US, Japan say first test of Raytheon's new SM-3 missile a success

WASHINGTON - The United States and Japan on Sunday announced the first live fire test of Raytheon Co's new Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile that is being jointly developed by the two countries for a combined cost of around $2 billion.

 

Rick Lehner, spokesman for the US Missile Defense Agency, said the test conducted on Saturday from the Point Mugu Sea Range off the coast of California was a success.

 

The SM-3 IIA is a 21-inch variant of an earlier SM-3 missile, which works with the US Aegis combat system built by Lockheed Martin Corp to destroy incoming ballistic missile threats in space.

 

Riki Ellison, who heads the non-profit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the two countries would spend about $1 billion each to design, test and eventually produce the new missiles, a model for joint weapons development programs.

 

"It is the US Department of Defense's best case of equal funding and engineering shared with an allied country to develop and ... field a new weapon system to better enhance the national security of both nations," Ellison said in a statement.

 

Raytheon said the new SM-3 IIA missile had bigger rocket motors and a more capable kill vehicle that would allow the missile to engage threats sooner and protect larger regions from short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats.

 

Saturday's test evaluated the performance of the missile's nosecone, steering control, and the separation of its booster, and second and third stages. No intercept was planned, and no target missile was launched, said US and company officials.

 

"The success of this test keeps the program on track for a 2018 deployment at sea and ashore," said Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon's missile systems business.

 

Ellison said three more years of testing were planned for the new missile before it was put to use on US Navy Aegis ships, Japan's Kongo ships, and at land-based Aegis Ashore sites in Poland and Romania. — Reuters