Pete Hegseth Wants to Defend American Aircraft Carriers with Hellfire Missiles

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The Hellfire missile is an unusual choice for air defense, given that it is usually used as an air-to-ground munition.

The US Navy is considering arming its carrier strike groups with Hellfire missiles to defend against kamikaze drones, according to the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget request it put out last week.

The carriers themselves are not likely to carry the missiles. Instead, they will likely be installed on board the other surface combatants escorting them—most likely the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers commonly found in carrier strike groups.

Hellfire Missiles Could Shoot Down Kamikaze Drones

The Navy’s FY27 budget request includes additional details on how the service plans to protect aircraft carriers from kamikaze drones.  

Surface combatants assigned to carrier strike groups are being loaded out with radar-guided Longbow AGM-114 Hellfire missiles—more typically an air-to-ground precision munition. 

The USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carriers will be the first to........

© The National Interest