Sailors aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG-111) guide training ordnance into the ship’s forward vertical launch system (VLS) cells during a proof-of-concept evolution in San Diego, Oct. 4, 2022. MV Ocean Valor conducted its first at-sea vertical launch system reload with Spruance, demonstrating the ability of the U.S. Navy to re-arm surface vessels who employ VLS. (Photo: U.S. Navy by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Taylor Crenshaw)
By Rich Abott |
@ReaderRabott
1 year ago |
05/14/2024
budget highlights Navy/USMC
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House authorizers hope to push the Navy to develop a plan to have the Navy be able to re-arm the surface fleet at sea within three years in their draft of the FY 2025 defense authorization bill released this week.

A provision of the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) draft FY ’25 National Defense Authorization Act directs the Secretary of the Navy to submit a strategy to deliver a re-arm at sea capability to the surface fleet within 180 days of the law’s enactment.

Sailors aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG-111) guide training ordnance into the ship’s forward vertical launch system (VLS) cells during a proof-of-concept evolution in San Diego, Oct. 4, 2022. MV Ocean Valor conducted its first at-sea vertical launch system reload with Spruance, demonstrating the ability of the U.S. Navy to re-arm surface vessels who employ VLS. (Photo: U.S. Navy by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Taylor Crenshaw)
Sailors aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG-111) guide training ordnance into the ship’s forward vertical launch system (VLS) cells during a proof-of-concept evolution in San Diego, Oct. 4, 2022. MV Ocean Valor conducted its first at-sea vertical launch system reload with Spruance, demonstrating the ability of the U.S. Navy to re-arm surface vessels who employ VLS. (Photo: U.S. Navy by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Taylor Crenshaw)

The committee instructed the strategy to specifically include a plan to develop, within three years, the “capability to employ transportable rearming mechanism equipment to load missile canisters into MK 41 vertical launch system (VLS) cells on Navy destroyers” operating at sea.

This includes identifying current and planned investments by the Navy in technology development to achieve this capability, with the anticipated cost and schedule for the investments.

This comes after Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has confirmed the service plans to conduct an at-sea demonstration of a missile re-arming system to reload VLS cells this summer via the Transportable Re-Arming Mechanism (TRAM) developed at Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division (Defense Daily, Feb. 16).

During his speech at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium in January, Del Toro said the TRAM will have a near-term deterrent effect that “cannot be overstated.” 

At the time, Del Toro said TRAM is designed to allow rapid reload of VLS cells in up to sea state 5 conditions using existing fleet interfaces and the capability will be operational within two to three years (Defense Daily, Jan. 18).

HASC’s bill also said the strategy should include plans for the key milestone events and associated dates in development of the capability, a plan to coordinate with allies that use variants of the U.S.-built MK 41 VLS to jointly procure rearm at sea capabilities and actions the secretary is considering to address the gap in rearm at sea capabilities of the U.S. and capabilities of other countries, like using uncrewed technologies.

HASC wants the Secretary of the Navy to provide a written briefing to the congressional defense committees on the development of this strategy within 90 days of the bill being enacted.