Standard Missile Family

The Standard Missile family comprises the long-serving surface-to-air armament of Aegis-equipped ships. The SM-2 remains the fleet-wide medium-range air defense interceptor, while the SM-6 extends that role into cooperative engagement, anti-ship strike, and limited terminal ballistic missile defense with its active radar seeker derived from the AIM-120 AMRAAM.

The SM-3 is the Navy's exoatmospheric ballistic missile interceptor, with the Block IIA variant (co-developed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) used in the first combat SM-3 engagements against Iranian ballistic missiles in 2024. Collectively, the SM family provides the air and missile defense spine of the U.S. surface fleet and Aegis Ashore installations.

Related Systems