Chalk One Up for Missile Defense Agency:

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

The Missile Defense Agency recently notched an important win in its effort to produce a workable system. Officials declared success of the latest sea-based “hit to kill” intercept of a target that had separated from its booster. The feat was a first, said MDA. In the test, a Navy Aegis cruiser, USS Lake Erie, launched a Standard Missile-3 against a medium-range dummy missile target. The Aegis crew fired its intercept missile about four minutes after detecting the threat missile. Six minutes later, the SM-3 intercepted the target warhead more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean, destroying it on impact. Raytheon produces the SM-3, and the Lockheed Martin-Orbital team supplied and launched the target missile. It was the SM-3’s sixth successful test, with only one failure.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org