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SM-3 IIA Successfully Intercepts ICBM Target, Proving Potential Underlayer For Homeland Missile Defense

SM-3 IIA Successfully Intercepts ICBM Target, Proving Potential Underlayer For Homeland Missile Defense
An SM-3 Block IIA was launched from the USS John Finn (DDG-113) on Nov. 16, 2020, as part of FTM-44 to evaluate the feasibility of the SM-3 Block IIA capability to defeat an ICBM threat. (Photo: U.S. Missile Defense Agency)

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and U.S. Navy successfully intercepted an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)-type target with a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile over the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 16. The test, designated Flight Test Aegis Weapon System-44 (FTM-44), had an ICBM-representative target launched from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands towards the ocean area northeast of Hawaii. MDA said the USS John Finn (DDG-113) Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense…

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