MDA Plans To Field SM-6 Counter-Hypersonic Update In ’25

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama—The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is planning to field a new version of its update to the Standard Missile 6 Sea Based Terminal aiming at hypersonic defense as its upcoming Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) program faces a long road to operations.

The MDA has already fielded what it calls the second increment of the SM-6 Sea Based Terminal, a modification to Raytheon’s missile quickly fielded to provide defense against hypersonic weapons in their terminal phase. MDA Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins told the Space & Missile Defense Symposium here Aug. 8 that a new increment is in the middle of development and is getting ready for a flight test ahead of fielding next year.

MDA, however, has not yet flight tested the system, with the first not expected until fiscal 2026.

SM-6 is a “last look, one shot, it’s what you got” approach to hypersonic defense since it can only engage in the missile’s terminal phase. GPI aims to target a missile earlier on, as its name suggests, before the missile can maneuver. Or force it to maneuver, which in turn will drain its energy. GPI matched with SM-6 is part of a layered approach that is needed, Collins says.

MDA selected Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to compete for the program in June 2022, and earlier this year Japan announced it would contribute about $1 billion for the program’s development.

But the program still faces some uncertainty. Collins says MDA will make a “resource-driven” down select between the two companies this year, hinting that the agency would want to continue with both sides if more money was available.

The agency’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget cuts spending by about 33% over the next five years. Collins says the agency is now expecting it to be delivered in the mid-2030s, a timeline that is not fast enough. MDA is looking at “acceleration opportunities,” he said without elaborating.