"The US Navy is figuring out how to rearm its warships at sea, a crucial logistics skill it could need in an intense missile fight that doesn't immediately offer a respite to pull out and reload. Off the coast of Australia last month, the American destroyer USS Higgins simulated rearming with an SM-2 missile at sea, officials said Saturday, characterizing the reloading capability as "essential" for sustained combat operations in the Indo-Pacific."
"US warships have been working on reloading at sea, with this type of exercise becoming more important in recent years. In Navy operations around the Middle East over the past two years, hundreds of missiles have been expended for air defense against Iranian threats and those presented by the Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen. During these challenging fights, US warships occasionally had to leave the region to rearm."
The destroyer USS Higgins simulated rearming with an SM-2 missile off the coast of Australia in July. At-sea reloading of vertical launch system tubes is being practiced to enable sustained combat operations in the Indo-Pacific. Recent operations in the Middle East expended hundreds of missiles for air defense against Iranian threats and Houthi attacks, forcing some ships to leave the region to rearm. A potential conflict with China, with large ballistic and cruise missile arsenals, would place greater strain on missile stockpiles. Mastery of on-the-fly reloading would keep warships engaged longer without returning to friendly ports. Similar exercises occurred in September 2023, September 2024, and October 2024.
Read at Business Insider
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