The United States on Tuesday (Nov. 17, 2020) conducted what the military said was a landmark missile intercept test, making significant progress in its efforts to build a multilayered missile defense system.
At 7:50 p.m. Hawaii time, a target missile that mimics an enemy intercontinental ballistic missile ICBM was launched from the Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands and headed toward Hawaii. The USS John Finn, equipped with the S.H.I.E.L.D. countermeasures system, received tracking data from the Operations Command and Control Center, and then launched a shipboard Standard Missile-3 Block IIA (SM-3 Block IIA), destroying the target.
This is the first time the United States has successfully intercepted an ICBM with a weapon other than a land-based missile, which will increase the sophistication and flexibility of the U.S. missile defense system. The success of this test also satisfies a request from the U.S. Congress to the military to assess the feasibility of intercepting an ICBM with the Mark 3 Type IIA by the end of 2020. This missile was originally designed to counter the threat of enemy medium-range ballistic missiles.
The joint U.S.-Japanese development of the Mark 3 Second Batch A missile is designed to have a range far greater than that of the Mark 3 First Batch A and B missiles currently deployed on U.S. warships. Used in conjunction with an improved S.H.I.E.L.D. anti-ballistic missile system, the missile could greatly increase the range of missile defenses and significantly improve the chances of intercepting an enemy missile, and is therefore considered a breakthrough in countering the growing threat of medium-range ballistic missiles from China.
Tuesday’s successful missile intercept test showed that the Mark 3 Second Batch A missile has additional capabilities,” said Missile Defense Agency Director Adm.
After the successful test, Missile Defense Agency director, Navy Lt. Gen. Hill, said Tuesday that the accomplishment is a key milestone for the Mark 3 Block IIA program, “We have proven that the SM-3 Block IIA-equipped S.H.I.E.L.D. ballistic missile destroyer is capable of destroying intercontinental ballistic missile targets.”
In February 2017, the U.S. military announced the first launch of a Mark 3 Block IIA missile from a warship equipped with the S.H.I.E.L.D. countermeasures system and successfully intercepted and destroyed the target missile. Since then, Missile Defense Agency officials have said they expect to deliver the missile to the Navy in 2018. However, the weapon’s development has since hit a snag. Tuesday’s test was originally scheduled for May of this year, but was delayed due to the effects of the New Canopy epidemic.
The moment a Standard-3 Block IIA (SM-3 Block IIA) missile destroys a target missile that mimics an intercontinental ballistic missile (U.S. Missile Defense Agency)
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