PAC-3 interceptor shoots down tactical ballistic missile target

A Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptor successfully shot down a tactical ballistic missile target during a test today at White Sands Missile Range, NM, according to statements from contractors Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.

Raytheon is the prime contractor for the PAC-3 MSE program; Lockheed builds the interceptor.

"The combat-proven Patriot system, upgraded with a suite of improvements collectively known as Post-Deployment Build 8 (PDB-8), successfully detected, tracked and engaged a threat-representative ballistic missile target in a March 17 test. It then destroyed the target by first firing a PAC-3 MSE interceptor and, seconds later, a GEM-T interceptor," a Raytheon statement reads.

Ralph Acaba, vice president of Raytheon's Integrated Air and Missile Defense unit, said in the statement: "This latest test ensures the 13-nation-strong Patriot partnership will have an enhanced ability to use different interceptors in the PDB-8 configuration to defend against a broad spectrum of threats."

Representatives from seven of the 13 Patriot partner nations were on hand to witness the intercept along with delegations from Poland and Sweden, according to Raytheon.

"The PAC-3 MSE continues to demonstrate its reliability and hit-to-kill capability," Scott Arnold, vice president of PAC-3 programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a separate statement, adding: "The enhancements of the MSE will provide the warfighter with the tools needed to defend against current and evolving threats."

Inside the Army reported this week that Lockheed has seen its missile-defense business fortunes on the rise in Europe:

U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin, along with its partner MBDA Germany, hopes to sign a contract for the Medium Extended Air Defense System with Berlin this year, as Poland also is showing renewed interest in the technology, according to company officials.

The German government selected the program for its lower-tier, air-defense investment, the Taktisches Luftverteidigungssystem, or TLVS, last year. Contract negotiations for the $4.5 billion deal to finish development and produce the systems have been ongoing since then.

Germany's armed forces want to divest their aging Patriot inventory in exchange for an open-architecture, 360-degree-capable system. The MEADS program was specifically designed by the United States, Germany and Italy as a Patriot replacement, including with those features.

The co-development trio began breaking apart in 2011, however, when then-acquisition chief Ash Carter decided to leave the program after the development phase, citing delays and cost overruns. While a rebirth of the program is in store for Germany, and potentially other European countries, there appears to be no coherent effort within the U.S. military to give the system as a whole a second look.

The Army, unlike the Office of the Secretary of Defense, has long loathed MEADS because it meant a challenge to Patriot. The decades-old system has nurtured a generation of faithful followers within the service, making the program almost synonymous in Army circles with the discipline of missile defense itself.