- US Navy warships fired SM-3s to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles last weekend.
- Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro confirmed the use of the SM-3 during a hearing Tuesday.
- This is the first time that the exo-atmospheric interceptor has been used in combat.
US Navy warships used a missile interceptor for the first time over the weekend as they defended Israel against an unprecedented Iranian attack.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said U.S. forces fired the Standard Missile 3, or SM-3, to attack Iranian ballistic missiles that were fired as part of the massive barrage, which included more than 300 missiles and drones launched from Tehran and its proxies. .
“We’ve fired SM-2s, we’ve fired SM-6s, and just this weekend, SM-3s, to counter the threat of ballistic missiles that are coming from Iran,” Del Toro said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. at the Defense hearing on Tuesday.
US officials previously said two destroyers – the USS Arleigh Burke and the USS Carney – operating in the eastern Mediterranean engaged and destroyed at least four Iranian ballistic missiles, although it was not immediately clear how warships brought down the threats.
A Standard-3 missile in development, designed to intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missile threats, is launched from the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie based at Pearl Harbor. Photo by API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
USNI News first reported Monday that the two ships fired between four and seven SM-3s to intercept the missiles, citing unnamed defense officials. Del Toro’s comments to lawmakers appear to be the Navy’s first public acknowledgment of the SM-3’s employment.
The SM-3 is a component of the Navy’s Advanced Aegis Combat System and uses a kinetic kill vehicle to strike and destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles during the mid-flight phase. The SM-3 has the capability of exo-atmospheric intercepts, meaning it can eliminate targets beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, unlike other Navy air defense capabilities.
“SM-3s are unique because they are the only standard missile designed to operate in the vacuum of space,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank notes in its missile defense project.
There are several variants of the SM-3, which can be fired from the vertical launch system of a Navy warship, and the Block I interceptors were first fielded almost 20 years ago . Despite dozens of tests over the past two decades, the SM-3 has not been used in combat until now.
A view from the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) underway in the Atlantic Ocean, March 22, 2023. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Kerri Kline
The SM-3, however, was not the only exo-atmospheric weapon used this weekend.
Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defense system, which can also eliminate enemy threats in space, was used to shoot down many of the 120 ballistic missiles launched by Iran at Israel on Saturday. Arrow 3 and its predecessor, Arrow 2, constitute the upper echelon of the country’s sophisticated air defense network.
Israeli officials have stated that 99% of threats The strikes by Iran and its proxies – which included one-way attack drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles – were intercepted by the Israeli military and its partner forces in the Middle East.
US Central Command said US forces specifically destroyed more than 80 drones and at least six ballistic missiles.
CENTCOM said in a statement Sunday that Iran’s “continued, unprecedented, malicious and reckless behavior endangers regional stability and the security of U.S. and coalition forces.”
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