A US Navy vessel equipped with an Aegis combat system successfully intercepted a medium range ballistic missile during its terminal phase of flight during an exercise this week, the Pentagon said in a press release.
“On March 28, 2024, the US Missile Defense Agency, in cooperation with the US Navy, successfully conducted an intercept of an advanced Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) test target utilizing the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) Dual II with Software Upgrade (SWUP),” the release said on Friday.
The release said the test displayed an Aegis Baseline 9 equipped ship’s capability to detect, track, engage, and intercept a medium range ballistic missile target in the terminal phase of flight.
Wednesday’s test marks the fourth flight test of an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense-configured vessel using the upgraded SM-6 Dual II missile and the second Aegis Baseline 9.C2 (BMD 5.1) intercept of a medium range ballistic missile target using the SM-6 Dual II SWUP missile, the release noted.
The test missile was launched from Hawaii, and the USS Preble navy vessel launched the SM-6 Dual II missiles that successfully intercepted it, according to the release.
The Pentagon said Australia also participated in the military exercise.
