The Sky is [not] the Limit: the Evolution of the Standard Missile

By Dr. Mitch Stevison

Dr. Mitch Stevison is the vice president of  Air and Missile Defense Systems at Raytheon. Before his current role, Dr. Stevison was the director of the SM-3 program, where he was responsible for the development, testing and production of all variants of the SM-3 missile portfolio. He has held numerous other industry roles in the field of missile defense prior to his current position at Raytheon. Dr. Stevison retired from the U.S. Army in 2005, following an accomplished 20-year military career focused on missile defense programs.

The military called it Operation Bumblebee: a secret program to develop a weapon that – like the insect – could take off vertically, change directions instantly, and deliver a painful sting. Born in the years after World War II, the U.S. Navy program aimed to create a missile that could defend warships against new weapons like fast-moving fighter jets and the missiles they carried.

Early efforts produced three missiles: the Talos, Terrier, and Tartar. Talos was the largest of the three and could take out big threats, like Soviet bombers, however, many smaller ships couldn’t carry such a massive missile. Tartar was lightweight and designed to engage threats at close range. The smallest solution, the Terrier, boasted a cutting-edge (for the time) radar homing guidance system and was used by the Navy post-WWII. The first successful launch of the Terrier missile in the early 1950’s is regarded as the true beginning for the Standard Missile family.

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