On Tuesday, Raytheon Missile & Defense reported that comprehensive near-field range testing had been completed on the first AN/SPY-6(V)1 radar array. The new array will deliver integrated air and missile defense capabilities to Flight III guided missile destroyers, as well as seven other U.S Navy ships.
Also on Tuesday, a former commander of U.S Forces Korea, General (ret.) Walter Sharp, expressed concern that North Korea will soon launch a new ballistic missile submarine. The remarks follow a May meeting of North Korea's Central Military Commission in which a new 3,000-ton submarine, expected to carry three ballistic missiles, was shown to be nearly completed.
On Thursday, it was reported that a May 12 incident in which 19 Iranian sailors were killed was actually the result of a failed Iranian missile test. A former Iranian missile worker claims that during a test of a new version of the C-802 missile, the missile mistook the Iranian Navy support ship Konarak for a nearby target barge. While the new missile is thought to be more difficult for the U.S Navy to jam, it remains far from ready for operational deployment.
Also on Thursday, the Missile Defense Agency issued a request for information for a potential contractor to provide Standard Missile-3 interceptor rounds, as well as support for the technology's integration in U.S Navy vessels and Aegis Ashore combat facilities in Europe. Contract work would also include engineering and testing services, including program management and obsolescence monitoring.
On Friday, U.S Army Europe's 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command took part in exercise Tobruq Arrows 2020. Tobruq Arrows, taking place from June 5-15, is a Latvian-led, multinational short-range air defense exercise. U.S Army units participating include the 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment.
On Sunday, it was reported how the Space Development Agency (SDA) and Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to develop their space-based hypersonic and ballistic missile tracking sensor network. The SDA plans to launch a wide field of view missile-warning sensor with a satellite bus into low Earth orbit by late 2021. SDA and MDA plan to have a large constellation of wide and medium field of view satellites by 2022 to provide persistent regional detection and tracking capabilities. By 2025, the SDA and MDA plans to have enough satellites for a missile warning and tracking network with full global coverage.
On Monday, it was reported that a top Chinese science institute made progress in a scramjet program which could lead to significant advances in China's hypersonic cruise missile capabilities. The Chinese scramjet ran continuously for 600 seconds in a ground test, definitively breaking the previous record of 210 seconds held by the US' X-51 aircraft.
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