SM-6, an "old" dog with a new trick

The supersonic SM-6 Standard Missile, designed to shoot down incoming aircraft and cruise missiles, has sunk a target ship in a test. The decommissioned frigate Reuben James went down off Hawaii in the January event, just disclosed today. The test was part of the Navy’s effort to rebuild its firepower to destroy enemy fleets, a concept called Distributed Lethality. Repurposing defensive missiles as offensive ones also reflects a Pentagon push to make old weapons do new tricks for a minimum added cost.

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Wow. So the newer SM-6 is a fairly versatile weapon. Originally designed to take out cruise missiles, it has now proven to be effective against aircaft missiles and even ballistic missiles. We can now add the offensive ability to strike also.

I always wondered why they full-rated it. Now we know.

sm-6 is evolution of sm-2. it's anti aircraft primarely. it may have some residual anti ballistic capabilities, against simple and slow BM, but for proper ABM defense sm-3 would be used. sm-2 was long used as anti ship missile as well, so that's not new either. what sm-6 does offer over sm-2 is over the horizon capability due to its active seeker. it also means its range envelope can be more efficiently used.

a reply to: Redbluesky

I guess you didn't read the article.

Should also use the reply button.