By Kris Osborn, Warrior President
Drones, land-attack cruise missiles, high-diver ballistic missiles and anti-ship missiles were all destroyed in the Red Sea by the US Navy’s USS Laboon, a destroyer which just returned home after being under attack and persistent threat of attack .. for eight months.
“We knew something was going to happen going in,” were words used by USS Laboon Commanding Officer Capt. Eric Blomberg upon returning his destroyer and crew from 9 months of maritime warfare in the Red Sea.
Preparing “early” before deployment was part of the reason for the ships combat power success, which included the successful intercept and destruction of 13 drones, two anti-ship missiles, four land attack cruise missiles headed toward Israel and eight high-diver ballistic missiles.
The Arleigh Burke-class Destroyer USS Laboon and its crew of 330 sailors … arrived home at Norfolk Navy Base Sept.1. Warrior attended the USS Laboon homecoming and talked to Capt. Blomberg about how the crew held up under constant missile and drone attack at sea.
“We knew something was going to happen going in, because we deployed a little bit later. The fighting had already started. We prepared early to make sure everything was set on the ship and we were ready to go and then when we got there we executed the way we have been trained. We did that over and over again for the last nine months. We stayed focused on the mission,” Blomberg told Warrior in Norfolk after coming ashore from the ship. “I’m So incredibly proud of this team.. They have performed flawlessly like the professionals they are. Happy everyone came back safe and sound.”
Mostly “Interceptors”
Naturally the specifics of each intercept, and the tactics and technologies used to execute them are not fully available for reasons of operational security, yet Blomberg was clear that the weapons systems and layered ship defenses performed extremely well.
Blomberg told Warrior the warship used mostly “interceptors” in its takedown of the Houthi drones and missiles and added the USS Laboon was “able to take down anything that was coming at us.”
“It was mostly interceptors. Other ships did use deck mounted guns. The ship worked exactly the way it was designed and it did it over and over again. I could not be happier with the weapons systems. Our ship is a little bit older but she performed just as well as all the new ships around with us and was able to take down anything that was coming at us,” Blomberg said.
The USS Laboon worked in close coordination with the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower as part of the 2nd Carrier Strike Group sent to the region to protect Israel, US allies and civilian international waterways under attack from Iranian-backed Houthis as well.
Targeting for Carrier-Launched F/A-18s
The USS Laboon is an Aegis Destroyer, meaning it is equipped with an integrated system connecting advanced radar with command and control, fire control and Vertical Launch Systems (VLS) on the ship’s deck to fire interceptors. Blomberg’s comments indicate that indeed the ship’s Aegis Combat System performed well, or as expected, in that it was able to help locate threats, make positive identifications and then integrate with fire control and ship defenses to fire Standard Missiles into the air to destroy attacking drones and cruise missiles. Some of the weapons used included the SM-2 for closer in threats, the SM-6 for medium range attacking missiles and an integrated missile called the Evolved Sea Sparrow II which can operate in “sea skimming” mode to track and destroy attacking cruise missiles flying parallel to the ocean surface. The SM-6 operates with what is called a “dual mode” seeker, meaning it can send a forward “ping” from the missile itself to adjust to targets in flight without having to rely upon a ship-based illuminator., according to Raytheon weapons developers who talked to Warrior about software upgrades to the weapon. This is critical as it enables a much enhanced ability for the missile to respond quickly to moving targets by using its own “built-in” seeker to adjust guidance and targeting. Blomberg did not address any specifics regarding these weapons but told Warrior that indeed all of the layered ship defense weapons “worked as they were supposed to.”
Making them work of course relies heavily upon the tactics and training of experienced maritime fighters manning the weapons on board the ship.
The Commander of the Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 2 Rear Adm. Kavon Hakimzadeh, who joined Capt. Blomberg at the homecoming, told Warrior the combat success was made possible by trained sailors. Hakimzadeh credited the success of the Laboon’s layered defense system to the training and focus of the crew and Naval warfighters. .
“Our training works and our doctrine works. The CNO says it all the time…. our people are the secret weapon. They reacted the way they were supposed to and the weapons systems responded the way they were supposed to. We knew everything was going to work but we got real world experience – its a starting point to move on to the next level,” Hakimzadeh told Warrior at the USS Laboon homecoming.
The Aegis Combat System provides the technological infrastructure to ensure seamless connectivity between “detection,” “target-data-processing” and defensive countermeasures such as interceptor missiles. Aegis consists of a collection of hardware and software designed to otherwise disparate combat functions on a warship, and the Navy has been intensely upgrading Aegis Combat Systems in recent years. There is an entirely new Aegis system now in development, and the service has upgraded the latest now in service variant as well. The most recent upgraded Aegis Combat System is called Baseline 10, and the Navy has further enhanced this variant through what it calls a “tech insertion” adding software upgrades.
The Laboon also performed some critical aerial targeting missions for carrier-launched F/A-18s, a process wherein Aegis radar detection systems are able to generate a rendering and location of an approaching target and then, using networking and command and control technologies, provide target specifics to an F/A-18 Fighter Jet in position to destroy the threat from the air. Hakimzadeh explained that the USS Laboon helped guide targeting efforts for “control 9 takedowns by aircraft from the USS Eisenhower.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
