Lockheed Martin Conducts Successful Pac-3 Missile Test at White Sands Missile Range 0111113.

The test included a ripple fire engagement, utilizing a PAC-3 Cost Reduction Initiative (CRI) Missile as the first interceptor and a PAC-3 Baseline Missile as the second interceptor. The CRI Missile includes block upgrades to the PAC-3 Baseline Missile for performance improvement.

“We continue to improve the capability of the PAC-3 Missile, staying ahead of the evolving threat,” said Richard McDaniel, PAC-3 Programs vice president in Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control business. “This flight test success completes the validation of PAC-3’s latest software and hardware updates as we continue to provide this extremely capable hit-to-kill weapon to the warfighter.”

The PAC-3 Missile is one of the world’s most advanced, capable and reliable theater air defense missiles. It defeats advanced tactical ballistic and cruise missiles, and fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. As the most technologically advanced missile for the PATRIOT air defense system, PAC-3 significantly increases the PATRIOT system’s firepower, as 16 PAC-3s can be loaded in place of only four legacy PATRIOT PAC-2 missiles on the PATRIOT launcher.

Lockheed Martin achieved the first-ever hit-to-kill intercept in 1984 with the Homing Overlay Experiment, using force of impact alone to destroy a mock warhead outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. Further development and testing produced today’s PAC-3 Missile, which won a competition in 1993 to become the first hit-to-kill interceptor produced by the U.S. government. The PAC-3 Missile has been the technology pathfinder for today’s total conversion to kinetic energy interceptors for all modern missile defense systems.