
Air and Missile Defense
Revolutionizing the Art of Defense
Johns Hopkins APL’s Air and Missile Defense Mission Area creates advanced technologies and capabilities to protect U.S. and allied fleets and deployed forces from air and missile attack.
Performing this vital mission in an increasingly complex environment, we address new and emerging threats posed by advanced long-range ballistic and cruise missiles. We devise, develop, engineer, test, and evaluate solutions that address today’s—and tomorrow’s—air and missile defense needs, and we apply our expertise to make current systems more effective, adapt technologies for new missions, and develop novel technologies for future use.
Highlights
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Testing Air and Missile Defense Radar
APL teamed with industry and the Above Water Sensors Directorate of Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems on two successful tests of the AN/SPY-6(V), a wideband digital beam-forming sensor known as the Air and Missile Defense Radar. -
Test Target Prototyping
A cross-APL team of engineers, working with the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Target and Countermeasures Directorate and other government and industry partners, develops cost-effective solutions for MDA to support live-fire testing of interceptors, sensors, and fire control systems. -
Optical Communications at Sea
We successfully demonstrated a high-bandwidth free-space optical (FSO) communications system between two moving ships, proving operational utility of FSO technology in the maritime environment.
Recent News
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Press Release
Mar 23, 2023‘Pathfinder’ Mulé Honored for Missile Defense Contributions
For a career of leadership and technical contributions to the nation’s missile defense programs, Joseph Mulé has earned the Missile Defense Agency’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Pathfinder Award. He is the sixth Johns Hopkins APL staff member to receive the prestigious honor. -
Press Release
Feb 7, 2023Prototype Planner Offers New Capability for Radar Search Plans
Submitting a Request for Analysis for AN/TPY-2 radar search plans used to be a long process that produced a limited result, but APL has conceptualized a way to transform a static document into a dynamic computer program, known as a planner. -
News
Oct 18, 2022Bowman, Phillips Earn Society of Women Engineers Honors
Recognizing the leadership and technical contributions of two Johns Hopkins APL staff members, the Society of Women Engineers has honored Alice Bowman with the prestigious 2022 Resnik Challenger Medal and Kerri Phillips with its Emerging Leader Award.