegis combat system with Army units. Lockheed Martin Image
Last year, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command quietly packed the combat system from a guided-missile destroyer into about the size of a footlocker, took it ashore and hooked it up to an Army artillery unit, an Air Force command node and an F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter. Read More
Sailors man the rails aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) in 2019 as the ship pulls into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. US Navy Photo
The Navy is taking steps to integrate its Zumwalt-class destroyers and its unmanned surface vessels into operational plans and will likely include both in a major Integrated Battle Problem exercise this spring. Read More
A SM-3 Block IIA is launched from the USS John Finn, an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System-equipped destroyer, Nov. 16, 2020, as part of Flight Test Aegis Weapons System-44 (FTM-44). MDA Photo
The Navy and the Missile Defense Agency proved that an Aegis ballistic missile defense ship could effectively take down an intercontinental ballistic missile and serve as a backup to a ground-based homeland defense interceptor, the MDA announced on Tuesday. Read More
A SM-6 Dual I fired from USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) during a Dec. 14, 2016 MDA BMD test. MDA Photo
To get to a layered, in-depth homeland missile defense system developing key networking and communications links between ballistic missile defense ships and at-shore installations is crucial, the head of the Missile Defense Agency said this week. Read More
A target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii during Flight Test Standard Missile-45. USS John Finn (DDG-113) detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target. Missile Defense Agency Photo
This post has been updated to correct the home port of USS John Finn. It is based in San Diego, Calif.
The Missile Defense Agency is nearing its planned defense-of-Hawaii test event with an Arleigh Burke destroyer and a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA, to prove the ship can serve as a back-up to ground-based homeland defense systems if needed. Read More
A sailor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) watches as an F/A-18E Super Hornet from the “Royal Maces” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 27 and an F/A 18-E Super Hornet from the ‘Eagles’ of VFA-115 fly in formation with two USAF F-15s of the 44th Fighter Squadron on June 5, 2019. US Navy Photo
ARLINGTON, VA. – Developing data links to enable existing aircraft to transfer data with forces at sea and on land could prove to be more critical than crafting new platforms for America’s next air war, experts said on Wednesday. Read More
A target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii during Flight Test Standard Missile-45. USS John Finn (DDG-113) detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. US Navy Photo
Rebuilding a U.S. integrated air and missile defense capability, slashed to the bone by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, will not be easy, three former directors of the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization (JIAMDO) said on Monday. Read More
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) fires a standard missile 3 during exercise Formidable Shield 2017, Oct. 15. US Navy photo.
The United States and NATO partners are wrapping up a three-and-a-half week ballistic missile defense exercise, which included a massive collective self-defense scenario on Sunday. Read More
The Navy conducts its first live fire demonstration to successfully test the integration of F-35 with existing Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air architecture, Sept. 12, 2016. US Navy Photo
A Monday test pairing a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) with an Aegis Combat System armed with a Raytheon Standard Missile-6 is the latest step in expanding how the Navy and Marine Corps will share data on future battlefields. Read More
The guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) fired the anti-surface Standard Missile-6 Block I in January 2016, proving out the new weapon and its ability to integrate into the NIFC-CA architecture. US Navy photo.
Navy engineers are working to bring new aircraft sensors and new weapons into the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) architecture, with near-term goals of bringing in the F-35’s radio frequency (RF) sensor and the anti-surface variant of the Standard Missile-6. Read More
