United States Missile defense In September 2009, President Obama announced plans to scrap plans for missile defense sites in East Europe, in favor of missile defense systems located on US Navy warships. On 18 September 2009, Russian Prime Minister Putin welcomed Obama's plans for missile defense which may include stationing American Aegis armed warships in the Black Sea. This deployment began to occur that same month, with the deployment of Aegis-equipped warships with the RIM-161 SM-3 missile system, which complements the
Patriot systems already deployed by American units. In February 2013, a SM-3 intercepted a test IRBM target using tracking data from a satellite for the first time. On 23 April 2014, Raytheon announced that the U.S. Navy and the Missile Defense Agency had started to deploy the SM-3 Block 1B missile operationally. The deployment starts the second phase of the Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA) adopted in 2009 to protect Europe from Iranian ballistic missile threats. In the Far East the US Navy and Japan plan to deploy increased numbers of the next generation SM-3 Block IIA weapons on
their ships. The first use of the SM-3 in combat occurred during the
April 2024 Iranian strikes against Israel. and used four to seven missiles to shoot down at least six Iranian ballistic missiles. The SM-3 has also been used by the US during the
2026 Iran war including to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles in Turkish airspace. In March 2026 an SM-3 was reportedly fired at an Iranian intermediate-range ballistic missile heading for the joint US-UK military base on
Diego Garcia.
Anti-satellite satellite On February 14, 2008, U.S. officials announced plans to use a modified SM-3 missile launched from a group of three ships in the
North Pacific to destroy the failed American satellite
USA-193 at an altitude of 130 nautical miles (240 kilometers) shortly before atmospheric reentry. Officials publicly stated that the intention was to "reduce the danger to human beings" due to the release of toxic
hydrazine fuel carried on board, but in secret dispatches, US officials indicated that the strike was, in fact, military in nature. A spokesperson stated that software associated with the SM-3 had been modified to enhance the chances of the missile's sensors recognizing that the satellite was its target, since the missile was not designed for
ASAT operations. On February 21, 2008, at 03:26 UTC, the guided-missile cruiser fired a single SM-3 missile, hit and successfully destroyed the satellite, with a closing velocity of about while the satellite was above the Pacific Ocean. , as well as other land, air, sea and space-based sensors were involved in the operation. The use of the missile was believed to be an anti-satellite weapon test in response to a
similar 2007 test by China. In November 2008 a second Japanese-American joint test was performed from which was unsuccessful. Following a failure review board, JFTM-3 occurred launching from
JS Myōkō resulting in a successful intercept in October 2009. October 28, 2010 a successful test was performed from . The U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauaʻi launched the ballistic missile target. The crew of
Kirishima, operating off the coast of Kauaʻi, detected and tracked the target before firing a SM-3 Block IA missile. The Japanese Defense Ministry is considering allocating money in the fiscal 2015 state budget for research on introducing the ground-based SM-3. Japanese ballistic missile defense strategy involves ship-based SM-3s to intercept missiles in space, while land-based
Patriot PAC-3 missiles shoot down missiles SM-3s fail to intercept. Due to concern that PAC-3s could not respond to massive numbers of missiles fired simultaneously, and that the Maritime Self-Defense Force needs Aegis destroyers for other missions, basing SM-3s on land would be able to intercept more missiles earlier. With a coverage radius of , three missile posts could defend all of Japan; launch pads can be disassembled, moved to other locations, and rebuilt in 5–10 days. Ground-basing of the SM-3 is dubbed "
Aegis Ashore." By October 2016, Japan was considering procuring either Aegis Ashore or
THAAD to add a new missile defense layer. On August 31, 2022, the
Japan Ministry of Defense announced that JMSDF will operate two "
Aegis system equipped ships" (イージス・システム搭載艦 in Japanese) to replace the earlier plan of Aegis Ashore installations, commissioning one by the end of fiscal year 2027, and the other by the end of FY2028. The budget for design and other related expenses are to be submitted in the form of "item requests", without specific amounts, and the initial procurement of the lead items are expected to clear legislation by FY2023. Construction is to begin in the following year of FY2024. At 20,000 tons each, both vessels will be the largest
surface combatant warships operated by the JMSDF, and according to
Popular Mechanics, they will "arguably [be] the largest deployable surface warships in the world.". On 16 November 2022, the guided-missile destroyer fired an SM-3 Block IIA missile, successfully intercepting the target outside the atmosphere in the first launch of the missile from a Japanese warship. On 18 November 2022, the likewise fired an SM-3 Block IB missile with a successful hit outside the atmosphere. Both test firings were conducted at the
Pacific Missile Range Facility on
Kauaʻi Island, Hawaii, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and
U.S. Missile Defense Agency. This was the first time the two ships conducted SM-3 firings in the same time period, and the tests validated the ballistic missile defense capabilities of Japan's newest s.
NATO host countries Poland On July 3, 2010, Poland and the United States signed an amended agreement for missile defense under whose terms land-based SM-3 systems would be installed in Poland at
Redzikowo. This configuration was accepted as a tested and available alternative to missile interceptors that were proposed during the Bush administration but which are still under development.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, present at the signing in Kraków along with Polish Foreign Minister
Radoslaw Sikorski, stressed that the missile defense program was aimed at deterring threats from Iran, and posed no challenge to Russia. , Poland is scheduled to host "about 24 SM3 IIA interceptors"
Romania In 2010/2011 the US government announced plans to station land-based SM-3s (Block IB) in Romania at
Deveselu starting in 2015, part of phase 2 of EPAA. The SM-3 Block IIB (currently in development for EPAA phase 4), but a
GAO report released Feb. 11, 2013 found that "SM-3 Block 2B interceptors launched from Romania would have difficulty engaging Iranian ICBMs launched at the United States because it lacks the range. Turkey is a better option, but only if the interceptors can be launched within 100 miles of the launch site and early enough to hit targets in their boost phase, an engagement scenario that presents a whole new set of challenges. The best basing option is in the North Sea, but making the SM-3 Block 2B ship compatible could add significantly to its cost". The troubles of the Block IIB program however do not affect the planned Block IB deployments in Romania. ==Operators==