Standard Missile Three (SM-3) Info

Interesting point about the THAAD, I didn’t realize they didn’t bleed off energy from the Nike Zeus when they tested them at white sands.

I think the main point here about ranges (and specifications in general) from the US military is that they cannot be trusted. It seems like the US military low-balls all of the specifications on their systems. It’s not that they lie about it, just that they put arbitrary things out like (>100nm) when its true range could be something like 190nm.

Examples of this can be seen everywhere with US equipment. For example, I’ll start with the F-22:
Official documents state that the F-119 engines have 35,000 lbs of thrust each, even though it is known now that the real figure is closer to 39,000lbs thrust each. Same thing with the F-135 engines on the F-35…. official documents stated 40,000lbs, but it is known to actually be over 43,000lbs now. Max supercruise is stated at M1.5 on the F-22… but it is known to be around or over M1.72 … same thing with max speed (stated to be ~1.8-2.0M, but is known to be over M2.4). Same thing here with the SM-3 and THAAD. Same thing can be said about stated radar range in pretty much every american radar system too. Everywhere you look at you can find evidence of low-balling or down-playing of specifications of american systems.

Do the russians do the same thing as the americans (understating the capabilities of their systems and weapons), or do they overstate the capability of their systems and weapons in an effort to undermine the american military through politics by budget cutters in the USA?

BTW sferrin… are you sure it has a max altitude of 100miles (~160km). I have read reports and seen videos that stated the target missile reaches altitudes of over 315km. Most of the target missiles reach this altitude in all of the tests. It doesn’t state where exactly the SM-3 intercepted it in its flight path, but the SPY-1 radar data and the 3d simulation of the intercept show that it was intercepted not too far from peak target altitude.

Hard to say. Keep in mind the 100 mile figure is the “official” line. I’ve seen all kinds of “interesting” figures crop up now and then but it’s a sentence here, a piece of a video clip there. Here are some of the “interesting” things on the SM-3 I’ve seen over the years (I’ve mentioned one or two here before in the past):

** Was reading a report by some think-tank several years back and in it they made the comment in passing that the velocity of the SM-3’s KKV is 4km/sec- which is about 50% higher than generally given.

** In a video of one of the recent SM-3 tests they show a graphical representation of the intercept and show the SM-3 running down the target from behind.

** In a video out on YouTube they show one of the early SM-3 tests in which the 3rd stage and KKV are dummies. The booster (essentially an SM-2 Block IV) heaves that 3rd stage WAY up there. They’ve got the camera on the 3rd stage and it’s tumbling because it’s not under power (it’s a dummy remember) and they’re calling out the altitude; “300,000 feet, 320,000, 340,000. . .” and it’s not like it’s going straight up. Also the speed doesn’t seem to be bleeding off very fast as there’s virtually no atmosphere up there and the thing is pretty much ballistic at that point.

**There was a news blip up on the Raytheon site about one of the tests in which a target wasn’t engaged and they stated the SM-3 “had a flyout of over 500nm”. They didn’t elaborate and it wasn’t up for very long.

It’s not just limited to SM-3 either. With THAAD the reason it always performs that corkscrew manuever at launch when at White Sands is so the missile won’t have enough energy to leave the test range. The stated ranged of THAAD is about 125 miles. They never seemed to worry about Nike Zeus B exiting the test range though and it had a 250 mile range. One of those things that make you go “hmmm”.

The SM-3 was successfully tested again this past friday in FTM-12. It was the first ballistic missile shootdown from an AEGIS Destroyer (all previous tests were from AEGIS Cruisers). The firing ship was the USS Decatur (DDG 73). This now marks the 9th successful intercept of a ballistic missile by the SM-3, and the 3rd intercept of a warhead that had already seperated from the booster rocket.

BTW sferrin… are you sure it has a max altitude of 100miles (~160km). I have read reports and seen videos that stated the target missile reaches altitudes of over 315km. Most of the target missiles reach this altitude in all of the tests. It doesn’t state where exactly the SM-3 intercepted it in its flight path, but the SPY-1 radar data and the 3d simulation of the intercept show that it was intercepted not too far from peak target altitude.

Further info here on FTM-12:
http://www.mda.mil/mdalink/pdf/07news0037.pdf
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/ap_hawaiimissiletest_070623/

Ok aurcov and sferrin, thanks for the corrections.

I have a question too…

Is the SM-3 theoretically capable of intercepting a satellite? As in, does the SM-3 have sufficient range to reach a satellite (in either LEO or GEO), and does the SPY-1 radar have the capability to track a satellite? I know it’s not listed that the SM-3 can intercept a satellite in the description by Raytheon, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t.

Since China recently tested a missile capable of shooting down a satellite (and the USA shelved their system a long time ago IIRC), it would not surprise me if sattelite-shootdown capability has been added to the SM-3.

Also, another question, which warships currently have the SM-3 deployed on them? I know that the USS Lake Erie, USS Shiloh, and USS Port Royal have carried out SM-3 tests, so it is obvious that those ships have the SM-3 deployed on them, but what other AEGIS ships also have the SM-3? Any ships in the JMSDF yet? How many SM-3 missiles per destroyer/cruiser? I heard that something like 15 destroyers and 3 cruisers in the US Navy will have the SM-3 deployed on them by the end of 2009. That is A LOT.

I’d kinda doubt it has ASAT capability. From what I understand the faster your target the more divert capability you need in additon to speed to get where you want when you want. Not to mention SM-3 is probably lacking in altitude as 100 miles is the highest I’ve ever heard for it. The interesting thing about the full caliber SM-3 (Block II I guess) is that it has the choice of a current size KKV for higher speed or a larger KKV for higher divert capacity. Not sure when you’d want one over the other. Maybe SOC could help out here.

Ok aurcov and sferrin, thanks for the corrections.

I have a question too…

Is the SM-3 theoretically capable of intercepting a satellite? As in, does the SM-3 have sufficient range to reach a satellite (in either LEO or GEO), and does the SPY-1 radar have the capability to track a satellite? I know it’s not listed that the SM-3 can intercept a satellite in the description by Raytheon, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t.

Since China recently tested a missile capable of shooting down a satellite (and the USA shelved their system a long time ago IIRC), it would not surprise me if sattelite-shootdown capability has been added to the SM-3.

Also, another question, which warships currently have the SM-3 deployed on them? I know that the USS Lake Erie, USS Shiloh, and USS Port Royal have carried out SM-3 tests, so it is obvious that those ships have the SM-3 deployed on them, but what other AEGIS ships also have the SM-3? Any ships in the JMSDF yet? How many SM-3 missiles per destroyer/cruiser? I heard that something like 15 destroyers and 3 cruisers in the US Navy will have the SM-3 deployed on them by the end of 2009. That is A LOT.

Hi Z. !

Interesting thread. Just one small correction: the guidance is not semi-active in any phase. It’s GPS-aided midcourse (data received from the ship by datalink) initially, and in the terminal phase is by an IR (long wave) seeker:http://www.raytheon.com/products/stellent/groups/public/documents/content/cms01_055769.pdf

Just a couple points to add.

Speed is more like 4 km/sec or thereabouts.

On range Raytheon had on their site briefly the results of one of the tests wherein the SM-3 wasn’t targeted at a missile and stated that the “flyout was 500+ NM”. Whether that was the distance from launch cell to splash down or the range it hit it’s apogee at (because there wasn’t a target to stop it down lower) it didn’t say but the information has since been removed from their site.

As for exatmospheric capability SM-3 is second only to GBI (NMD) and KEI (if it ever makes it to hardware). SM-3 has no endoatmospheric capability.

Here is a chart pretty much showing the released capabilities of the various US systems. KEI is up in the air right now both in whether it will be deployed at all and it’s exact capabilities. It was conceived as a boost-phase missile but as it uses an exoatmospheric KKV it could be used in the midcourse role as well though I do not know if it would have the range of GBI in that role as it is a smaller missile. They’ve tested both stage motors at this point. The missile would be 36 feet long by 3 feet in diameter and have a velocity “twice that of THAAD”. HEDI (cancelled) was the really interesting one. A terminal-phase anti-ICBM missile using an endoatmospheric KKV.