Interceptors made by Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems knocked down a ballistic missile as well as three anti-ship cruise missiles in a multi-national exercise led by NATO off the coast of Scotland.
During Sunday’s test, the U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook successfully detected, tracked and intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target with a Standard Missile-3 Block IB guided missile, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.
At the same time, the Spanish frigate SPS Alvaro de Bazan fired an Evolved SeaSparrow Missile against an incoming anti-ship cruise missile, while the Netherlands frigate HNLMS Tromp fired Evolved Seasparrows against a pair of incoming anti-ship cruise missiles.
The MDA said the exercise, which also included ships from Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, was the first time NATO’s “smart defense” concept was demonstrated with ships serving as air-defense units protecting naval ballistic missile defense units.
After the exercise, the USS McFaul successfully test-fired a Standard Missile-6 using its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, in a flight-certification test using range assets involved in the NATO event.
