Agm-114 Hellfire: Navy Races to Arm 2 Carrier Strike Groups Against Drones
The Agm-114 Hellfire is no longer just a weapon associated with land strikes. New budget details show the Navy has been moving quickly to put radar-guided Longbow Hellfire launchers on ships in two carrier strike groups, a sign that drone defense is becoming a front-line concern at sea. The shift is tied to the service’s recent operating experience in and around the Red Sea and against Iran, where uncrewed aerial threats have made the case for faster shipboard upgrades harder to ignore.
Why the Navy is moving now
The Navy’s 2027 fiscal year budget request says supplemental funding was provided to rapidly field counter-uncrewed aerial systems solutions for the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. That funding included procurement of Longbow Hellfire launchers, Coyote launchers, and the installation and integration work needed to connect them to the ships.
The same budget documents say FY2024 and FY2025 funding was used for the same purpose, confirming that this was not a one-off experiment but part of a broader effort spread across multiple fiscal years. The request does not name the ships that may have received the launchers, and it does not say whether the systems are already installed.
That uncertainty matters because the Navy is trying to close a real gap with urgent timing. Drones pose dangers to warships that are not new, but recent operations appear to have sharpened the service’s view of what it needs on carriers and their escorts. In that sense, the Agm-114 Hellfire is becoming part of a larger layered defense concept rather than a standalone fix.
Agm-114 Hellfire and the wider ship-defense push
The millimeter-wave radar-guided Longbow Hellfire, also designated AGM-114L, has a demonstrated counter-drone capability and can also strike targets on land or at sea. The Navy had already announced modifications to Freedom class Littoral Combat Ships so they could engage uncrewed aerial threats with AGM-114Ls from launchers built specifically for those ships. Carrier strike groups are different, however: they are usually escorted by a mix of Ticonderoga class cruisers and Arleigh Burke class destroyers.
That broader escort picture is changing too. The Navy’s latest push includes four Arleigh Burke class destroyers sailing with new launchers designed to fire Coyote interceptors. Earlier reporting also noted an early type of naval launcher for Coyote first seen on Arleigh Burke class destroyers assigned to the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group last year. Taken together, the pattern suggests the service is rapidly mixing missiles, interceptors, and integration work to build a more adaptable defensive layer.
In June 2025, two Arleigh Burke class destroyers, the USS Jason Dunham and USS The Sullivans, were reported to have previously been involved in testing new capabilities, including Longbow Hellfire in the counter-drone role. Neither ship was assigned to the Gerald R. Ford or Theodore Roosevelt strike groups, but their involvement shows the Navy has been exploring the system’s utility beyond a single platform.
Expert perspectives on the counter-drone shift
The Navy has not said which ships received the launchers, and it has not detailed how the integration work has been carried out. Naval Sea Systems Command has been asked for more information, along with Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for Longbow Hellfire. Until those details are clarified, the clearest evidence remains the budget language itself and the operational logic behind it.
John Garrity, Vice President of Directed Energy Systems at AeroVironment, said in the context of a separate shipboard laser demonstration that rolling a system onto a ship and quickly initiating operations can expand high-energy laser use without costly, time-consuming ship modifications. That view reinforces the Navy’s apparent preference for faster, more flexible defenses as drone threats evolve across platforms.
The Navy’s own budget documents provide the most direct institutional signal: supplemental funding was provided to rapidly field CUAS solutions for two carrier strike groups. In practical terms, that means the Agm-114 Hellfire is being treated as one piece of a wider answer to a threat that has moved from theory to daily operational concern.
Regional and global implications for carrier operations
The implications extend beyond any single strike group. If carrier escorts can carry more compact counter-drone systems, the Navy may be able to distribute defensive firepower more widely instead of relying on a narrow set of legacy systems. That could matter in regions where drone activity is dense, persistent, and difficult to predict.
It also points to a broader shift in naval planning: ships that once emphasized air defense against larger threats are now being adapted for smaller, cheaper, and more numerous ones. The Navy’s use of the Agm-114 Hellfire in this context signals that the service sees uncrewed aerial systems as a structural challenge, not a temporary nuisance.
The open question is whether this rapid fielding effort becomes a durable model for future carrier strike groups, or whether it remains a fast response to an urgent moment that is still unfolding.
