A new appendage on a guided-missile destroyer built in Maine is triggering analytic intrigue in the defense world.
The additional equipment appears to be a drone interceptor, though a military analyst is raising other possibilities as well.
“The new launcher could also be for deploying other kinds of munitions, drones, and/or decoys,” says Joseph Trevithick of TheWarZone.com.
He most recently noticed the newly-installed weapon on the deck of the USS Carl M. Levin, which was launched five years ago from Bath Iron Works.
The new weapon was not on the ship when it left Bath in May 2021, according to Trevithick.
The launcher can be seen in the background of a picture from Hawaii that the U.S. Marine Corps released last week.
“The new launcher is seen installed on the deck at the aft end of the Levin’s superstructure, between the destroyer’s port-side torpedo tubes and its rear Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) array,” Trevithick says. “From what we can see of the launcher itself, it appears to have multiple cells. Whether or not it can rotate or is fixed in place is not perfectly clear, but the latter seems likely, especially given what appears to be a circular mount. It looks like it would swivel upwards for firing.”
A Japanese-language blog called OSINFO was the first to notice the launcher in the image and posted it to social media.
Trevithick, deputy editor of The War Zone calls it “an interesting new addition to its aft upper deck.”
“The Navy is known to be exploring several options for integrating lower-cost, anti-drone interceptors on various warships to bolster their defenses against this ever-growing threat,” he said.
The Levin, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, is named for a former U.S. senator who was chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
NOT SO SECRET ANY MORE.