The first surface-to-air Standard Missile-2 (SMT) from a mothballed assembly line that was restarted to meet growing global demand passed a US Navy flight test, the manufacturer Raytheon announced in a press release on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2020) The first surface-to-air Standard Missile-2 (SMT) from a mothballed assembly line that was restarted to meet growing global demand passed a US Navy flight test, the manufacturer Raytheon announced in a press release on Wednesday.
"The SM-2 Block IIIB missile launched, flew and provided accurate telemetry data to the range, and engaged an airborne Navy target," the release said.
Raytheon and the Navy restarted the production line that was closed in 2013 to meet global demand, investing in new equipment and improved manufacturing processes to increase efficiencies, the release added.
In 2020, the company plans to make and sell more than 280 SM-2s to fill orders from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands from its latest production batch, according to the release.
The Standard Missile-2 is the world's premier defense weapon for ships against anti-ship missiles and aircraft up to 90 nautical miles away, a Raytheon website said.
The missile comes in two models, both of which have proven effective against subsonic, low- and high-altitude anti-ship missiles, as well as fighters, bombers and helicopters, even environments that are heavily degraded by electronic jamming, according to Raytheon.
