U.S. Navy shows ARAV-6 launch during Pacific drill

The U.S. Navy launched an Aegis Readiness Assessment Vehicle Six (ARAV-6) target from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii, on August 6 as part of Pacific Dragon 2026, according to U.S. 3rd Fleet.

Pacific Dragon is a biennial exercise hosted by U.S. 3rd Fleet in the Hawaiian Islands Operating Area, designed to improve how participating forces track and intercept ballistic missiles. This year’s iteration, the eighth in the series, ran from August 6 to 15 off Kauai and around the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The exercise brought together the United States and six partner nations: Australia, Chile, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Spain.

ARAV vehicles are unguided, ballistic-trajectory targets built to emulate enemy missiles during test and training events. The Missile Defense Agency has used them for years to exercise the Navy’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, the Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system and the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, according to the Naval Sea Systems Command.

The ARAV line originated at the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s White Sands Detachment in New Mexico, where engineers adapted sounding-rocket technology originally built for NASA into targets for the fleet. “We were launching these rockets for NASA, and we realized we could turn them into targets for the fleet,” said Joel Giblin, the detachment’s suborbital vehicles division manager, in earlier remarks reported by DVIDS.

Different ARAV variants carry different rocket motors, guidance packages and ranges to simulate short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Kratos Defense and Security Solutions is a lead contractor on the ARAV team, building target components including nose tips and solid rocket motors, according to the company.

ARAV-B during the At Sea Demonstration/Formidable Shield 2021 (ASD/FS21) live-fire training exercise. Photo Provided by U.K. Royal Navy

Earlier ARAV variants, including the ARAV-B and ARAV-C, have flown during past iterations of Pacific Dragon and NATO’s Formidable Shield exercise. In May 2025, an ARAV-B launched during Formidable Shield 25 was intercepted by the guided-missile destroyers USS Bulkeley (DDG 84) and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) using a Standard Missile 3, according to Kratos.

The Missile Defense Agency has taken part in every Pacific Dragon exercise since its inception, using the drills to advance regional ballistic missile defense and Maritime Theater Missile Defense capabilities with partner nations. This year’s exercise gave MDA a live environment to evaluate sensors, collect tracking data and refine the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, the agency said.

U.S. 3rd Fleet, part of U.S. Pacific Fleet, leads naval forces in the region and said it works with allies and partners to maintain freedom of navigation and overflight and a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.