The U.S. Navy has shared particulars about what appears to be a beforehand undisclosed effort to quickly arm ships in two provider strike teams with radar-guided Longbow Hellfire missiles to guard towards drones. This displays a bigger push to increase shipboard defenses towards uncrewed aerial threats, which now contains 4 Arleigh Burke class destroyers crusing with new launchers to fireside Coyote interceptors. TWZ was first to report on the looks of one in all these launchers on the USS Carl M. Levin, with Naval News subsequently sharing more information.
The risks drones pose, including to Navy warships, should not new. Still, the service’s experiences lately throughout operations in and around the Red Sea, in addition to against Iran, have firmly pushed residence the crucial want for extra shipboard defenses towards uncrewed aerial threats.
“Supplemental funding was provided to rapidly field CUAS [Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems] solutions for the Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group (CSG) which included the procurement of Longbow Hellfire launchers, Coyote launchers, and the installation/integration work,” based on a line merchandise within the Navy’s 2027 Fiscal Year funds request, which the service rolled out in full earlier this week. “Funding was also provided to rapidly field CUAS solutions on the Theodore Roosevelt CSG to include Longbow Hellfire Launchers, Coyote launchers, and the installation/integration work.”
“FY2024 and FY2025 [Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025] funding utilized to rapidly field CUAS solutions for the Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group (CSG) and the Theodore Roosevelt CSG, which included the procurements of Longbow Hellfire launchers, procurements of Coyote launchers, installations, and integration work,” the newly launched funds paperwork additionally be aware.
The identical line merchandise is current within the Navy’s proposed funds for the 2026 Fiscal Year, however makes no point out of the Hellfire or Coyote integration efforts. An early kind of naval launcher for Coyote was first seen on Arleigh Burke class destroyers assigned to the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group final 12 months, and we are going to come again to developments on that entrance afterward.
The Navy’s newest funds paperwork don’t say which ships within the Gerald R. Ford and Theodore Roosevelt CSGs could have acquired the Longbow Hellfire launchers, or whether or not they’re at present put in. TWZ has reached out to Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), in addition to the Long Hellfire’s prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, for extra details about this integration work and what it has entailed so far.
The millimeter-wave radar-guided Longbow Hellfire, which additionally carries the designation AGM-114L, has a demonstrated counter-drone capability, in addition to the power to strike targets on land or at sea. The Navy beforehand announced modifications to its Freedom class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) to permit them to interact uncrewed aerial threats with AGM-114Ls fired from launchers particularly designed for these vessels. However, LCSs should not a part of a typical provider strike group. On the floor, Navy carriers are normally escorted by a mixture of Ticonderoga class cruisers and Arleigh Burke class destroyers.
In June 2025, Naval News did report that two Arleigh Burke class destroyers – the USS Jason Dunham and USS The Sullivans – had beforehand been concerned in testing of varied new capabilities, together with Longbow Hellfire within the counter-drone position. Neither of these ships had been assigned to the Gerald R. Ford or Theodore Roosevelt CSGs at the moment. No particular particulars had been obtainable then about what the combination of AGM-114L had consisted of, both.
In March, Lockheed Martin did unveil a containerized Hellfire launcher known as Grizzly, improvement of which began final 12 months. At the time, the corporate stated Grizzly may be tailored for shipboard use.
As an apart, the Navy has talked a couple of containerized counter-drone launcher able to hold up to 48 Hellfires as being a future armament possibility for its forthcoming FF(X) frigates. There has been no indication, although, that that is an operational functionality now.
Lockheed Martin has additionally been creating a ship-based launch functionality for its AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), which is derived from the laser-guided AGM-114R variant of the Hellfire. For greater than a 12 months now, the corporate has been publicly displaying a mannequin of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer fitted with six four-cell JAGM Quad Launchers (JQL; pronounced jackal). At the identical time, there have been no indicators to this point that the Navy is actively transferring to subject these launchers on ships of this class.
Hellfire, normally, does have a protracted historical past at this level of being built-in onto a wide variety of platforms, together with helicopters and ground vehicles. A tripod launcher even exists for laser-guided variants of the missile.
With all this in thoughts, it’s not shocking that Longbow Hellfire in some configuration could be a lovely speedy possibility for the Navy to assist bolster shipboard defenses towards ever-growing drone threats.
As the Navy’s newest funds paperwork be aware, the service has additionally been working so as to add different counter-drone interceptors to its ships, such because the combat-proven Coyote. The USS Carl M. Levin, in addition to the USS John Paul Jones, the USS Paul Hamilton, and the USS Decatur, have all now acquired new eight-cell Coyote launchers. All of these warships are at present assigned to the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group. This builds on the combination of the sooner four-cell launchers on no less than two different ships within the class, the USS Bainbridge and the USS Winston S. Churchill.
“This is the first deployment of this launcher which increases the cell count from four to eight and provides increased marinization,” a Navy spokesperson informed TWZ when requested for extra info after Carl M. Levin emerged with the brand new Coyote functionality. “We are working [on] plans for future carrier strike group deployments to install these and potentially other containerized launchers.”
“This is a non-permanent change; launchers can be removed after the completion of a deployment and transferred to other ships—accelerating the deployment of advanced capabilities throughout the Fleet,” that spokesperson added.
The Navy has previously confirmed plans to combine Anduril’s Roadrunner-M counter-drone interceptors on further floor warships. The service has additionally been working with the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) on the event of Roadrunner-M, in addition to one other interceptor known as White Spike from Zone 5 Technologies, underneath a challenge known as Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems – NEXT, or Counter-NEXT.
Zone 5 White Spike Counter UAS drone interceptor flight exams
Navy plans for extra shipboard counter-drone capabilities transcend bodily interceptors, as effectively. Just this week, the service disclosed a live-fire check of a palletized model of the AeroVironment LOCUST laser counter-drone system onboard the Nimitz class plane provider USS George H.W. Bush. You can learn extra about that check, which occurred in October 2025, here.
Demand throughout the Navy, in addition to the remainder of the U.S. navy, for an array of layered counter-drone capabilities is more likely to stay excessive for the foreseeable future. As famous, these threats should not new and are persevering with to increase in scale and scope, pushed now largely by advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Automated concentrating on and absolutely networked swarming capabilities should not solely proliferating, however the barrier to entry, even for non-state actors, is low.
More launchers for counter-drone interceptors, whether or not they’re loaded with Longbow Hellfires, Coyotes, or one thing else, are solely more likely to proceed showing on Navy warships because the service works to additional deal with this menace.
Contact the creator: joe@twz.com
