GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
The first successful hit-to-kill intercept by the Sea-Based Midcourse Defence (SMD) system has boosted the US Navy's chances of playing a key role in the Bush administration's plan for a layered ballistic-missile defence system.
The service's hopes were dented by cancellation of the Navy Area terminal missile-defence system in December, after cost and schedule overruns.
The first intercept test of SMD (formerly Navy Theatre Wide) had not been planned until May - but the 25 January launch of a developmental Raytheon Standard SM-3 missile to test the guidance of its fourth-stage kinetic warhead resulted in the successful exo-atmospheric intercept of the Aries target missile over the Pacific. The SM-3 was launched by the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie. The test was the fourth in a planned series of nine, and the third successful flight of the SMD.
The test was the first to involve a fully operational SM-3 with live solid divert and attitude-control system to steer the kinetic warhead. The Aries target, launched from Kauai, Hawaii, was acquired and tracked by the cruiser's Lockheed Martin SPY-1 phased-array radar and software developed under the Aegis Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile Intercept programme.
Guided by the Aegis radar, the SM-3 delivered the interceptor into space and ejected it as planned. The Raytheon-developed interceptor then acquired and tracked the target, manoeuvring into the missile's path. Raytheon says the SM-3 provides a burn-out velocity of around 3km/s (2 miles/s), resulting in a closing speed between the missile and interceptor approaching 4km/s.
Critics of sea-based missile defence argue a larger booster providing higher interceptor velocities is required for mid-course ballistic-missile defence.
Europe's MBDA has completed its first qualification firing of the Aster 15 surface-to-air missile from the Italian SAMP-IT naval defence system. The firing resulted in the destruction of a target at 7km (4 miles) and 3,300ft (1,000m) altitude.Source: Flight International
