Patriot missile launcher deployed aboard US Navy littoral combat ship during tests

Lockheed Martin has deployed an M903 Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) launcher aboard the US Navy littoral combat ship (LCS) USS Montgomery as part of a series of tests.

Lockheed Martin spent one week aboard Montgomery to demonstrate the launcher's expeditionary capabilities with the aim of enhancing the ability of the LCS to defend itself against newer types of hypersonic anti-ship cruise missiles.

The Independence-class ship's standard SAM armament RIM-116 rolling airframe missile, which is employed primarily as a point defence weapon against older anti-ship missiles.

Lockheed Martin had previously deployed Mark 70 payload delivery systems (PDS) on a number of US Navy ships, including the Freedom-class LCS USS Nantucket.

The PDS is a containerised variant of the Lockheed Marin-developed Mark 41 vertical launching system incorporated on the navy's Arleigh Burke-class and Zumwalt-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

With the PDS, each LCS will have extended-range anti-air warfare capability as well as ballistic missile defence capability.