With all this in mind, it's not hard to see why there would be interest in integrating the RGPWS interceptor onto Aegis BMD-configured Arleigh Burkes, which are forward deployed to Spain, as well as Japan, first. The ships offer added flexibility to rapidly reposition themselves in response to new developments during a crisis or an actual major conflict. They can also take up station far closer to potential launch areas, an important consideration when dealing with hypersonic threats, which can cross large distances in relatively short amounts of time.

“We are very supportive and right now our understanding is that the Spanish want us there in greater numbers,” Gilday continued. "Certainly the commander of U.S. European Command does."

However, U.S. European Command, as well as members of Congress, see the mission as critical and have apparently swayed Navy leadership for the time being. "We support the additional two DDGs to Spain,” Admiral Gilday told lawmakers on Mar. 5, using the abbreviation for guided-missile destroyer to refer to the Arleigh Burkes.

It's also not surprising then to have learned that the Navy is expecting to get orders to deploy the two additional Arleigh Burke to Spain. The service has opposed these missile defense-focused forward deployments in the past, arguing that it places a severe strain on its resources to have to dedicate destroyers to this mission, which consists of effectively having the ships patrol in circles for extended periods of time.

MDA has already said that the future space-based Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Sensor System will support the RGPWS, according to Aviation Week . The satellites, which MDA hopes will be in orbit within three years, will be able to detect hypersonic weapon launches inside hostile territory and then cue other sensors, including those at sea and on land, to track them ahead of a possible intercept attempt.

"Those two additional DDGs would allow us the opportunity to continue to improve our ability to get indications and warnings in the potential battlespace and also dramatically improve our ability to better command and control," U.S. Air Force General Tod Wolters, the present head of U.S. European Command, had told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his own testimony last week.

Of course, just because the RGPWS interceptor is expected to be fielded first on the Aegis BMD-configured Arleigh Burkes, there's no reason to believe that it would necessarily remain limited to those ships. The Aegis Ashore sites use the same architecture, which would allow them to readily integrate the RGPWS, as well. There could also be foreign interest, especially from Japan, which operates Aegis BMD-equipped destroyers of its own and is planning to establish Aegis Ashore sites in the future.

It's worth noting that critics have questioned how capable any anti-hypersonic weapon interceptor might ever be due to the speed of the threats and the complexities involved in intercepting them. These are concerns that apply to ballistic missile defense broadly. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Mark Milley raised his own questions about this at yet another hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Mar. 4.

"There is no defense against hypersonic ... you're not gonna defend against it," he told lawmakers "Those things are going so fast you're not gonna get it. You gotta shoot the archer. You gotta go deep, downtown and you gotta get it on the offense."

Still, with the explosion of hypersonic weapon developments around the world in recent years, there will undoubtedly remain an interest in the potential for various layers of interceptors, as well as sensors to support them, to at least try to mitigate the threat of new hypersonic weapons. The Navy's Aegis BMD-configured Arleigh Burke class destroyers do look set to be among the first platforms to actually carry an anti-hypersonic weapon.

Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com