Next Gen Aegis BMD System Successfully Engages Medium Range Ballistic Missile Target

This exercise marked the first shipboard demonstration of the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 (BMD 5.1) Weapon System against a ballistic missile threat with increased battle space in support of the U.S. Phased Adaptive Approach to protect Europe from ballistic missile attack.

The test, called Standard Missile-3 Cooperative Development (SCD) Flight Test Standard Missile (FTM) – 01 (SFTM-01), demonstrated the integrated capabilities of the Aegis Weapon System and how it has continually evolved to counter ballistic missile threats. SFTM-01 is a developmental test that supports BMD 5.1 certification, currently scheduled in 2018.

“Aegis continues to help sailors pace the threat thanks to upgrades we call baselines that leverage our extensive Common Source Library. With each baseline, Lockheed Martin brings advanced missile defense capabilities and enhanced integration with other systems external to the ship,” said Paul Klammer, director, Aegis BMD. “This exercise included a series of tests to verify the operation of the Aegis BMD 5.1 Weapon System aboard ship. We’re proud of the Navy and Missile Defense Agency working together with our Lockheed Martin engineers to make this complicated test a success.”

Aegis BMD 5.1 is the third generation of Aegis BMD capability and delivering this advanced baseline to the Navy and the Missile Defense Agency is critical. Under this baseline configuration, Aegis merges BMD and anti-air warfare into its Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capability using commercial-off-the-shelf and open architecture technologies.

This test builds upon joint research investments by the United States and Japan. Lockheed Martin is also developing an Aegis Baseline 9.C2 (BMD 5.1) variant computer program, referred to as J7, for deployment on Japan’s Aegis destroyers.

This test also builds on prior Aegis Baseline 9 successes, where Aegis BMD demonstrated its advanced Integrated Air and Missile Defense capabilities and was subsequently certified by the Navy and Missile Defense Agency for operational use. As the targets and threats have become more advanced, Aegis BMD has evolved over the last 20 years from a tracking experiment to today’s capability in which it can detect, track and engage multiple complex targets.

The central component of the Lockheed Martin developed Aegis BMD Combat System is the SPY-1 radar; the most widely-fielded naval phased array radar in the world. The Aegis system and SPY-1 radar provide the U.S. and allied nations with advanced surveillance, anti-air warfare and missile defense capabilities.