The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has simulated a successful intercept of a mock advanced hypersonic missile by a Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) as it works up to attempt the real thing. Though no SM-6 was fired during the test, it did involve a live target, as well as the use of a Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) satellite and an Arleigh Burke class destroyer equipped with the latest version of the Aegis combat system.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA), in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin, conducted the simulated SM-6 hypersonic missile defense test, also known as Flight Test Other-40 (FTX-40) and by the nickname Stellar Banshee, on Monday. The live portions of FTX-40 occurred in and over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii.
The Arleigh Burke class destroyer “USS Pinckney (DDG 91) demonstrated the ability to detect, track and perform a simulated engagement of an advanced maneuvering hypersonic target using the Sea Based Terminal (SBT) Increment 3 capability embedded in the latest Aegis software baseline,” according to an MDA press release. “The tracking exercise included firing a simulated Standard Missile (SM)-6 upgraded missile at the target, an air-launched Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) with a Hypersonic Target Vehicle (HTV) – 1 front end. This target is engineered to allow testing and defeat of a variety of hypersonic threats.”
The USS Pinckney is also the first Arleigh Burke class destroyer to have received the new Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block III installation. In addition to the significant new capabilities that SEWIP Block III offers, its integration involves dramatic changes to the ship’s physical structure, as you can read more about here. MDA did not explicitly mention the electronic warfare suite as having factored into FTX-40.
A video and pictures MDA has released only show the test target before the release of the HTV-1. The target is also seen being launched in mid-air, which is typical for larger mock ballistic missiles used in U.S. missile defense tests. U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo planes are used to conduct these launches, as you can learn more about here
The description of the HTV-1/MRBM combination is in line with what are known as unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicles, which use missile-like boosters to get them to an optimal speed and altitude before they detach. The glide vehicle, which is capable of making erratic maneuvers, then proceeds along a relatively shallow, atmospheric flight path to its target at hypersonic speed, typically defined as anything above Mach 5. This combination of speed, maneuverability, and flight profile presents significant challenges for a defender when it comes to detection and tracking, let alone an attempted intercept. It is important to note here that many traditional ballistic missiles, as well as the separate re-entry vehicles that certain types are capable of releasing, also reach hypersonic speeds. However, they follow significantly different trajectories and are less capable of maneuvering.
With all this in mind, “FTX-40 also provided a data collection opportunity for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) demonstration satellite,” MDA’s release adds. The first two prototype HBTSS satellites, one built by L3Harris and another from Northrop Grumman, were placed into orbit in February 2024. MDA did not state which company’s satellite collected data during FTX-40.
MDA previously released a video, seen below, that offered a relatively detailed look at how the assets it says were involved in the FTX-40 test, as well as command and control networks and future Glide Phase Interceptors (GPI), would all work together in a real hypersonic missile defense scenario.
A separate press release from Lockheed Martin also further identified the simulated SM-6 missile as representing the forthcoming Block IAU variant. The “U” in Block IAU stands for “Upgrade” and consists of “an update to the Guidance Section Electronics Unit to mitigate obsolescence issues and intends to incorporate the update into the missile,” according to the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) Block IIIC missiles, which have the same guidance section as the SM-6 Block IA, are getting a similar upgrade. Those upgraded missiles will be known as SM-2 Block IIICUs.
“FTX-40 served as a key risk reduction flight for the new MDA-developed test target and a data collection opportunity for the Aegis baseline against a hypersonic representative target,” according to MDA’s release. “This exercise is a building block for a live intercept of the MRBM HTV-1 target using the upgraded SM-6. That planned test is known as Flight Test Aegis Weapon System-43 (FTM-43).”
“FTX-40 builds on the success of FTM-32, an SBT Increment 3 flight test experiment, which was conducted last year and demonstrated the capability of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer to detect, track, engage and intercept an MRBM target in the terminal phase of flight with an SM-6,” the release continues.
FTM-32 involved the use of SM-6 Dual II Software Upgrade (SWUP) missiles. SM-6 Dual I and Dual II are ballistic missile defense-optimized configurations of existing Block I-series variants. SM-6 Block I/IA also has demonstrated capability against traditional air defense threats like fixed-wing aircraft and cruise missiles, as well as surface targets at sea and on land when employed in a ballistic mode.
A Block IB variant of SM-6, which will feature a completely redesigned body and a new larger rocket motor, is also in development.
The existing SM-6 family is now combat proven, including against ballistic missiles, as a result of ongoing operations in and around the Red Sea against Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.
The MDA and the Navy have been working toward a clear demonstration of SM-6’s capabilities against hypersonic threats since at least 2021. An SM-6 hypersonic missile defense test was previously scheduled to occur in the 2024 Fiscal Year, which ended on Sept. 30 of last year, but it does not appear to have taken place.
In 2022, now-retired Navy Vice Adm. Jon Hill, then-head of MDA, also said that the SM-6 series “is really the nation’s only hypersonic defense capability” and that existing variants offered “nascent capability” in this regard. Existing SM-6 Block I/IAs are also understood to have relevant capability only against advanced maneuvering hyperosonic threats in the terminal phase of their flight.
Northrop Grumman is currently developing the aforementioned GPI for MDA to provide an expanded engagement envelope against incoming boost-glide vehicles. In contrast, SM-6 presents a pathway to a more limited hypersonic intercept capability, likely constrained to the particular geographic area it can cover and the engagement window in which it can be employed. This capability could be especially useful for defending friendly surface ships or nearby assets on land from certain hypersonic threats.
The scale and scope of hypersonic threats continue to grow and proliferate globally. China, Russia, and North Korea have been particularly active in this regard, and Iran has at least stated ambitions in acquiring this kind of capability. Last year, Russia very publicly debuted a new medium-to-intermediate-range ballistic missile called Oreshnik, which the Kremlin says incorporates still unclear “hypersonic technology,” in a strike on Ukraine that sent signals well beyond that country.
Improving hypersonic missile defense capabilities is notably one of the stated objectives of President Donald Trump’s new Golden Dome missile defense initiative, which was first known as Iron Dome.
“The threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks, remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States,” the original Iron Dome executive order put out in January declared. “Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities.”
“Our ability to defeat maneuvering, hypersonic missiles is critical if we are to defend our homeland and our forces against an increasingly dangerous threat,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, head of MDA, said in a statement accompanying the announcement about FTX-40. “The Aegis Weapon System will play a vital role in the next-generation integrated air and missile defense system, and today’s test demonstrated key achievements as we continue to partner with the Navy in advancing our Nation’s counter-hypersonic capabilities.”
With FTX-40 successfully complete, MDA and its partners are one step closer to a test of SM-6’s real capabilities against a representative advanced hypersonic threat.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com