USS Montgomery Tests Patriot Missile Launcher in Naval Defense Trial

This week, Lockheed Martin carried out a milestone demonstration aboard the Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship USS Montgomery (LCS-8), integrating the M903 Patriot missile launcher onto the ship’s flight deck to test new expeditionary integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) concepts for naval operations.

The M903 Patriot launcher, equipped with PAC-3 MSE interceptors, is the second major missile system to be adapted to the LCS platform. It follows the introduction of the Mk 70 Payload Delivery System (PDS), a containerized version of the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) that allows the firing of SM-3 and SM-6 missiles for ballistic missile defense and extended-range anti-air warfare.

Why It Matters

The test highlights the Navy’s effort to increase the lethality of the LCS class, which has often been criticized for being lightly armed. With Patriot systems aboard, these agile ships could gain a combat-proven, out-of-the-box capability to counter ballistic and hypersonic threats. The PAC-3 MSE missile is already in high-rate production, with the Navy planning to procure its first units for shipboard testing in fiscal year 2026.

Former Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro previously declared that “LCS is back” as new weapons expand its mission set beyond mine countermeasures and patrol duties, positioning the class as a credible contributor to high-end combat.

Strategic Impact in the Pacific

The demonstration is particularly relevant for the Indo-Pacific, where the U.S. faces rapidly proliferating Chinese and regional missile systems. A highly mobile Patriot battery mounted on an LCS could quickly provide air and missile defense coverage for dispersed forces or remote bases in places like the Philippines, without relying on vulnerable ground transportation routes.

Other navies are experimenting with similar concepts. The Russian Navy, for example, placed a Tor-M2KM air defense system on the helicopter deck of a Karakurt-class corvette to improve survivability in the Black Sea.

Expanding the Role of LCS

The Navy has been pushing to transform LCS ships into more lethal multi-role combatants. Alongside their existing capabilities in anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, minesweeping, and mine-laying, the integration of Mk 70 VLS modules and Patriot PAC-3 MSE systems expands them into the realm of fleet defense.

This development is also part of a wider U.S. effort to deepen magazine capacity and distribute firepower across more surface platforms, ensuring resilience in any high-end conflict scenario.

What’s Next

While some defense officials hinted that the capability tested aboard Montgomery could already be made operational, the Navy has not confirmed this. More trials and evaluations are expected as the service continues to experiment with containerized and expeditionary air defense solutions.

What is clear is that the USS Montgomery test marks a turning point: the once-underpowered LCS is being reshaped into a platform capable of hosting frontline missile defense systems, strengthening U.S. distributed maritime operations in contested waters.