“Romania Embraces Aegis Ashore: Unleashing Raytheon’s Strategic Standard Missile-3”
DEVESELU, Romania (July 11, 2016) — In May, the U.S. Navy declared the operational readiness of the first Aegis Ashore missile defense facility, enhancing the missile defense network for Southern Europe. This Aegis Ashore installation employs Raytheon’s Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB interceptor missiles.
“No other regional missile defense approach matches the SM-3 in terms of speed, reach, and defended area,” stated Dr. Mitch Stevison, Raytheon’s Vice President of Air and Missile Defense. “The SM-3s stationed at the Romanian site now offer constant, land-based security.”
During the same month, the Aegis Ashore base in Redzikowo, Poland was inaugurated as U.S. and Polish officials officially began construction. This Polish site will be outfitted to launch the forthcoming variant of the SM-3, known as the Block IIA, with completion anticipated by 2018.
Aegis Ashore, paired with the SM-3, successfully intercepted a ballistic missile target during a flight operation in December 2015 at the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex located at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. The guided missile destroyed an intermediate-range ballistic missile target in a ‘launch-on-remote’ engagement, using track data from a distant Raytheon AN/TPY-2 radar to cue the Aegis BMD Weapon System and launch the SM-3 missile.
About Standard Missile-3
The SM-3, deployed from both sea and land, neutralizes approaching ballistic missile dangers in space using only kinetic energy, akin to the impact of a 10-ton truck traveling at 600 mph. The U.S. Navy employs identical logistics and support for both land and sea-based versions, leading to savings in costs, time, and training.
