The U.S. Just Shot Down a Hypersonic Missile in a Show of Force
The U.S. Armed Forces are continuing to develop technologies for countering adversaries’ hypersonic missiles.
A hot topic in the ever-increasing arms race between the United States of America and its adversaries—Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran—is that of hypersonic missiles.
Rest assuredly, the United States is not simply sitting idly by while these adversaries are building up their hypersonic stockpiles. As I discussed in a March 25, 2025, article for The National Interest, the U.S. Air Force has been steadily advancing its own hypersonic capabilities via the deadly tandem of the B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber and the AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). And, as we’re about to discuss right now, the U.S. Armed Forces are continuing to develop technologies for mitigating and countering the adversaries’ missiles.
A Hypersonic Shootdown?
The story comes to us courtesy of U.K.-based South West News Service (SWNS) Media Group via their Stories by SWNS channel on MSN on or about March 3, 2025, in a fifty-eight-second video titled “United States shoot down hypersonic missile in show of force.” To quote the text blub accompanying the video:
“The United States successfully shot down a hypersonic missile in a recent test, showcasing its missile defense capabilities. On 24 March, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the U.S. Navy conducted the ‘Stellar Banshee’ test off Hawaii’s coast. A Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) with a Hypersonic Target Vehicle (HTV) was tracked and virtually intercepted by the USS Pinckney. The test, part of ongoing efforts to counter hypersonic threats, also involved the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) satellite. MDA Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins highlighted the importance of defeating hypersonic missiles for national defense.”
At the beginning of the video, we see the missile descending via a trio of drogue parachutes before igniting and separating at the halfway mark. Unfortunately, the video cuts off before the actual destruction of the missile.
Brief History of the Missile Defense Agency
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a research, development, and acquisition agency within the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), whose mission “is to develop and deploy a layered Missile Defense System to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies, and friends from missile attacks in all phases of flight.”
Tracing its origins to then-President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative Innovative Sciences and Technology Office back in 1983, it was renamed the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in 1993 and assumed its current name in 2002.
USS Pinckney Brief History and Technical Specifications
As for USS Pinckney (DDG-91), it is an Arleigh Burke-class (Flight IIA) Aegis guided missile destroyer. Laid down on July 16, 2001, launched on June 26, 2002, and commissioned on May 29, 2004, Pinckney was named in honor of Ship’s Cook Third Class William Pinckney (1915-1976), who received the Navy Cross for his courageous rescue of a fellow crewmember on board the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) during the October 1942 Battle of Santa Cruz Islands.
Proudly bearing the motto “Proud to serve,” Pinckney has the following tech specs and vital stats:
- Displacement: 9,200 long tons (9,300 short tons)
- Hull Length: 509 ft 6 in (155.30 m)
- Draught: 66 ft (20 m)
- Beam Width: 31 ft (9.4 m)
- Max Speed: >30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
- Crew Complement: 380 commissioned officers and enlisted sailors
- Armament:
- Guns:
- One BAE Systems 5-inch (127 mm)/62 Mk 45 Mod 4 main gun
- One 20 mm (0.8 in) Raytheon Phalanx® Close-In Weapon System (CIWS)
- Two 25 mm (0.98 in) Mk 38 machine gun systems
- Four .50 caliber (12.7 mm) caliber guns
- Missiles:
- One 32-cell, one 64-cell (96 total cells) Lockheed Martin Mk 41 vertical launching system (VLS)
- Torpedoes:
- Two Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes (SVTT) (these come in triple tubes) accommodating Mk-46, Mk-50, and Mk-54 LHT torpedoes
- Guns:
Pinckney also has the distinction of being the first Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be equipped with the AN/SPY-1D(V) Littoral Warfare Radar upgrade, which was fitted to all subsequent Flight IIA ships of the class.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
Image: DVIDS.