By Franz-Stefan Gady
The new next-generation Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) is scheduled to be deployed at sea and ashore by 2018.
On June 6, the United States and Japan successfully conducted a live-fire test of a jointly developed new ballistic missile interceptor at a U.S. Navy sea range.
Raytheon Co’s next-generation Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA, has been under joint development by the U.S. defense firm Raytheon and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the country’s largest defense contractor. According to IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly,Raytheon was contracted for hardware, system development, and all-up-round integration, whereas Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries focused on the missile’s second and third stage rocket motors, steering control, and the missile nosecone.
The United States contributed a little over $2 billion to the weapon program, which began in 2006, while Japan provided around $1 billion in funds. Reuters quoted Riki Ellison, head of the US-based Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, who notes that this “is the U.S. Department of Defense’s best case of equal funding and engineering shared with an allied country to develop and … field a new weapon system to better enhance the national security of both nations.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat