SM-6: America's Only Defense Against Hypersonic Weapons

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Jon Hill, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, or MDA, says that the multi-purpose SM-6 missile is the only weapon in the country's arsenal at present that offers any ability to knock down highly-maneuverable hypersonic threats. This comes after the agency disclosed plans last year to test an unspecified version of the SM-6 against an "advanced maneuvering threat," a term typically associated with unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicles, sometime in the 2024 Fiscal Year.