Battleship killer: US Navy reveals SM 6 missile

'This test event demonstrated Raytheon’s decades of continued technological development and partnership with the U.S. Navy' said Dr. Taylor Lawrence president of Raytheon's missile systems division in a statement released onMarch 7. 'The ability to leverage the Standard Missile Family and the legacy AWS [Aegis Weapon System] in newly fielded systems brings additional warfighting capability to the U.S. Fleet.'

Until last monthwhen U. S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter disclosed the closely held secret that the SM-6 is capable of engaging surface targetsmost analysts believed that the U.S. Navy lacked any meaningful capability to attack enemy warships. With the revelation that the SM-6 does have anti-surface capability it is now known that the U.S. Navy does have a long-range supersonic anti-ship missile at its disposal. This capability would be essential should any serious conflict arise with the Chinese or Russian navies for example. Read more