On Nov. 16, U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Navy sailors aboard USS John Finn (DDG-113), an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System-equipped destroyer, fired a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA guided missile that successfully intercepted and destroyed a mock Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) during a flight test demonstration in the broad ocean area northeast of Hawaii in November 2020. MDA photo.
The Pentagon is taking the first steps to provide Guam with a persistent, 360-degree...
Artist’s impression of future Japanese BMD ship. JSDF Photo
The Japanese Ministry of Defense released last week new details on Tokyo’s plan to build two ballistic missile defense warships to counter North Korean missiles.
On Dec. 23, the MoD released additional details on the two BMD ships Japan elected to procure after canceling two planned Aegis Ashore BMD batteries, reported Naval News.
“The document released by the MoD describes the need for two vessels to let the other AEGIS vessels focus on...
https://news.usni.org/2022/12/27/japanese-mod-releases-details-on-ballistic-missile-defense-ships
The following is the Nov. 23, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, Defense Primer: Ballistic Missile Defense.
From the report
The United States has been developing and deploying ballistic missile defenses (BMD) to defend against enemy missiles continuously since the late 1940s. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United States deployed a limited nuclear-tipped BMD system to protect a portion of its U.S. land-based nuclear ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) force in order to...
https://news.usni.org/2022/11/24/defense-primer-ballistic-missile-defense
JS Maya (DDG-179) fires an SM-3 BlockIIA on Nov. 16, 2022. JMSDF Photo
Two Japanese Maya-class destroyers successfully test-fired SM-3 interceptors against ballistic missile targets off Hawaii last week, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) announced on Monday.
The tests at the Pacific Missile Range on Kauai Island, Hawaii, validated the ballistic missile defense capabilities of Japan’s newest destroyers JS Maya (DDG-179) and JS Haguro (DDG-180) in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and U.S....
The following is the Sept. 13, 2022 Congressional Research Service report, Department of Defense Directed Energy Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress.
From the report
Directed energy (DE) weapons use concentrated electromagnetic energy, rather than kinetic energy, to combat enemy forces. Although the United States has been researching directed energy since the 1960s, some experts have observed that the Department of Defense (DOD) has invested billions of dollars in DE programs that failed...
https://news.usni.org/2022/09/14/report-to-congress-on-defense-department-directed-energy-weapons
JS Maya(DDG-179) in Port of Kobe, Japan on Nov. 23, 2020. JMSDF Photo
Japan’s Ministry of Defence is proposing to build a pair of ballistic missile defense ships – the among largest warships in the Japanese inventory since World War II – government officials said last week.
The Ministry of Defense listed design expenses and engines for the two Aegis BMD ships among 100 items requested that did not have a specific cost at the time of the budget rollout as part of its FY23 budget request. The...
Launch of a SM-6. US Navy Photo
Guam “would absolutely need” the Navy’s SM-6 missile for its defense against a hypersonic missile attack, the program executive for Aegis ballistic missile defense said Thursday.
Rear Adm. Tom Druggan called the SM-6 “our leading defense capability for hypersonic missile defense.” It is “a fantastic missile, just absolutely great missile” because of its versatility.
Speaking at the United States Naval Institute’s maritime security series at the Center for Strategic...
https://news.usni.org/2021/11/19/guam-needs-sm-6-missile-for-hypersonic-defense-navy-admiral-says
On Nov. 16, U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Navy sailors aboard USS John Finn (DDG 113), an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System-equipped destroyer, fired a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA guided missile that successfully intercepted and destroyed a mock Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) during a flight test demonstration in the broad ocean area northeast of Hawaii in November 2020. MDA photo.
The U.S. has several options to defend Guam against attack, the director of the Missile...
https://news.usni.org/2021/08/13/mda-u-s-has-several-options-to-defend-guam-from-missile-threats
A target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii during Flight Test Standard Missile-45. The USS JOHN FINN (DDG-113) detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target. Missile Defense Agency photo
The head of the Missile Defense Agency warned the House that a continuing...
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) sails behind the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57), March 3, 2021. US Navy photo.
U.S. aircraft carriers are already facing risks from hypersonic weapons that are now entering the inventory of American adversaries and the Navy has developed early defenses for the threat, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said last week before the Senate.
“It’s important that we have that capability now...
https://news.usni.org/2021/06/14/mda-u-s-aircraft-carriers-now-at-risk-from-hypersonic-missiles