Israel's operational upper-tier interceptor for destroying tactical and medium-range ballistic missiles in the atmosphere, positioned between the exo-atmospheric Arrow 3 and David's Sling.
China's road-mobile exo-atmospheric ballistic-missile interceptor, presented as a follow-on to the HQ-19 but still defined more by its September 2025 parade appearance than by verified performance data.
China's road-mobile exo-atmospheric interceptor, designed to defeat medium-range ballistic missiles through direct impact and provide an upper tier for the country's layered missile defenses.
Taiwan's indigenous high-altitude anti-ballistic missile system, designed to provide the upper interception tier of the planned T-Dome air and missile defense network.
The SM-3 is the US Navy's exoatmospheric hit-to-kill interceptor — the only Standard Missile built to destroy ballistic missiles in space. It made the first combat exoatmospheric intercepts in history defending Israel in April 2024, and its magazine is now the center of the US interceptor crisis.
Israel's exoatmospheric hit-to-kill ballistic missile interceptor, jointly developed with the U.S., combat-proven against Houthi and Iranian missiles, and now fielded by Germany as the first European upper-tier system.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense — a wheeled, hit-to-kill interceptor system that destroys short- and medium-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase, both inside and just above the atmosphere.
The backbone of the U.S. surface fleet — a 9,500-ton multirole Aegis destroyer with 96 vertical launch cells, evolving from the SPY-1 to the SPY-6 radar, and the platform that fought the heaviest air-defense battles since World War II in the Red Sea.