A Raytheon-built missile interceptor system has used offboard targeting data to engage targets in a recent at-sea trial conducted by the U.S. Navy.
Raytheon said Friday two Standard Missile-6 interceptors launched from a USS Chancellorsville ship by taking cues from another cruiser that was equipped with the Aegis missile defense system during the demonstration.
According to the company, the SM-6 weapons have worked to obstruct incoming supersonic and subsonic missile threats.
“Advanced warning and cueing from another sensor or ship allows the U.S. Navy to take full advantage of SM-6’s over-the-horizon capability,” said Mike Campisi, Raytheon’s Standard Missile-6 senior program director.
SM-6 is assembled at the firm’s manufacturing facility at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and designed to protect naval ships against fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, cruise missiles and drones.
Raytheon says it has supplied the Navy with more than 130 SM-6 weapons to date.