--- title: "SM-6 Eyed As New Surface-To-Air Interceptor For The Army" description: "SM-6, which the Army is already fielding to strike targets on land and at sea, could help bolster the service's strained air defense branch." date: "2024-07-24" modified: "2024-07-24" authors: - name: "Joseph Trevithick" job_title: "Deputy Editor" link: "https://www.twz.com/authors/joseph-trevithick" url: "https://www.twz.com/land/sm-6-eyed-as-new-surface-to-air-interceptor-for-the-army" categories: - "Armies" - "Land" - "Maritime Surface-To-Air Missiles" - "Naval Munitions" - "Sea" - "SM-6" - "Surface-To-Air Missile Systems" - "U.S. Army" --- # SM-6 Eyed As New Surface-To-Air Interceptor For The Army ![The US Army is eyeing adding the SM-6 to its air and missile defense arsenal, in addition to work already being done to field it in the long-range strike role.]() *(U.S. Navy)* The U.S. Army is interested in the increasingly popular and [now combat-proven SM-6 missile]() as a possible new addition to its air and missile defense arsenal. The weapon, which the service is already in the process of fielding as a new long-range means [to strike targets on land at sea](), could be a boon for its [highly in-demand]() air defense forces. This all also underscores the SM-6's still-growing versatility, which has now extended to the air-launched domain with [the recently revealed AIM-174 variant](). Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey, head of the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command (SDMC), talked about SM-6 and other air and missile developments during a talk [the Hudson Institute think tank hosted]() today. "You have \[the\] Army looking at Navy interceptors like the SM-6," Gainey said in response to a question about cooperation and coordination between the services on air and missile defense work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OU1pUyIzTw The SM-6 missile program, which the Navy manages, was originally developed as a surface-to-air interceptor and has demonstrated capability against a variety of aerial threats, including ballistic missiles and [even novel hypersonic threats]() in the terminal phases of their flight. The SM-6 can also be employed in a ballistic mode [against targets at sea]() and ashore. A Block IB version of the SM-6 [that promises significantly expanded performance]() remains in development, too. The Navy has fielded SM-6 as a ship-launched surface-to-air and strike weapon and now also has a version that its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters can fire [called the AIM-174](). The missile is a key part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system that the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) manages, but is not integrated into [the Aegis Ashore sites]() on land. ![]() *An SM-6 missile is fired from a US Navy warship. *USN* A file photo showing the launch of an SM-6 missile from a US Navy warship. *USN** The Navy also has a containerized Mk 70 Expeditionary Launcher that can fire SM-6s, as well as [Tomahawk cruise missiles](). The Mk 70 has been tested [aboard crewed]() and [uncrewed ships](), as well as in [a trailer-based configuration on land](). The Navy has [indicated an interest in employing]() Mk 70s in the ground-based air and missile defense role, as well as for long-range strikes, in the past. ![]() *A Navy Mk 70 Expeditionary Launcher in its ground-based configuration. *USN* A US Navy Mk 70-series launch system mounted on a trailer deployed during an exercise in Denmark in September 2023. *USN** As already noted, the Army is itself in the process of fielding SM-6 as part of its [Typhon ground-based missile system](), which uses a launcher design related to the Mk 70 that can also fire Tomahawks. However, to date, the service has said its plan is to use Typhon to employ SM-6 in the surface-to-surface strike role only. ![]() *Elements of a US Army Typhon battery, including our launchers and a trailer-mounted mobile command post. *US Army* The Typhon system, elements of which are seen here and that is capable of firing multi-purpose SM-6 missiles and Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, is one of the key components of the Army's new Multi-Domain Task Forces. *U.S. Army** The Army is also already developing and fielding new radars and networking capabilities that would be ideally suited to supporting the introduction of SM-6 as a new tool for shooting down aerial threats. Just last week, Raytheon announced that it had "demonstrated a simulated complex missile engagement leveraging the U.S. Army's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS, and [Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, IBCS,]() launching the U.S. Navy's premier, long-range effector, Standard Missile-6" during [the Valiant Shield 2024 exercise]() in the Pacific in June, [per a company press release](). "The experiment, which used a combination of physical systems' hardware and simulation, demonstrated the effective detection and identification of an in-coming threat, target and track data transfer, launch command, and the successful guide to missile intercept." SM-6 and the [LTMADS radar]() are both Raytheon products. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for IBCS, which you can read more about in this [past *War Zone* feature](). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkDwf40bwBs "Using track data from Army LTAMDS simulators and operational SM-6 engagement control software interfaced with IBCS, the test demonstrated the successful integration of these existing, respective Army and Navy program capabilities," Raytheon's release added. "This proves the feasibility of SM-6 as an additional effector within the Army IAMD \[integrated air and missile defense\] architecture including IBCS and LTAMDS." The Navy has already demonstrated SM-6's ability to interface with its [own expanding networked ‘kill webs,']() which enable the missile to engage threats at ranges well beyond where the launch platform's own sensors can 'see' by leveraging off-board targeting data. IBCS, in particular, gives the Army an organic means to take full advantage of SM-6's capabilities in this regard. ![]() *A briefing slide showing how a surface-launched SM-6 can be employed using the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) network architecture. *USN** "If you look at what we're able to do now with IBCS – you know, we're able to have a fighter with an AESA \[[active electronically-scanned array]()\] radar feed directly... through the IBCS network" to a [Patriot surface-to-air missile system](), itself linked to an LTAMDS radar, and "be able to fire off that fire control quality data," Lt. Gen. Gainey said today. "So now it's just opening that aperture and being able to do it across \[the\] services." IBCS and other networking capabilities also mean the Army could deploy Typhon or other launchers loaded with SM-6s in a distributed manner in the air and missile defense role. This, in turn, would provide additional flexibility and complicate enemy efforts to target those assets. Being able to use the Typhon launchers the service is already buying in both roles as needed would offer its own logistical and other advantages. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXOozWECnI4 In terms of joint service cooperation, Gainey also highlighted how the Navy is now looking at Army interceptors, as well. This appears to be a reference to testing of the Lockheed Martin [PAC-3 MSE interceptor]() in a configuration that warships can fire via the [Mk 41 Vertical Launch System](), which the Navy has been eyeing and that you can read more about [here](). For the Army, SM-6, which is in production and already entering its inventory albeit in a different role, could also offer a valuable pathway to expanding its air and missile defense capacity, in general. The service's air defense artillery branch is already inadequately [sized to meet ever-growing operational demands]() both down-range and [in defense of the U.S. homeland](). *The War Zone* just highlighted these issues, which are particularly pronounced when [it comes to the Army's Patriot]() surface-to-air missile systems, [in a recent feature](). "We put a significant strain on our Army forces by leveraging solely on the Patriot system" for almost all of the service's air and missile defense needs, Lt. Gen. Gainey said today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG8wF1o6r58 The Army is looking to significantly [expand the size and scope of its]() air and missile defense forces, with a particular eye toward increasing its ability to defend against incoming cruise missiles and drone attacks. Despite [improvements the service]() has [already made in recent years](), it is still very much playing catch-up when it comes to filling these gaps, which [were allowed to grow]() following the end of the Cold War. All this being said, there [have also been concerning questions]() about [Raythoen's capacity to produce SM-6s]() to meet existing demands. The production requirements were already set to grow with the Army's fielding of Typhon and now that [the air-launched AIM-174 variant](), which the Navy says is now in operational service to some degree, has emerged. The Navy is looking to buy 125 SM-6s in the 2025 Fiscal Year and is then hoping to ramp that up to 300 every year over the next five years. ![]() *An SM-6 missile on the production line. *Raytheon* Raytheo* Regardless, it makes good sense that the Army is now looking at SM-6 as a new land-based air and missile defense asset as it already works to field the missile in the long-range strike role. *Contact the author:* [*joe@twz.com*]() ## Author Joseph is *TWZ’s* Deputy Editor, helping to oversee the site’s highly experienced and dedicated team, while also writing informative and impactful defense and national security content. He lives right in the thick of it in the Washington, D.C. area. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Bluesky]()