This week the Arleigh-Burke Class guided-missile destroyer John Paul Jones participated in the test of software designed to find and track Medium Range Ballistic Missiles.
The destroyer used the Aegis Baseline 9 terminal engagement capability in the test, according to a release from Lockheed Martin, which makes the software. It marked the first time the Aegis system, used on Navy destroyers and cruisers and at ashore sites in the U.S. and abroad, has been used in a complicated tracking exercise against these kind of missiles within the earth's atmosphere, known as the endo-atmospheric phase of flight.
“This complex test demonstrates the continuing evolution of Aegis and builds further confidence in our ability to detect and maintain tracking on these types of threats,” Paul Klammer, director of Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense at Lockheed Martin, said in the release. “The Navy and [the Missile Defense Agency], along with our engineers, build on the lessons learned from every test to ensure Aegis is keeping pace with dynamic threats.”
The new Baseline 9 system was certified in January.
The John Paul Jones was previously used last year in Multi-Mission Warfare tests that assessed the ability of the system to track and destroy ballistic missiles and air warfare targets.
