The Lockheed Martin Vought Systems Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) "hit-to-kill" air defence missile intercepted and destroyed an incoming target theatre ballistic missile during a test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on 15 March.
The high-velocity PAC-3 is the latest generation Patriot missile, designed to shoot down theatre ballistic and cruise missiles as well as aircraft. It is a candidate for the restructured next-generation Medium Extended Air Defence System (MEADS) now under development by Germany, Italy and the USA.
Germany and the USA plan to field the anti-tactical ballistic missile, previously known as the Extended Range Interceptor, within a few years as the lower tier of a two-tier missile defence network. Lockheed Martin's Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon remains a candidate for the longer-range intercept role despite poor performance in test firings.
PAC-3 missile flight testing is being conducted in two stages - developmental testing (DT) and operational testing (OT). Two DT missions have taken place using instrument packages in place of missile seekers, and did not include missile intercept attempts.
The latest test, against a HERA re-entry vehicle target, was dubbed a seeker characterisation flight. The remaining 16 missions will comprise PAC-3 launches against different classes of target.
Source: Flight International