Vigilant Wyvern / Flight Test Aegis Weapon System-48 (FTM-48)

U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS CARL M. LEVIN (DDG 120) successfully intercepted multiple targets in an Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) test executed by the U.S. Navy Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii on October 25, 2023. The joint test, known as Vigilant Wyvern, demonstrated the capability of a ballistic missile defense-configured Aegis ship to detect, track, engage and execute intercepts of two short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) targets while concurrently demonstrating an Anti-Air Warfare (AAW) engagement of two subsonic anti-ship cruise missile drone targets. This realistic, live-fire raid scenario represented one of the largest IAMD events ever conducted in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Area of Responsibility and demonstrated for the first time a concurrent Ballistic Missile Defense and Anti-Air Warfare raid. The test, designated Flight Test Aegis Weapon System-48 (FTM-48) by the MDA, demonstrated the IAMD engagement of two SRBM targets with two Standard Missile 3 Block IA (SM-3 Blk IA) interceptors, and engagement of two subsonic anti-ship cruise missile drone targets with four SM-2 Blk IIIA interceptors. [See ]