US Navy Showcases Hypersonic Missile Defense With Its New Aegis System

In a major leap forward for U.S. missile defense, the USS Pinckney (DDG-91) successfully ran a high-stakes simulation against a live hypersonic target in waters off Hawaii.

On March 24, the U.S. Navy pulled off a critical trial codenamed FTX-40, simulating the interception of a hypersonic weapon using the Aegis Combat System. The test took place near the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii, and involved a joint team from the Navy, Missile Defense Agency, Lockheed Martin, and industry partners.

The test weapon—a Medium-Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) carrying a Hypersonic Target Vehicle-1 (HTV-1)—was dropped from a C-17 Globemaster III. After parachuting from the plane in a sealed canister, the HTV-1 was boosted into the upper atmosphere, where it detached and began its high-speed glide descent at speeds far beyond Mach 5.

On the water below, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Pinckney carried out a virtual intercept using the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6)—a digital simulation meant to replicate the launch, guidance, and strike process without the cost of a $4.3 million missile.

This wasn’t about fireworks. It was about proving that the Aegis Baseline 9 system can do what matters most: see, track, and react to hypersonic threats in real time.

“We’re at the stage of ‘seeing the unseen’ before it gets close,” said Chandra Marshall, VP of Multi-Domain Combat Solutions at Lockheed Martin. “This test proves we can respond to the kinds of fast, unpredictable weapons adversaries are now building.”

While some might wonder why a live missile wasn’t launched, the reasoning is straightforward: the U.S. military wanted a tightly controlled test to evaluate Aegis’s software, sensor, and command performance. Actual intercepts will follow based on data from exercises like this one.

This capability upgrade is part of a broader initiative to enhance Aegis systems for next-gen threats using both SM-6 (designed for high-altitude targets) and SM-3 (optimized for space-based intercepts). Central to this effort is the SPY-6 radar—an advanced sensor suite that will enable Aegis to track fast, low-profile targets with greater accuracy across atmospheric layers.

First introduced in the 1970s, the Aegis system has been adapted continuously to handle everything from ballistic missiles to satellites. The Navy currently operates Aegis on 110 ships across seven navies, with 71 more planned. Its adaptability remains one of its biggest strengths—illustrated most famously in 2008 when an Aegis-equipped cruiser shot down a malfunctioning U.S. satellite with a single missile.