The Navy’s SM-6 missile has become an all-star of multi-role capability and a shining example of how repackaging existing systems with some new tech can garner grand results. The missile can shoot down air-breathing threats like aircraft and cruise missiles, it can swat incoming ballistic missiles in the terminal phases of flight, it can attack… read more
Navy Times -Facing ever-faster missiles and increasingly complicated air threats from China and Russia, the Navy is moving toward a major upgrade to its stalwart Arleigh Burke destroyer fleet. The service is planning to buy a scaled version of Raytheon’s Spy-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar to replace the Spy-1D arrays on the Flight IIA… read more
A lesser-recognized proposed budget increase can be seen with two key munitions — the Hellfire Missile and Small Diameter Bomb II. The Hellfire is greatly expanding it uses beyond helicopters and some of its regular applications, to include arming the Navy Littoral combat ship and the Army’s Short Range Air Defense arming Stryker vehicles with… read more
Defense News: WASHINGTON — As the Pentagon looks to catch up with China and Russia in the hypersonic arms race, there is a widespread acknowledgement that the technology to defend against weapons capable of reaching Mach 5 or higher simply isn’t there. “If war breaks out tomorrow, we’re probably not going to kill hypersonic boost… read more
NHK World: The US Defense Department plans to test the feasibility of using a new interceptor missile that it jointly developed with Japan to shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Defense Department said on Tuesday that it plans to carry out the test next year using the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA. The missile has been… read more
Star Tribune – Israel and the U.S. have successfully intercepted a series of medium to long-range ballistic missiles in a joint drill. The missile test in southern Israel was conducted Tuesday by the Israeli Ministry of Defense along with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Rafael, an Israeli defense technology company. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin… read more
Times of Israel: Israel’s midrange missile interceptor, David’s Sling, managed to thwart a series of threats, passing a key test on its way to becoming operational, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry said the aerial defense system passed a drill “simulating future threats that the system may face in a confrontation,” the ministry said in… read more
The U.S. Department of Defense wants to test a directed energy weapon in space, one that it hopes will someday destroy ballistic missiles moments after launch. The weapon, a so-called neutral particle beam, would be boosted into space and tested from orbit in 2023. Neutral particle beams don’t get as much attention as lasers but… read more
USNI News: The future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer William Charette (DDG-130) will honor a hospital corpsman awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Korean War. Master Chief William Charette joined the Navy in 1951 and served in Korea as a hospital corpsman attached to Company F, Third Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment,… read more
The Diplomat: The U.S. advisor to the president on national security affairs, John Bolton, has been a mainstay on American Sunday shows since the February 28 summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Bolton’s been making the most of these appearances to underscore the administration’s continued maximalist unilateral disarmament demands of… read more