Conducted off the coast of the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, the first part of this multi-sensor test successfully demonstrated that the Aegis Weapon System tracked and discriminated a complex target scene of a Medium Range Ballistic Missile target with countermeasures.
The second part of this test included the firing of a Standard Missile – 3 Block IIA (SM-3 Blk IIA), which intercepted the same Medium Range Ballistic Missile target, verifying additional functionality of the SM-3 Blk IIA.
Together, this test demonstrated one of the most complicated target discrimination and intercept missions by the Aegis Weapon System to date.
My father-in-law, who worked on the program for almost 20 years before his retirement in 2022 joked, “I didn’t think they could do that without me.”
Jokes aside, parts of the military do still work.