Standard Missile 3

1583 Words4 Pages

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” (Albert Einstein) As the United States continues to build and improve their weapons system this quote maybe truer than many may think. The United States takes pride in be one of the super powers of the world, one of the ways that the United States is able to keep that title as a super power is the weapons that they have such as the Standard Missile 3. The standard Missile 3 is a ship based anti-ballistic air missile used by the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. The usage of the standard Missile 3 is to carry out all the same functions as the Standard Missile 2 Block III, but to also have the capability to shoot into outer space and destroy enemy satellites. The Standard Missile 3, although derived from the Standard Missile 2 Block III, differentiates itself from other missile in a variety of ways.

A brief history of the Standard Missile 2 is imperative, because the Standard Missile 3 directly evolved from the Standard Missile 2. In the beginning of the creation of the Standard Missile, the Standard Missile was the replacement for the RIM-8 Talos missile. When the Standard Missile was first created, it was produced by the Missile and surface Radar

Division of the RCA Corporation, but is being produced by Lockheed and Martin currently. In the late 1970’s the first Standard Missile 2 became operational. It was not until the early 1980’s when the Standard Missile 2 was deployed operational with the Aegis System. During the Iran–Iraq War (1980-1988) the United States had deployed standard missiles for the first time to protect its Navy as well as other ships in the Persian Gulf from Iranian attacks.

As the...

... middle of paper ...

... third stage rocket motor (a.k.a. Advanced Solid Axial Starge, ASAS, made by Alliant Techsystems), a GPS/INS guidance section (a.k.a. GAINS, GPS-Aided Inertial Navigation System), and a LEAP (Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile) kinetic warhead (i.e. a non-explosive hit-to-kill warhead). The launching ships will be updated with Aegis LEAP Intercept (ALI) computer soft- and hardware” (Raytheon RIM-161).

The Standard Missile 3, although derived from the Standard Missile 2 Block III, differentiates itself from other missile in a variety of ways.

Works Cited

Webb, Angela (February 26, 2008). "Joint effort made satellite success possible". US Air Force. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123087750.

United States Navy,US Navy Fact File:Standard Missile, October 11, 2002. Accessed June 5, 2006.

GlobalSecurity.org - Standard specs Designation systems RIM-66

More about Standard Missile 3

Open Document