00:00U.S. naval destroyers are some of the most powerful ships on the water, but after they
00:07shoot their shots, they usually have to go to a friendly port to rearm.
00:13Not exactly ideal during a high-end fight, which is why the Maritime Service is working
00:17feverishly to hone a new skill, replenishment at sea of vertical launch system cells.
00:27The crew aboard the USS Higgins became the latest group of sailors to practice what the
00:32Navy calls enhanced expeditionary logistics capabilities back in July.
00:38That's when sailors on the Higgins simulated the reload of an SM-2 missile.
00:42Now the exercise was more of a walkthrough as no actual missile or training munition was
00:47loaded, but just practicing the reload was enough of a milestone that Rear Admiral Eric
00:53Anduz said, this gives our warfighters a tremendous amount of agility to strike from sea, move,
01:01reload, reposition, and strike again.
01:04It represents a lethal tactical advantage that helps us protect the safety and prosperity
01:09of the region.
01:11Reloading a vertical launch cell is not an easy process, and usually requires the aid of
01:16a crane, that's why for years it was only ever done in controlled environments, away
01:23from the action and in calm waters.
01:26Over the last couple of years though, the US Navy began experimenting with different ways
01:30to conduct expeditionary vertical launch reloads, a fancy way of saying rearming destroyers and
01:37cruisers with missiles, while operating in and or near conflict zones.
01:43The work saw the creation of the transferable rearming mechanism, also called the transferable
01:49rearming at sea method, or just simply tram.
01:54And the first successful use of the tram during an expeditionary reload at sea took place last
02:00October in the Pacific aboard the USS Chosen.
02:04And now the Navy is training crews on destroyers throughout the Indo-Pacific region on how to successfully
02:10perform the operation.
02:15To understand the importance of expeditionary reloads, you really just need to look at recent
02:20events in the Red Sea, where the Houthis and Yemen just keep launching missiles and drones
02:26at passing ships.
02:28It's simple math.
02:29If an adversary has a lot of things to shoot, it's going to take a lot of things to defend
02:35against.
02:36So if a ship has to sail away to reload, that creates vulnerabilities in the joint force.
02:43While the US Navy may have been able to gloss over some of those vulnerabilities in a fight
02:47with the Houthis, a high-end conflict with China will not afford such opportunities.
02:53As we've covered plenty here at Straight Arrow News, China's increased aggression in the region,
02:58and desire to reunify with the people of Taiwan by military force, if necessary, is creating
03:05a lot of insecurity and instability in the Indo-Pacific.
03:10The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, or PLARF, has a deep supply of missiles and rockets.
03:17So if the US Navy needs to defend against or defeat a series of sustained strikes from China,
03:23the ability to reload its vertical launch cells could quite literally be the difference between
03:28success and defeat.
03:31For more reporting like this, download the Straight Arrow News app today.
Comments