A software upgrade has boosted the lethality of the RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), or Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) surface-to-air missile (SAM), so it can now defeat more types of Russian and Chinese aircraft and missiles than ever before.

During a test in December 2016, a target missile representing China's DF- 21D "carrier killer" ballistic missile was destroyed by a pair of SM-6 Dual I missiles using "active seeker" technology fired from a U.S. Navy destroyer off the coast of Hawaii.

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This variant, the SM-6 Dual I version, is designed to successfully intercept a ballistic missile in the terminal phase, or the last few seconds before missile impact.

The Dual I upgrade adds a more powerful processor running more sophisticated targeting software to hit a warhead plummeting from the upper atmosphere at extreme speed. Active seeker technology allowed the two SM-6 missiles to simultaneously track and destroy a single target, greatly improving the probability of a kill.

That success was replicated earlier this month with the successful execution of four flight tests of the Standard Missile-6 Block I (SM-6 Blk I) off Hawaii. This variant came with upgraded software that allowed this missile to perform a range of functions, including air-warfare; ballistic missile terminal defense and anti-surface warfare capabilities (ASuW).

"You now have absolute assurance of hit no matter what the threat is doing. If the threat takes a turn and does some strange maneuver and the first missile is unable to sense it and engage it, the second missile will," said Mike Campisi, SM-6 Senior Director of Raytheon, maker of the SM-6.

"You now have a multi-mission capability with one missile. That means that this missile could be moved at any ship at any time and have the exact same capability all three mission sets, that isn't set by hardware or anything else."

As a SAM, SM-6 can easily shoot down enemy warplanes, helicopters, drones and other aerial threats.  But with active seeker technology, the missile can perform three distinct missions; surface warfare; anti-air warfare and ballistic missile defense. 

TagsRIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), surface-to-air missile, DF-21D, U.S. Navy, Raytheon