Raytheon Standard Missile-2 Intercept Demonstrates Capability
(Kauai, Hawaii, June 5, 2008) -- Two Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN)-built Standard Missile-2 Block IV missiles successfully intercepted and destroyed a short-range ballistic missile target above the Pacific Ocean June 5. The successful engagement demonstrated a near-term, sea-based capability for stopping threat ballistic missiles in their terminal or final phase of flight.
The short-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Mobile Launch Platform operating off the coast of Kauai on the Pacific Missile Range Facility while the crew of the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70) fired the modified SM-2 Block IV surface-to-air missiles.
"This intercept is a major step toward deploying a viable sea-based capability to stop threat ballistic missiles in the final moments before they strike," said Frank Wyatt, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president of Naval Weapon Systems. "SM-2 Block IV can destroy incoming missiles through either direct impact or by exploding close to the target."
This was the second test of a modified SM-2 Block IV and the first to use an operational version of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense combat system that includes the terminal BMD mission capability.
Raytheon also produces Standard Missile-3 designed to defend against short-to-intermediate range ballistic missile threats in the midcourse phase of flight as well as the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, a key element of the U.S. Army's Ground-based Midcourse Defense program.
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