On December 11, the U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency conducted an SM-3 Block IIA intercept test from an Aegis Ashore facility at the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii. The SM-3 IIA successfully intercepted an IRBM target launched by a USAF C-17 thousands of kilometers southwest of the Aegis Ashore site. An MDA...
On November 19, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that the U.S. State Department approved three missile and precision-guided munitions sales, two to Japan and one to NATO, totaling $944 million. The first $561 million sale to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) will include eight SM-3 missiles and 13 SM-3 Block IIA missiles....
On October 26, the U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency (MDA) conducted a test of the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor off the west coast of Hawaii, successfully tracking and intercepting a medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) target. The SM-3 Block IIA was fired from the USS John Finn (DDG-113), which used the AN/SPY-1 radar and...
On October 12, South Korea‘s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced at a parliamentary audit their plan to purchase SM-3 interceptors to counter North Korea’s ballistic missiles. A decision “for something at the SM-3 level” was made during a JCS meeting in September 2017, according to head of the JCS force-buildup planning bureau Major General...
On October 1, the Missile Defense Agency released findings of its investigation into FTM-29’s failure. The joint U.S.-Japanese test took place on January 31, 2018, testing the co-developed Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA. MDA’s statement indicated that the missile’s “Hybrid Arm and Fire Device” (a sparkplug-like mechanism) failed to ignite the third-stage rocket motor responsible...
On September 11, the United States and Japan successfully intercepted a separating ballistic missile target with a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) IB Threat Update (TU) interceptor off the coast of Hawaii. The Japanese Aegis destroyer JS Atago (DDG-177) fired the SM-3 and intercepted the target in the test. According to the Missile Defense Agency press release,...
Rethinking the push for program transfer When the U.S. Missile Defense Agency was created in 2002, the expectation was that it would initially develop missile defense systems but then transfer responsibility for their procurement to the military services that would operate them. The process has not worked out quite as expected. Missile defense capabilities have...
On January 31, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency conducted an unsuccessful SM-3 Block IIA intercept test from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. According to the MDA testing schedule, the test was likely intended to demonstrate an Aegis Ashore launch-on-remote intercept using a TPY-2 radar. This marks the missile’s second unsuccessful test intercept in...
On January 9, the U.S. State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Japan of Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missiles at an estimated cost of $133.3 million. According to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) news release, “The Government of Japan has requested a possible sale of four (4) Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block...
On November 6, the White House submitted an FY18 emergency budget request for the Department of Defense for $5.9 billion in additional funding “to support urgent missile defeat and defense enhancements to counter the threat from North Korea.” Most of this request, $4 billion, is designated for missile defeat and defense activities. $2.1 billion would...
