Patriot Missile System Paired With Littoral Combat Ship in Test
A Lockheed Martin test this week paired an M903 Patriot launcher with the Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship USS Montgomery (LCS 8) in a demonstration to showcase expeditionary air defense concepts that can be provided to ships at sea.
The M903 is the second type of missile launcher tested and integrated into the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) platform. Lockheed’s integration and testing efforts for the Patriot follows the Mark 70 Payload Delivery System which can deliver traditional Standard Missile variants to the LCS platform to perform ballistic missile defense and extended range anti-air warfare with SM-3 and SM-6.
Lockheed Martin previously tested the Mark 70 PDS on LCS-class ships, with former Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro asserting that “LCS is back” with the new lethality it brings to the class. The launcher, also developed by Lockheed Martin, adds Mk 41 VLS capability to the flight deck of selected LCS.
Lockheed Martin spent the week aboard Montgomery demonstrating expeditionary IAMD capabilities and concepts that could be employed, aimed towards a notional fight in the Pacific as the U.S. faces down against an increasingly hostile and armed China. Rapidly proliferating missile systems fielded in the Pacific pose a threat to lightly armed littoral combat ships that would be deployed in the region.
The Mk70 Payload Delivery System, a containerized variant of the Mk 41 vertical launching system, was present on USS Nantucket (LCS 27) during its commissioning ceremony in Nov. Screenshot from U.S. Navy video
Patriot launchers, armed with PAC-3 MSE missiles, would give the LCS another option for high-end missile defense. The PAC-3 MSE is already a capability being pursued by the U.S. Navy for its combat-proven capability and mature production line, with initial units set for purchase in FY2026 for testing evaluations. It is expected to be integrated into the Mk 41 VLS cells used across the fleet/
Naval News recently covered the U.S. Navy’s interest in PAC-3 MSE at the Surface Navy Association’s National Symposium, with coverage of the first PAC-3 MSE VLS test fire here.
A M903 Patriot missile launcher sits on the flight deck of USS Montgomery (LCS 8) while in its home port of San Diego, California. The battery is equipped with eight PAC-3 MSE missiles. (Lockheed Martin photo)
The addition of ‘traditional’ Patriot launchers for the PAC-3 MSE would give the LCS classes a proven and out-of-the-box solution for the extremely high-end missile defense requirement that stretches into the hypersonic air-breathing threat regime. Experience in Ukraine and the Red Sea has helped draw conclusions, recommendations, and changes for the fleet’s missile defense capabilities, including a new ESSM Block III variant which the Sea Sparrow Office began inquiries for this week.
Placing land-based air defense systems on surface vessels is something the Russian Navy has been doing in an attempt to increase the protection of their corvettes from Ukrainian threats in the Black Sea. One year ago, a Karakurt-class corvette belonging to the Russian Baltic Fleet was also spotted with a Tor-M2KM air defense system placed on its helicopter deck.
One former Lockheed Martin official claimed the capability shown on Montgomery was fielded as an operational asset, but Naval News was unable to verify their claims. The pairing between Patriot and the Montgomery could represent a new expeditionary air defense capability for littoral waters around the Philippines.
A highly mobile Patriot battery, exploiting the high speed characteristics of the Independence-class, could be used to follow aircraft that disperse throughout the region to various austere bases, offering a high-end air and missile defense capability to those bases quicker than driving through the less developed and potentially contested roadways in rural areas of the Philippines.
Naval News has reached out to both Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy for further comments on the test event.
LCS firepower enhancements and magazine depth for surface combatants are two major driving efforts for the U.S. Navy as the class takes on minesweeping, minelaying, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and now, with PAC-3 MSE and Mk 41 VLS containers, fleet defense missions as well. Additional experimentation and weapon integration into both LCS subclasses is will continue as the service shifts towards more heavily armed combatants for high-end combat.
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