US Missile Defense Breakthrough: Navy Ships to Destroy Enemy ICBMs

Warrior Maven Video Above: How Will Navy Ships Destroy ICBMs? First Ever – Major Breakthrough

Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

— Kris Osborn is a Senior Fellow atThe Lexington Institute—

The Pentagon plans a “first-of-its-kind” test of an unprecedented weapons capability to intercept and destroy an enemy Intercontinental Ballistic Missile *ICBM” — from a Navy ship at sea using a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA.

The concept, as articulated by Pentagon officials and cited briefly in this years’ DoD “Missile Defense Review,” would be to use an advanced SM-3 IIA to “underlay” and assist existing Ground-Based Interceptors (GBI), adding new dimensions to the current US missile defense posture.

“We are going to test this,” a senior Pentagon weapons developer told Warrior Maven.

The testing, Pentagon officials tell Warrior, is slated for as soon as next year. The effectiveness and promise of the Raytheon-built SM-3 IIA shown in recent testing has inspired Pentagon weapons developers to envision an even broader role for the weapon. The missile is now “proven out,” US weapons developers say.