The Aegis ballistic missile defense system (Aegis BMD or ABMD),Navy Tactical Reference Publication 1-02, Navy Supplement To The DOD Dictionary Of Military And Associated Terms, April 2011. Page 3–4. . Accessed on 04 April 2013. also known as Sea-Based Midcourse, is a Missile Defense Agency program under the United States Department of Defense developed to provide missile defense against short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The program is part of the United States national missile defense strategy and European NATO missile defense system.
Aegis BMD is an expansion of the Aegis Combat System deployed on warships, designed to intercept ballistic missiles in mid-course phase (i.e., after the rocket burn has completed but prior to reentry into the atmosphere). Aegis BMD-equipped vessels can engage potential threats using the Standard Missile 3 mid-course interceptors and the Standard Missile 2 and Standard Missile 6 terminal-phase interceptors.Aegis BMD web page. . U.S. Missile Defense Agency official website.Sea-Based Ballistic Missile Defense - Background and Issues for Congress. . , there are two Aegis Ashore sites in Romania since 2016 and Poland since 2024, each holds 24 SM-3 missiles.
In 2008, Aegis BMD was tested as an anti-satellite weapon, destroying satellite USA-193 at an altitude of , codenamed Operation Burnt Frost.
History and technical development
Origins
The current effort to deploy Aegis ballistic missile defense (ABMD) was begun during the mid-1980s as part of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The SDI plan was initially for a space-based railgun system. However, technological constraints caused the system to be transformed into a surface-based system known as the Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile (LEAP). The original testing of the LEAP was done as part of the Army LEAP program.
Later, SDIO worked with the Navy to test the LEAP on the Terrier missile. The Terrier LEAP demonstration program lasted from 1991 into 1995 and consisted of four flight tests. Two of these were intercept tests in early 1995; both failed to intercept—the first had a software error in the second-stage booster, the second had a squib (pyrotechnic switch to connect power) in the kinetic kill vehicle that was mounted backwards and failed to fire.
Program history and development During the late 1990s, the U.S. Navy was tasked to provide a weapon system for exploratory testing of LEAP. This phase was designated the Aegis LEAP Intercept (ALI) program. The program was for two successful intercepts in five attempts. On June 13, 2002, the second successful ALI intercept occurred during the FM-3 flight test mission. Initial Aegis BMD success may have contributed to President George W. Bush's decision to deploy an emergency ballistic missile capability by late 2004.
Upon the completion of the ALI program, Aegis BMD was transitioned to the production phase. The first Block I production SM-3 was delivered in October 2004, and the Aegis 3.0 update was delivered in 2005.
This system was given major new importance by President Obama in September 2009, when he announced plans to scrap the plans for a missile defense site in Poland in favor of missile defense systems located on U.S. Navy warships.RIM-161 SM-3 (AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense), spacewar.com.NY Times article, 9/18/2009. On 18 September 2009, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin welcomed Obama's plans for missile defense which may include stationing American Aegis armed warships in the Black Sea, as these are likely to be less effective against Russia's missile attacks.Russia's Putin praises Obama's missile defense decision, LA Times, 9/19/2009.No missile defense in Eastern Europe. . foreignpolicy.com, 9/17/2009. In 2009 several U.S. Navy ships were fitted with SM-3 missiles to serve this function, which complements the Patriot systems already deployed by American units. Warships of Japan and Australia also have been given weapons and technology to enable them to participate as well.Obama sharply alters missile defense plans, by William H. McMichael, Sep 19, 2009, navytimes.com.Article on Sm-3 missile system, strategypage.com, 10/4/2009.
Current Aegis BMD hardware includes the SM-3 Block-1a missile and other improvements to the Aegis Weapons System. Future development of the Aegis BMD system includes Launch on Remote capability, upgraded SM-3 avionics and hardware, and an upgraded Aegis Weapon System. In 2012 Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense will merge with Aegis Open Architecture and deliver the benefits of both platforms. The Launch on Remote capability involves the use of off-board sensors, such as the Space Tracking and Surveillance System to provide a targeting solution for a SM-3 launch."Force Multiplier Capability Of Aegis Demonstrated". Space Daily, 15 December 2010.
As of 2022, variations of the Aegis BMD system currently in service are the 4.x, 5.x and 6.x. The improved versions are equipped with advanced processors and software, as well as upgraded variants of the SM-3 interceptor missile. BMD capable ships can have their BMD capabilities upgraded from earlier versions to later versions. BMD version 6.x comes with AN/SPY-6 radar in Flight III and Flight IIA destroyers. Also available from FAS.
US Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) program will integrate MIM-104 Patriot, NASAMS, AN/TPY-2 and F-35 Lightning II radars with Aegis radars to create a plug-and-fight network of land, sea, and air-based sensors and aid surface-to-air Patriot and THAAD launchers in anti-ballistic missile capabilities.
SM-3, SM-2 Block IV, SM-6 and GPI interceptors
The Aegis BMD uses the RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 mid-course interceptors and the RIM-156 Standard Extended Range Block IV (SM-2ER Block IV) terminal-phase interceptors developed by Raytheon. The Standard Missile 3 is a development of the SM2-ER Block IV, capable of intercepting ballistic missiles above the atmosphere (i.e., exo-atmospheric intercept) during the midcourse phase of a hostile ballistic missile's flight. The missile is launched from the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) of the warships. It receives in-flight target updates from the ship. The kinetic warhead (KW) is designed to destroy a ballistic missile's warhead with more than 130 megajoules of kinetic energy by colliding with it. The existing SM-3 Block IA version will be upgraded to SM-3 Block IB, SM-3 Block IIA and SM-3 Block IIB to counter future ballistic missile threats.
The SM-2ER Block IV can engage the ballistic missiles within the atmosphere (i.e., endoatmospheric intercept) in the terminal phase of a missile's trajectory. The missile carries a blast fragmentation warhead. The SM-2ER Block IV was further developed in a new extended range active missile, RIM-174 Standard ERAM (Standard Missile 6), which adds an active radar homing seeker. SM-6 is a dual-capability missile that can be used for either air defense (i.e., countering aircraft and anti-ship cruise missiles) or terminal ballistic missile defense; it is not meant to replace the SM-2 series of missiles, but will serve alongside and provide extended range and increased firepower.Sydney J. Freedberg, Jr., "Non-Standard: Navy SM-6 Kills Cruise Missiles Deep Inland". Breakingdefense.com, 19 August 2014. In January 2018 the Navy approved plans to develop a Dual Thrust Rocket Motor for the SM-6, with a larger 21-inch diameter to replace the current 13.5-inch propulsion package. The new rocket motor would sit atop the current 21-inch booster, producing a new variant of the missile: the SM-6 Block IB.
In March 2018 the MDA announced that it "is evaluating the technical feasibility of the capability of the SM-3 Block IIA missile, currently under development, against an ICBM-class target. If proven to be effective against an ICBM, this missile could add a layer of protection, augmenting the currently deployed GMD system." The MDA planned to conduct a demonstration of the SM-3 Block IIA against an ICBM-like target by the end of 2020. On November 17, 2020, an SM-3 Block IIA missile successfully intercepted a threat-representative intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) target in its mid-course phase of flight, reaffirming the capability to intercept non-separating, simple separating, and complex-separating ballistic missiles.
Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) will provide defense against hypersonic weapons. Glide Phase Interceptor will be integrated with modified Baseline 9 Aegis Weapon System.
In 2024, the Patriot PAC-3 was successfully tested with the Aegis system.
Aegis Ashore
As of the 2014 NATO Wales summit a land-based component, Aegis Ashore, was being developed.Paragraph 57 of the Wales Summit Declaration. The first site to be declared operational was Deveselu, Romania in 2016. This consists of equipment commonly used by the Navy being deployed in land-based facilities. This includes SPY-1 radars and a battery of Standard Missile-3s. The Obama administration's plan calls for two sites: the first in Romania at Deveselu that was opened in May 2015, and the second in Redzikowo, Poland (originally planned for 2018, opened in summer 2024). In 2020, both will get the latest versions of the Aegis BMD software and the latest version of the SM-3.Administration eyes land-based SPY, by Philip Ewing, Oct 24, 2010. Some radar facilities will be placed in Turkey at a future date.Turkey to Host U.S. Missile Defense, PR Newswire, Oct. 18, 2010.Aegis Ashore web page. . U.S. Missile Defense Agency official website.International Cooperation web page. . U.S. Missile Defense Agency official website.
On 21 May 2014, U.S. DOD headlined "Standard Missile Completes First Test Launch from Aegis Ashore Test Site" and reported that "The Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Navy, and sailors at the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex and Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), successfully conducted the first flight test involving components of the Aegis Ashore system. During the test, a simulated ballistic missile target was acquired, tracked, and engaged by the Aegis Weapon System. At approximately 7:35 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time, May 20 (1:35 a.m. EDT, May 21), the Aegis Weapon System fired a Standard Missile (SM)-3 Block IB guided missile from the Vertical Launch System. Several fire control and engagement functions were exercised during the test. A live target missile launch was not planned for this flight test."
On 19 December 2017, the Cabinet of Japan approved a plan to purchase two Aegis Ashore systems equipped with the AN/SPY-7(V)1, based on Lockheed Martin's LRDR to increase Japan's self-defence capability against North Korea, using SM-3 Block IIA missiles, and also could work with SM-6 interceptors capable of shooting down cruise missiles.Japan to buy Aegis Ashore missile defense systems, Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press/DefenseNews.com, 2017-12-20. The installation sites are at a Ground Self-Defense Force training area in Araya District, Akita Prefecture and the Mutsumi training area in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
On 15 June 2020, Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono announced that work had been halted on the deployment of the system because additional costs would be needed to ensure that residential buildings would not be hit by rocket boosters used to launch the missiles. Later in the month Japan's National Security Council confirmed the cancellation of the plan. On 23 September 2020, Lockheed Martin commented that it would be expensive to potentially convert the AA system for maritime use since a revamp in the design is required.