Impressive Missile Detection System - Here's How It Works
Story by Chris Littlechild • 6h
From knights in heavy plate armor to tanks with steely shells, a thick armored casing alone was often sufficient protection in warfare for centuries. The advent of sophisticated missiles, though, has meant that even heavy armor can be penetrated. Even so, defensive capabilities have advanced right along with offensive ones.
The USS Louis H. Wilson Jr., a state-of-the-art missile destroyer coming to the U.S. Navy, seeks to overcome this threat by means of its formidable missile detection system. This destroyer was officially christened by the navy in September 2025, at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works. It's an Arleigh Burke-class Flight III destroyer, as opposed to a frigate, and this means that it'll boast one of the most advanced protective systems in the military: RTX's SPY-6, the AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar. This system is not only equipped to U.S. destroyers, but to a total of seven different ship classes in total. It can also be retrofitted onto older models, where possible.
It's a radar system with components that can be fitted together and therefore adapted to the size and needs of the vessel in question. Thisvital quality allows the system to be fitted to a naval fleet of dramatically different ships. The system of radars is connected together via its corresponding arrays, which are linked in turn to the AEGIS Combat System. SPY-6 itself, then, is not armed or a weapon system, but it is a critical element of an equipped ship's capacities as a whole. By feeding the information to the AEGIS, the Louis H. Wilson Jr. crew will be able to detect, identify, and track the danger it faces far more precisely, and quickly. This is a huge part of a U.S. Navy Destroyer's capability to strike targets at range.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-us-has-a-new-naval-destroyer-with-an-impressive-missile-detection-system-here-s-how-it-works/ar-AA1ODdva?ocid=widgetonlockscreen&cvid=0d7142d96e9a45eff2f4a00d46a8a21a&ei=85
