The U.S. Navy is hoping that new upgrades can let the troubled littoral combat ships can help protect American forces from enemy drones.
This week the Navy announced that it had upgraded the Freedom-class littoral combat ship the USS Indianapolis to fire radar-guided AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missiles for counter-unmanned aircraft system use. The decision comes specifically after months of back and forth fighting between American and Houthi forces in the waters around Yemen, including the Red Sea.
Along with those attacks, U.S. troops throughout the Middle East have been repeatedly attacked by drones and rockets fired by pro-Iranian forces since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023. The attacks have resulted in dozens of injuries in multiple countries and the deaths of three American service members at a remote base in Jordan. In the waters around Yemen, the Navy has often had to rely on expensive missile systems or fighter squadrons in order to take out drones and missiles aimed at American and commercial ships. For months the military has been looking for more cost-effective and efficient ways to deal with the rising danger of adversarial drones.
“Recent events in the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility (AoR) underscore the importance of equipping our warships with up-to-date C-UAS systems to keep emerging threats at bay,” Capt. Matthew Lehmann, program manager of the LCS Mission Modules program office, said in a statement in the Navy’s release.
The USS Indianapolis was in the Red Sea last fall, during a months-long deployment. In September 2024, it and two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers were attacked by Houthi munitions in the Red Sea. The ships shot down the enemy missiles and drones, although the Navy did not indicate that the littoral combat ship fired any weapons. According to the Navy, the upgrades to fire the Hellfire missiles happened while the ship was out on its deployment.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East, the U.S. military has stressed the need for cheaper counter-drone technology. The topic had been on American officials’ minds since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and that war has seen both extensive use of cheap commercial drones and unique anti-air systems — but the rise in attacks on U.S. bases and troops has added to the urgency. The military has pursued other methods such as lasers or loitering munitions, but the ship upgrades here allow the Navy to use existing weapons in the U.S. arsenal.
At less than $200,000 per unit — the military has only provided average costs for the missiles — the Hellfire is cheaper than the current nearly $1 million per unit RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles found on the Freedom-class ships and significantly cheaper than the SM-2, SM-3 and SM-6 missiles the Navy has routinely fired to intercept Houthi drones and missiles over the last year. Those can cost more than $2 million-$4 million per shot, and the Navy has fired a collective 200 of them in the Red Sea conflict.
At least one other Freedom-class ship will get a similar upgrade, TWZ reports.
In December the Pentagon announced that it had developed a new classified comprehensive strategy for dealing with drones.
“Unmanned systems have the potential to pose both an urgent and enduring threat to the U.S personnel, facilities and assets overseas and increasingly in the U.S. homeland,” then-Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said at the time.
Houthi officials said on Saturday that the group will cease attacks on ships in the waters around Yemen if the Israel-Hamas ceasefire goes into effect as planned on Sunday.
The upgrades to the Freedom-class littoral combat ships also present a new use for the maligned type of ships. Cost overruns, mechanical issues and changing strategies have meant that the ships, originally developed to provide coastal support, are actually starting to be phased out even as some are still under construction. Modifying them to fire Hellfire missiles as the threat of enemy drones remains ongoing is a new way for the Navy to utilize the ships even as their intended role isn’t as urgent.
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