The Missile Defense Agency had a busy year. From a change in top leadership to flight tests and high honors earned by employees, MDA continues to execute its mission of developing a layered integrated Missile Defense System to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies and friends from missile attacks in all phases of flight.
MDA met some significant milestones this year in support of the warfighter and its greatest asset: the MDA workforce.
Accomplishments, events
Ballistic missile defense-configured Aegis ship capability: MDA, in cooperation with the Navy, successfully conducted Flight Test Aegis Weapon System 31 Event 1a in March.
The test demonstrated the capability of a BMD-configured Aegis ship to detect, track, engage, and intercept a medium-range ballistic missile target in the terminal phase of flight utilizing the Standard Missile-6 Dual II with Software Upgrade in a single salvo of two interceptors.
FTM–31 E1a was the third successful flight test of an Aegis BMD-equipped vessel using the SM–6 Dual II missile and the first Aegis Baseline 9.C2.0 intercept of an MRBM target using the SM-6 Dual II SWUP missile.
Multiple target interception: Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120) successfully intercepted multiple targets in an Integrated Air and Missile Defense test executed by the Navy Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems and MDA from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, in late October.
Nunn-Perry Award: Two teams supporting MDA under the Department of Defense Mentor Protégé Program were recognized with the prestigious Nunn-Perry Award, which recognizes mentor protégé teams that have excelled in technical developments, cost effectiveness and increased business opportunities for small, disadvantaged firms. Under the program, mentor-protégé teams support the warfighter by delivering capabilities across major defense programs.
The winners were: MDA: Parsons Government Services, Inc. (mentor); KODA Technologies, Inc. (protege); Alabama State University; and MDA: Raytheon Missiles and Defense (mentor); FUSE Integration (protege); California State University Los Angeles; Kentucky APEX Accelerator.