Last week Reuters broke newish news on a development years in the making. Namely, the U.S. Navy is experimenting with deploying Army Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) surface-to-air missiles aboard surface combatants fitted with the Mk 41 vertical launch system (VLS), in effect a block of siloes embedded in a warship’s main deck. As Ticonderoga-class cruisers go to their reward after long service lives, that mainly means Arleigh Burke-class destroyers may sport PAC-3 MSE interceptors in coming years.

The venture awaits at-sea testing following successful shore testing last May. Mating the missile up with the Aegis combat system seems to have been the chief impediment. Aegis, long the state of the art in fleet air and missile defense, is an integrated phased-array radar, computer, and fire-control system that helps crews manage their combat surroundings. Aegis ships’ SPY-1 radars communicate in one frequency band, Patriot interceptors another. Weaponeers reportedly surmounted that impediment by modifying the missile’s communication uplink to accommodate signals from Aegis.

This is a good-news story all around. Über-agile Patriots have a proven battle record, having shot down maneuvering Russian hypersonic missiles over........

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