US destroyer fires first Naval Strike Missile, US Navy confirms

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) fires the first Naval Strike Missile from a US destroyer. (US Navy)

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) was able to conduct the first demonstration firing of a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) from a US Navy (USN) destroyer, the USN confirmed on 23 October.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) fired the first NSM on 18 July while the ship participated in Exercise ‘Rim of the Pacific' (RIMPAC) 2024, USN officials said.

NSWC PHD and its partners installed the first long-range surface-to-surface warfare Over-The-Horizon (OTH) Weapon System on a DDG in time for it to launch the NSM at a decommissioned ship during the exercise, USN officials said.

The navy has been searching for ways to increase its firepower by augmenting missile payloads and launching options. For more information on these efforts, please see Special Report: Lockheed Martin marketing containerised launcher technology with hypersonics capability.

The navy has installed OTH systems on “about a dozen” Independence-variant littoral combat ships (LCSs) over the past five years, the USN noted. The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations started to push naval engineers in September 2023 to install OTH on Fitzgerald in time to do the ‘RIMPAC 2024' demonstration.

Typically, this type of first-of-class installation takes at least two years, Robert Honeycutt, Alteration Installation Team manager at NSWC PHD's Virginia Beach Detachment in Virginia, noted in a statement.

The main components of the system are the launcher and an operator interface console, USN officials said, adding that to make it compatible with the destroyer, the system also required a navigation adapter.