An upgraded Coyote Counter-UAS (C-UAS) launcher has been put in on the Pearl Harbor-based USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120), marking the primary recognized devoted shipboard launcher for Raytheon’s combat-proven C-UAS on a U.S. Navy ship.
The service has been grappling with a sequence of shortcomings associated to counter-UAS capabilities because it started fight operations within the Middle East in 2023, together with one occasion of a near-impact in June 2025 that left a U.S. Navy destroyer with just 100 yards to spare from being hit by a hostile drone. To complement the present spectrum of anti-air weapons like ESSM and SM-6, the service has been experimenting with a variety of recent capabilities that had been examined on ships within the USS Gerald R. Ford CSG.
Now, the U.S. Navy is tough urgent in the direction of a devoted suite of counter-UAS techniques as a part of its C-UAS Afloat program, Naval News has realized.
The launcher seen on the Carl M. Levin is the primary in a sequence of upgrades being put in on 4 ships throughout the fleet as a part of the following Carrier Strike Group (CSG) deployment. The launcher doubles the capability of Coyote missiles from 4 to eight missiles and adapts the launcher for situations at sea, based on a Navy spokesperson.
“By updating the Coyote launcher to double its capacity from four to eight cells and further adapting the system for conditions at sea, the Navy is fielding a more resilient and lethal system.”
U.S. Navy Spokesperson
The U.S. Navy can even proceed to leverage current property for its numerous defensive and offensive enhancement packages, based on the spokesperson. The set up of this new Coyote launcher is the primary “clear and repeatable model for accelerating the deployment of advanced capabilities throughout the Fleet”.
Anduril’s Roadrunner, RTX’s Coyote, and BAE Systems’ Hypervelocity Projectile had been all examined through the Ford‘s east coast pre-deployment trials, with least two of these techniques recognized to have been deployed on 4 ships in response to the operational experiences of ship crews within the Red Sea and Mediterranean, which Aviation Week was first to report on.
Previous variants of the Coyote C-UAS launcher had been seen on USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) and featured only a few variations in comparison with its mainstream land-based counterparts.
Current Coyote interceptors are available two variants, the Coyote Block 2 kinetic interceptor and Coyote Block 3NK non-kinetic interceptor. The Block 2 variant has seen use through the warfare in Iran, together with situations the place Coyote interceptors served as the final line of protection guarding important infrastructure. The Block 3 non-kinetic variant has proven success in RTX-led testing.
Funding for C-UAS first got here for pressing necessities within the Red Sea and wider Middle East. With a blockade now underway in the Gulf of Oman, It is unclear if the U.S. Navy plans to ship a Pacific-based CSG to CENTCOM.
