The U.S. Navy was more helpful in defending Israel from an Iranian attack than initially reported. Half of Iran’s projectiles failed in flight, a defense source told The Intercept, and American forces shot down the majority of the 160 remaining threats headed for Israeli territory. This includes as many as seven ballistic missiles that were destroyed by USS Arleigh Burke and USS Carney in mid-flight.
It is the first time that the Navy has ever used the SM-3 antiballistic missile interceptor in combat, and the results appear to have been a success. The SM-3 is an advanced design that can intercept ballistic missiles in mid-course, outside of the earth’s atmosphere at altitudes of more than 100 nautical miles.
To engage and destroy a large, hypersonic ballistic missile with any kind of reliability, it’s not enough to detonate an explosive payload somewhere near it – it’s necessary to hit it head on, much like striking a bullet with another bullet mid-flight. It took decades of work and billions of dollars to solve this engineering challenge, and the SM-3 is the result. The business end of the SM-3 is the Lightweight Exo-atmospheric Projectile, a guided but otherwise inert device that maneuvers to collide with the incoming ballistic missile.
Read the rest of the story at The Maritime Executive, here.
