MEADS hits two targets in flight test

An international partnership said its missile defense system simultaneously intercepted two targets in a Nov. 6 flight test at the White Sands Missile Test Range in New Mexico.

Lockheed Martin said its Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) tracked down and destroyed a pair of targets attacking from opposite directions during a demonstration of the air and missile defense system.

Lockheed Martin is a member of an international partnership, MEADS International, which also includes MBDA Italia and MBDA Deutschland. MEADS is intended to protect NATO forces and cities from air and missile attacks.

This was the system’s third flight test. Previous tests demonstrated the ability to launch a PAC-3 missile to a specific point behind the launcher. A 2012 test used a 360-degree surveillance radar to destroy a drone attacking from behind.

The latest flight test simultaneously destroyed a tactical ballistic missile and an unmanned aircraft flying behind the first target, Lockheed Martin said.

Along with a mobile launcher and surveillance radar, the system includes a mobile command center, fire control radar and missiles. All components are mounted on trucks.

Along with the system’s mobility, the international partners are promoting MEADS as being “network-enabled.”