SM-3 Block 2A Flight Tests Slated To Begin This Year

A new missile interceptor co-developed by the United States and Japan is scheduled to make its first flight test this year and its first attempted intercept during the summer of 2016, according to executives from Raytheon Missile Systems, the main U.S. contractor on the effort.

The Standard Missile (SM)-3 Block 2A interceptor, developed under an agreement signed in 2006, is a bigger and more capable version of the Raytheon-built SM-3 Block 1A and 1B interceptors, part of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system.

Designed for deployment on ships or on land, the Block 2A features second and third stages that are wider, at 53 centimeters, than those on the current SM-3 variants, giving it the range and velocity needed to engage intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

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