The Navy Warfare Center conducts the first over-the-horizon installation, demonstrating the launch of a Naval Strike Missile from the destroyer > US Pacific Fleet > News

PORT HUENEME, Calif. – Among the hectic fleet activities at the recent Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise in Hawaii was a milestone spearheaded by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) – the first demonstration of a naval attack missile (NSM) of a US Navy destroyer.

Under a compressed schedule, NSWC PHD and its partners installed the first over-the-horizon (OTH) weapons system on a destroyer, USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), in time for the launch of an NSM on a decommissioned ship on July 18 during RIMPAC.

Other key players in the effort included Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) 3H, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) China Lake, General Dynamics Mission Systems and Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace AS.

“This was a high visibility requirement for the Navy,” said Eric Romero, OTH customer representative at NSWC PHD in Port Hueneme, California.

OTH is a long-range surface-to-surface warfare system that fires NSMs, guided anti-ship missiles. The Navy has installed the system on about a dozen Independence-variant littoral combat ships over the past five years.

In late September 2023, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations PEO challenged IWS, which in turn commissioned NSWC PHD to install an OTH on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Fitzgerald in time to demonstrate it at RIMPAC 2024. That left only about nine months before the biennial international naval exercise.

“We knew we were working on an aggressive schedule, but we had the right personnel on the team to ensure we could execute it successfully,” Romero said.

NSWC PHD staff took on various projects to advance the endeavor at this accelerated pace, from developing ship installation drawings to obtaining cybersecurity approval to installing and testing equipment.

According to Todd Jenkins, director of platform integration at NSWC PHD in San Diego, the overall initiative involved nearly 20 organizations, including five program offices, four warfighting centers and a dozen external facilities.

“Due to the compressed schedule, we expected many hurdles, but everyone came together to accomplish this monumental event,” Jenkins said.

Typically, a first-class installation of this type takes at least two years, according to Robert “Tony” Honeycutt, modification installation team leader for the Virginia Beach Detachment of the NSWC PHD in Virginia. A key factor in expediting the process was the OTH's proposal as a temporary modification to the USS Fitzgerald, reducing documentation and drawing requirements compared to a permanent modification.

In addition to simplifying paperwork, Honeycutt and Jenkins met frequently with PEO IWS 3H and NAWCWD China Lake stakeholders to overcome obstacles and stay on schedule.

“Basically we just rode as hard as we could,” Honeycutt said. “As soon as we encountered a problem, we would have a group powwow and find the solution.”

Another task the team expedited was securing cybersecurity accreditation, known as Authority to Operate (ATO), for the OTH software that would be installed on the ship. The rigorous six-step process typically takes about a year, but in this case it needed to be completed much quicker so installation could begin.

“We had to do the cyber ATO in two months,” Romero said.

The team installed the OTH on the USS Fitzgerald at Naval Base San Diego from mid-March to late May. The main components of the system are the launcher and an operator interface console. To make it compatible with the destroyer, the system also required a navigation adapter.

After installing the OTH, NSWC PHD trained crew members and helped them test the system while underway.

“We made sure they were trained so they could work independently as operators,” Romero said.

In July, the USS Fitzgerald participated in a sinking exercise known as SINKEX for RIMPAC in Hawaii along with other ships and aircraft. The target was a decommissioned amphibious ship about 50 nautical miles off the coast of Kauai.

Under the remote monitoring of NSWC PHD team members, the USS Fitzgerald launched its first NSM from OTH. The NSM successfully searched the target area, discovered and prosecuted the target.

“It was a successful live NSM shot fired by the OTH weapon system,” Romero said.

Following the first firing at RIMPAC, NSWC PHD personnel will help prepare the USS Fitzgerald for deployment to OTH.

While the new weapons system is still approved as a temporary installation on the USS Fitzgerald, the team is working to obtain approval to remain on the ship indefinitely.

“We are migrating the ship change document to a permanent change document as we want to keep the system on board the DDG 62,” Romero said.

The work done on DDG 62 will help pave the way forward to provide this capability to other DDGs.