The U.S. Navy successfully tested the missile defense and radar system for the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, the latest in a series of missile defense tests conducted by the U.S. military after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States.
According to USNI News, the radar system in Hawaii successfully tracked a medium-range ballistic missile target on July 27, Naval Sea Systems Command, or NAVSEA, announced Aug. 3.
The ballistic missile target test was the latest in a battery of tests proving the effectiveness of the SPY-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar built by Raytheon, according to USNI News.
“Based on preliminary data, the test successfully met its primary objectives against a complex medium range ballistic missile target. Program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test,” according to NAVSEA.
The testing of the SPY-6 comes in the wake of an unarmed ICBM launch in a system test by the U.S. The Minuteman 3 was launched Aug. 2 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
The Air Force said the launch was to test the reliability of the weapon to “defend against attacks on the United States and its allies.”
On July 30, the U.S. military also tested the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system from Alaska. That exercise was designed to help the U.S. “to stay ahead of the evolving threat,” said U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves in a statement.
Mackenzie Wolf is an editorial intern for Military Times.
