MDA acknowledges clandestine SM-3 Block IIA experiment of classified capability

By Jason Sherman / January 26, 2023 at 5:00 PM
The Missile Defense Agency executed a covert launch of the nation's most advanced Aegis guided missile interceptor over the Pacific Ocean, keeping under wraps until now an experiment -- which one senior Pentagon official also called a developmental test -- of a highly classified potential new capability for the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA. On April 9, 2022, MDA and the Navy executed Flight Experiment Aegis Weapon System-01 (FEM-01) an event not publicly acknowledged until Inside Defense asked about the...

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