The US Navy has decided. What missiles are they arming their destroyer fleet with to counter China's hypersonic threat
US arms industry giant Lockheed Martin has won a contract to integrate Patriot missiles, an interception system that is in the army's equipment, into the US Navy's Aegis combat system, a major milestone that, according to the company's statement on Tuesday, will mark the first use of this weapon at sea, writes Reuters.
The international news agency reported as early as October 2024 that the US Navy decided to move forward with plans to arm its ships with Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) interceptors, due to fears that China could deploy hypersonic weapons to sink ships in the Pacific.
The deployment will strengthen the missile defense shield that protects the US Navy's destroyer fleet. Lockheed Martin has been eyeing the integration for several years, but the new contract marks the first concrete step toward using this US Army interceptor on Navy surface ships.
The reasons for this move have been taking shape for years. Reuters also wrote in 2024 that the PAC-3 missiles are more agile than the Navy's existing interceptors, and their “hit to kill” concept – in which the missile hits the target directly, rather than exploding nearby – makes them particularly lethal against ballistic missiles traveling at high speeds.
The PAC-3 MSE system could provide an additional layer of protection for warships equipped with the Aegis system, which currently relies on interceptor missiles from the Standard Missile family – including the SM-2, SM-3 and SM-6 – as well as the RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow missiles.
Demand for the Patriot interceptor system has grown significantly. Under an agreement signed between Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon in January, production of interceptor missiles is set to triple over the next seven years, from about 600 missiles a year to more than 2,000.
