The Navy announced Tuesday it has achieved “a breakthrough in combat readiness” by successfully reloading a guided missile launching tube on a cruiser underway off the coast of San Diego.
For the at-sea demonstration, which took place Friday, the ammunition ship USNS Washington Chambers pulled alongside the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Chosin. Then a missile canister was transferred by cables to the cruiser.
Sailors aboard the Chosin used the new hydraulically-powered Transferrable Reload At-Sea Method to load the canister into the ship’s vertical launching system .
The successful demonstration marks a critical step in the capability to rearm warships at sea — a top priority outlined by Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.
“Today, we proved just how game-changing TRAM truly is — and what a powerful deterrent it will be to our competitors,” said Del Toro, who witnessed the demonstration. “This demonstration marks a key milestone on the path to perfecting this capability and fielding it for sustained operations at sea.”
Perfecting the technology has become an urgent issue for the Navy in the wake of action in the Middle East that required launching dozens of missiles at drones and other targets.
An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer typically carries 96 large guided missiles of different types, but until the successful test of TRAM, a warship had to return to port for reloading.
The technology was developed at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, in Ventura country.
“The combatant can stay near the fight to be rearmed, refueled and resupplied all at the same time,” said Rich Hadley, division manager for the project. “As Capt. Arleigh Burke said, ‘All time spent in replenishing was time lost in combat.’ “
Del Toro said the Navy is on track to begin fielding TRAM in two to three years.
