and was designed to collect test data, MDA said. The second interceptor, which carried an explosive warhead, intercepted the Lockheed Martin-built target…. MDA called the target “complex” but declined to elaborate. However, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, the target emulated China's Dong-Feng 21 (DF-21), a ballistic missile equipped with a maneuverable re-entry vehicle and designed to destroy U.S., aircraft carriers. The event, designated Flight Test Standard Missile-27 (FTM-27), was SBT's first salvo test and its second intercept in as many tries. In March 2020, Mike Griffin, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, revealed that SM-6 missile was being considered for hypersonic defense and that there are plans to test it against an actual hypersonic boost-glide vehicle in the 2023 Fiscal Year. An April 14, 2021 press report stated: The Missile Defense Agency, together with the U.S. Navy, plan to test an SM-6 missile against an “advanced maneuvering threat,” a term that has been used in relation to unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicles, later this year. The Pentagon says that unspecified versions of the SM-6 have already demonstrated some degree of capability against these types of weapons, examples of which Russia and China have already begun putting to service. A new variant of the SM-6, the Block IB, is already under development and will itself be able to reach hypersonic speeds. Barbara McQuiston, a senior U.S. official currently performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, including mention of the scheduled SM-6 test in her testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Defense yesterday…. Flight tests to date As of December 2018, Aegis BMDS has performed 40 successful intercepts in 49 attempts against ballistic missile targets. Gallery See also Aegis Weapon System Anti-ballistic missile Arrow missile Atago-class destroyer Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme Kinetic Energy Interceptor MIM-104 Patriot missile National Missile Defense NATO missile defence system Pacific Missile Range Facility RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 Strategic Defense Initiative Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Ticonderoga class cruiser Vertical Launching System YAL-1 Airborne Laser Notes References External links Aegis BMD web page, U.S. Missile Defense Agency official website. CSIS Missile Threat - Aegis BMD U.S. Navy Juggles Ships To Fill BMD Demands, By Christopher P. Cavas, defensenews.com, January 4, 2010. How Many Aegis Ships To Defend NATO?, By Jeffrey Lewis, June 12, 2007. U.S. nears key step in European