New Technology May Enable Ships to Fire Hypersonic Missiles

USS Ford Powers Though Shock Trial Bombs. Is Ready for War

By Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

Lasers, longer-range maneuverable interceptor missiles, over-the-horizon attack systems and paradigm-changing hypersonic missiles will all fire from US Navy surface ships decades into the future. Laser-driven ballistic missile defense from surface ships is even emerging as a possibility.

These evolving attack systems, including upgraded and proven, highly effective weapons such as Tomahawks, SM-3s, SM-6s and high-impact, drone and helicopter-killing lasers, will likely keep upgrading well into the future. However, there will likely be even larger, longer-range, and more lethal new weapons emerging in future years as well. 

The Navy and Missile Defense Agency are working on power-scaling of lasers and how they integrate with Aegis radar and fire control systems to perform ballistic missile defense missions. Could ship fired lasers travel all the way into space? Does not seem beyond the realm of the possible.

EJECT Launch Technology & Vertical Launch Systems

For this reason, industry and the Navy are correctly looking to supplement, build upon and enhance very effective Vertical Launch Systems on Navy surface ships. New weapons, propulsion technologies and energetics are rapidly emerging, generating a need for new innovative launcher technologies. 

In the near term, this means engineering ways to support a fast-arriving generation of ship-launched hypersonic weapons. This is the fundamental premise and concept of operation informing Northrop Grumman’s innovative EJECT launch technology, a system engineered to supplement VLS and support hypersonic missile as well as other emerging larger ship-fired missiles and weapons.