TUCSON, Ariz. — Raytheon Company has delivered the first Near-Term Sea-Based Terminal weapon to the U.S. Navy for use in defending against short-range ballistic missile threats. Raytheon, the Navy and Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab partnered to update the Standard Missile 2 Block IV weapon with unique modifications to provide this significant capability.
This production delivery follows the successful Pacific Phoenix sea trial, where a Near-Term Sea-Based Terminal missile successfully intercepted a Lance target in May 2006. Sea-Based Terminal is the Navy’s operational concept to intercept short-range ballistic missiles as they reach the terminal phase of their trajectory. The near-term solution uses Standard Missile 2 Block IV to provide this capability until a more capable system can be fielded. These weapons will be deployed on the Navy’s Aegis-class warships.
“This has truly been a tremendous effort by a government-industry team to deliver a much needed capability gap filler until a long-term solution is fielded,” said Scott Reiter, the Navy’s project director for Standard Missile 2.
Raytheon is also developing an active radar Standard Missile 6. Standard Missile 6 will deploy in 2010 and deliver a transformational long-range, over-the-horizon counter to the ever-evolving cruise missile threat.
Standard Missile 6 will also have an inherent capability to fulfill the sea-based terminal ballistic missile defense requirement.
“While we are excited about the future, this is a threat we face now,” says Frank Wyatt, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president of Naval Weapon Systems. “Near Term Sea-Based Terminal provides a proven answer for today.”
Anybody know how (or if) these differ from the Block IVA that were to be used for this role originally?
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July 20, 2007 at 3:19 pm