The American magazine “The Intercept” said that the United States used, “for the first time” in combat operations, its SM-3 anti-ballistic missile, in order to repel the Iranian attack on Israel.
The report indicated that US Navy warships fired the missile for the first time in a combat operation, during the interception of Iranian ballistic missiles.
The magazine explained that “between 4 to 7” SM-3 missiles were launched from the two American destroyers “Arlie Burke” and “USS Carney” located in the Mediterranean.
For his part, US Secretary of the Navy, Carlos del Toro, said in a Senate hearing on Tuesday: “We launched SM-2 and SM-6 missiles, and over the weekend we launched SM-3 missiles,” in the first acknowledgment of the use of this model. the last one.
The SM-3 missiles are manufactured by Raytheon and are intended for launch from ship-borne systems.
The missile can intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, in addition to its ability to target satellites located near Earth’s orbit. The missile entered service in 2014, and is 6.55 meters long.
The name SM-3 emerged when the United States conducted an interception test of a medium-range ballistic missile in October 2018, which was crowned with success.