Pandemic sets back FTM-44, planned 2020 marquee missile defense flight test

By Jason Sherman / August 25, 2020 at 4:24 PM
The Missile Defense Agency is delaying until the end of this year a marquee test, slated for fiscal year 2020, pitting a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA against an intercontinental ballistic missile target to validate a new homeland defense architecture that would add a new "underlayer" to work in tandem with the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system. Vice Adm. Jon Hill said the agency was poised to execute Flight Test Standard Missile (FTM)-44 on schedule earlier this year before the coronavirus outbreak...

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