Armed Forces News

The Navy successfully tested a complex integration of systems intended to identify and ultimately destroy targets through each step of the kill chain. In an Aug. 30 demonstration at Dahlgren Naval Surface Weapons Center, Va., an entire Navy strike group that included the carrier John C. Stennis, cruiser Bunker Hill, and littoral combat ship Independence performed live-fire destruction of simulated adversaries. They employed Independence’s 30-millimeter gun, the Aegis MK 46 gun system’s 5-inch guns, and simulated Hellfire missiles – supported by MH-60R and MH-60S Seahawk helicopters. The coordinated effort could prove useful against swarm attacks, employing multiple attackers, a tactic favored by terrorist organizations.