Raytheon's newest Standard Missile-3 takes out complex, separating short-range ballistic missile target

A Raytheon Company Standard Missile-3 Block IB fired from the USS Lake Erie destroyed a complex, separating short-range ballistic missile target with a sophisticated separating mock warhead.

Despite stressing conditions designed to challenge the missile's discrimination capabilities, the SM-3 successfully engaged the target using the sheer kinetic force of a massive collision in space.

"Combatant commanders around the globe echo the desire for more SM-3s in the fleet, because their confidence in the defensive capabilities of the missile is extraordinarily high," said Dr. Taylor Lawrence, Raytheon Missile Systems president.

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