Missile Defense

BAE Systems has brought down drones using standard rockets equipped with its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System and an advanced proximity fuse – an approach the company says costs much less than conventional drone countermeasures.

Boeing, in conjunction with the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), has completed a successful demonstration of a new, advanced interceptor capability for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system that allows ICBMs to be destroyed in space earlier.

In a first-of-its-kind technology demonstration, an uncrewed vehicle operated by the US Marine Corps has launched an anti-ship missile from the shore during a live-fire exercise in Hawaii, scoring a direct hit.

As hypersonic missiles rapidly move toward becoming practical weapons, the problem of how to counter them is also on the agenda. The US Department of Defense developing a CubeSats-based system to track these missiles in all phases of their flight.

With the aid of a Dutch De Zeven Provincien-class frigate, the US Navy destroyer USS Paul Ignatius used two Standard Missile-3 interceptors to destroy ballistic missiles while they were still in space during the Formidable Shield NATO sea exercises.

In a NATO exercise off the coasts of Scotland and Norway involving more than 3,000 military personnel, the Royal Navy has used artificial intelligence to help counter live-fire supersonic missile attacks in sea trials for the first time.

The US Missile Defense Agency and the US Navy have successfully destroyed a mock ICBM missile on the edge of space using a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile launched from the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS John Finn.

The US Army has awarded BAE Systems US$179 million to produce the next-generation Missile Warning System to protect the Army's rotorcraft.

Hypersonic missiles that travel at Mach 5 and above are potential game-changers for military planners. The US Department of Defense has completed a test of its Common Hypersonic Glide Body, which will be the basis for a future class of such weapons.

Lockheed Martin has completed a successful test of its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) on the first go. Being developed for the US Army's PrSM program, the next-generation long-range missile was launched from the White Sands Missile Range.

BAE Systems has been awarded a US Navy US$36.7 million contract to build an advanced dual-band Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy (FOTD) designed to protect military aircraft from missile attacks. It works by jamming or confusing missile radar systems.

Researchers are looking to the common dragonfly for clues to develop smaller, more efficient missile defenses. By replicating the predatory insect's brain in a computer algorithm, the goal is to create interceptors that can lock on to threats much faster and achieve a much higher kill ratio.