The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) launches an SM-6 during a live-fire test of the ship's Aegis weapons system. (US Navy)
The US Navy (USN) and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) intercepted a simulated hypersonic target during a joint test and evaluation exercise on 24 March off the coast of Hawaii, according to an MDA statement on 25 March.
During the exercise, carried out as part of the MDA's Flight Test Other-40 (FTX-40), the USS Pinckney (DDG 91) detected, tracked, and executed a simulated engagement of an “advanced manoeuvring hypersonic target”, the MDA statement said. The hypersonic target used during the exercise had been “engineered to allow testing and defeat of a variety of hypersonic threats”, agency officials added in the statement.
Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney was outfitted with the Sea Based Terminal (SBT) Increment 3 capability, which had been integrated into the Aegis system's baseline software as part of the latest platform software update, according to MDA officials.
The simulated interceptor used during the hypersonic shoot-down drill was a Standard Missile (SM)-6, as well as a simulated medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) target, the MDA statement said. The SM-6 and MRBM target were both upgraded variants of the weapon systems. Specifically, the MRBM fired had been upgraded with a Hypersonic Target Vehicle (HTV)-1 front end, the statement noted.
Aside from providing details on how USN and MDA assets can find, fix, track, and target hypersonic threats, the FTX-40 exercise also allowed navy and agency officials to evaluate capabilities aboard the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) demonstration satellite.
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