Missile Defense Agency
Agency of the US Defense Department
Follow Missile Defense Agency on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
| 2024 | Aegis Ashore site at Redzikowo, Poland becomes operational |
| 2024 | Patriot PAC-3 successfully tested with the Aegis system. |
| 2024 | A first test of the hypersonic tracking sensors was anticipated, with plans to potentially integrate GPI interceptors with Navy's Aegis and Army's THAAD defense systems. |
| 2022 | Iran developed a hypersonic ballistic missile capable of moving fifteen times the speed of sound and potentially reaching U.S. and European targets. |
| December 23 2022 | Japanese Ministry of Defense's 2023 budget and program guidance outlined operational plans for new Aegis-equipped naval forces, dedicating two warships to ballistic missile defense missions in the Sea of Japan. |
| November 18 2022 | Another Japanese guided-missile destroyer successfully fired an SM-3 Block IB missile with a hit outside the atmosphere, conducted at the U.S. Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai Island, Hawaii. |
| November 17 2022 | USS John Finn successfully intercepted an ICBM-representative target using an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile, demonstrating engage-on-remote capabilities through the C2BMC network in a defense of Hawaii scenario. |
| November 16 2022 | Japanese guided-missile destroyer successfully fired an SM-3 Block IIA missile, intercepting a target outside the atmosphere in the first launch of this missile from a Japanese warship at the U.S. Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai Island, Hawaii. |
| October 6 2022 | Multilateral ballistic missile defense exercise conducted in the Sea of Japan involving warships from the United States, Japan, and South Korea, responding to North Korean intermediate-range ballistic missile tests. |
| August 31 2022 | Japan Ministry of Defense announced plans to operate two new 'Aegis system equipped ships' to replace the cancelled Aegis Ashore program, with first ship to be commissioned by end of fiscal year 2027 and second by end of fiscal year 2028. |
| 2021 | Missile Defense Agency (MDA) realized a potential countermeasure to hypersonic boost-glide weapons by analyzing existing satellite and ground-based sensor data, identifying the glide phase as the optimal interception point. |
| 2021 | MDA issued a Request for Information (RFI) to the defense community for developing Glide Phase Interceptors (GPI) to counter hypersonic weapons, to be guided by Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensors (HBTSS). |
| May 2021 | FTM-31 E1 test did not meet all its objectives, prompting adjustments for future missile defense tests. |
| April 14 2021 | The Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy announced plans to test an SM-6 missile against an 'advanced maneuvering threat', with a new SM-6 Block IB variant under development capable of reaching hypersonic speeds. |
| January 31 2021 | Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy conducted a live-fire missile test using an SM-3 Block IIA missile, which failed to intercept an air-launched intermediate-range ballistic missile target. |
| November 17 2020 | SM-3 Block IIA missile successfully intercepted a threat-representative ICBM target during its mid-course flight phase, demonstrating capability to intercept non-separating, simple separating, and complex-separating ballistic missiles. |
| July 2020 | Admiral Philip S. Davidson requested funding to construct an Aegis Ashore system in Guam by 2026 to defend U.S. military facilities and provide strategic capabilities against Chinese threats. |
| June 15 2020 | Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono announced the halting of Aegis Ashore deployment due to potential risks of rocket boosters hitting residential buildings. |
| March 2020 | Mike Griffin, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, revealed plans to consider SM-6 missile for hypersonic defense, with intentions to test against an actual hypersonic boost-glide vehicle in the 2023 Fiscal Year. |
| September 11 2018 | Japan destroyer JS ATAGO successfully intercepted a ballistic missile target using a Standard Missile-3 Block IB Threat Upgrade missile over the Pacific Ocean during JFTM-5 Event 2. |
| March 2018 | Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced evaluation of SM-3 Block IIA missile's potential effectiveness against Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) targets. |
| January 2018 | U.S. Navy approved plans to develop a Dual Thrust Rocket Motor for the SM-6 missile, with a larger 21-inch diameter propulsion package to replace the current 13.5-inch system. |
| December 19 2017 | Japan's Cabinet approved a plan to purchase two Aegis Ashore systems with AN/SPY-7(V)1 radar, intended to enhance defense capabilities against North Korean threats, with planned installation sites in Akita and Yamaguchi Prefectures. |
| July 4 2017 | North Korea launched a ballistic missile with potential ICBM capabilities, which flew through space and landed in the Sea of Japan. |
| March 6 2017 | North Korea launched four missiles from Tongchang-ri, with one landing in the Sea of Japan and three landing in Japan's economic zone. |
| January 1 2017 | North Korea announced its final preparation for an ICBM test. |
| 2016 | Aegis Ashore site in Deveselu, Romania becomes operational |
| 2016 | North Korea experienced a failed launch of the BM25 Musudan missile. |
| December 14 2016 | USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) successfully conducted a ballistic missile intercept test over the Pacific Ocean, firing two Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) interceptors against a medium-range ballistic missile target. The test, designated Flight Test Standard Missile-27 (FTM-27), was the Sea Based Terminal (SBT) system's second intercept and first salvo test. |
| May 2015 | Aegis Ashore site in Deveselu, Romania was opened, marking the first operational land-based Aegis missile defense site. |
| July 31 2014 | Congressional Research Service report highlights the lack of a test target simulating the Chinese DF-21 Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM), noting no existing program for an endo-atmospheric target. |
| May 21 2014 | U.S. Department of Defense conducted the first test launch of a Standard Missile from the Aegis Ashore Test Site, successfully acquiring, tracking, and engaging a simulated ballistic missile target at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. |
| 2012 | North Korea conducted another failed Taepodong-2 missile launch. |
| December 2011 | Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser program was completely cancelled due to technological impracticality. |
| February 2010 | Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser successfully destroyed two test missiles. |
| January 2010 | Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser successfully intercepted a test target. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Missile Defense Agency & Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.