The Aegis Baseline 9 Destroyer weapon system integrated on board the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53), has successfully hit intended cruise missile targets over the Pacific Ocean.
Executed together with the US Pacific Command and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Flight Test Standard Missile-25 (FTM-25) marked the debut live-fire event in the integrated air and missile defence radar priority mode.
PEO IWS Rear Admiral Jon Hill said: "The capability that the USS John Paul Jones demonstrated during FTM-25 is the culmination of years of tough engineering across the navy’s technical community and our industry partners.
"The technology displayed during FTM-25 will be a critical addition to the fleet and their ability to stay prepared."
During tests, the Standard Missile-3 Block IB guided missile successfully intercepted a short-range ballistic missile target, while Standard Missile-2 Block IIIA guided missiles hit two low-flying cruise missile targets.
PEO IWS led the latest FTM-25 programme as part of a developmental test/operational test sequence of events.
The tests also involved discriminating sensors launched on two MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles and sensor systems ashore; command and control, battle management and communications (C2BMC) enterprise sensors lab; C2BMC experimentation lab; and the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex located at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.
