US Navy Aegis Radar Destroys Low-Flying Cruise Missile With SM-2 Interceptor
Software upgrades to Aegis radar have helped enable the radar and fire control system to simultaneously conduct ballistic and cruise missile defense
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By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
US Navy ship defenses have been evolving quickly, due to an urgent need to keep pace with new generations of threats to surface ships presented by new, longer-range more precise anti-ship missiles.
While already quite robust, US Navy ship defenses leverage a layered system able to see, track and potentially intercept a growing range of threats to include ballistic missiles, drones, aircraft, warships and even ICBMs. In a recent development, US Navy Aegis radar ship defense system has taken new steps to intercept incoming cruise missiles flying at low altitudes parallel to the ocean surface to elude radar detection. Cruise missiles flying below the field of regard or aperture of most ship-based radar systems, can present a unique threat quite difficult to counter. The Navy does have interceptor missiles called the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Block II which is able to operate in sea-skimming mode, yet improvements in the range, guidance and precision of enemy missiles continue to present complexities for ship defenses.
Ship Defense Breakthrough
The US Navy’s ship-integrated Aegis Combat System has made several critical breakthrough steps forward in recent years. Software upgrades have helped enable the radar and fire control system to simultaneously conduct ballistic and cruise missile defense and also succeed in demonstrating an ability to intercept mock-ICBM targets with an SM-3 Block IIA just beyond the earth’s atmosphere.
Now, the Aegis system is taking new steps and demonstrating an ability to destroy incoming, lower-flying sea-skimming attacking cruise missiles. This is quite significant, as cruise missiles often fly at low altitudes parallel to the surface as a way to fly below the radar aperture or field of regard available on most ships.
Aegis is Showing Off What It Can Do
The service released a video a few months back showing its SM-2 interceptor missile destroying a GQM-163 mock cruise missile target, a significant element in the Navy’s ongoing efforts to strengthen and better network its layered system of ship defenses. The successful intercept may involve further software upgrades or technical adaptations to Aegis radar, the most recent variant being Baseline 10.