USNI News: 3rd October 2024. Tuesday’s Iranian ballistic missile attack appears to be the second publicly acknowledged use of the Standard Missile 3 in combat, USNI News understands.

USS Bulkeley (DDG 84) engages multiple Iranian ballistic missiles in defense of Israel from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea on Oct. 1, 2024. US Navy Image

Almost 200 missiles were fired from Iran toward Israel in retaliation for the targeted killing of Iranian-supported leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas. The SM-3s were used in coordination with the Israeli Arrow BMD (ballistic missile defence) system to counter the Iranian barrage. So far there have been no deaths reported and limited damage to the targeted military sites.

A combination of SM-3s and SM-6s fired from guided-missile destroyers USS Bulkeley (DDG-84) and USS Cole (DDG-67) successfully intercepted what one U.S. official told USNI News was a “handful” of Iranian ballistic missiles that were part of the retaliatory attack on Israel.

Both destroyers are equipped with the specialized variants of the Standard Missile family that allow the SM-3 to loft a kill vehicle payload to the upper atmosphere with targeting assistance from the AN/SPY-1 radar aboard the ships.

SM-3s have been in the U.S. inventory since 2004 and have been a major part of the U.S. ballistic-missile defense screen since 2011. A group of destroyers out of Naval Station Rota, Spain, and two Aegis Ashore batteries in Romania and Poland make up the European Phased Adaptive Approach to BMD that’s designed to counter ballistic missiles fired from Iran.