60-year Evolutionary Success

You may have missed this yesterday - but you should at least give it a passing nod;

The Navy successfully tested its short range ballistic missile last week, destroying a complex moving target that soared over the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, May 15.
...
“This test scenario was designed to challenge the discrimination capabilities of the SM-3 Block IB,” said Dr. Mitch Stevison, Raytheon SM-3 program director. “What we learned from this mission gives me great confidence in the missile’s production readiness.”
The test, code-named Stellar Hecate after a Greek goddess of magic, marks the 23rd successful intercept for the SM-3 program.

Ungh ... the media really needs to have military people edit their stuff. It was a test of a anti-ballistic missile against a short range ballistic missile ... but let's move past that goof.

Here is why you may have missed it; success. Why? Success, the proven way - and with the Standard Missile program, the expected outcome.

"Because we've been perfecting this technology for 60 years, we've seen it expand from defending ships to defending continents,” said Dr. Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems. “As we look back on all that has been accomplished in the last six decades, we can't help but recognize that what was impossible yesterday, is possible today."

It will get better and better - giving us some push back to the A2AD challenge; perhaps even getting ahead of it.

We should look at that timeline for surface-to-air missiles as we now look to laser and rail-gun technology. It will take time to reach great promise, but accept what it can offer now, and then build on it.

The best weapons systems are never "revolutionary;" they are products of sound evolution. More work to get done, but we're getting there.

On Tuesday, production is set to begin on a batch of missiles at the company’s new Redstone Missile Integration Facility in Huntsville, Ala., that will be deployed out to U.S. Navy ships.

Here; wallow in the SWO pr0n.