{"id":43388,"date":"2020-02-11T23:04:20","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T23:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/11\/as-china-continues-rapid-naval-expansion-the-us-navy-begins-stockpiling-ship-killing-missiles\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:37:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:37:30","slug":"as-china-continues-rapid-naval-expansion-the-us-navy-begins-stockpiling-ship-killing-missiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/02\/11\/as-china-continues-rapid-naval-expansion-the-us-navy-begins-stockpiling-ship-killing-missiles\/","title":{"rendered":"As China expands navy, US begins stockpiling ship-killing missiles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2013 The stunning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2018\/01\/23\/no-slowdown-for-chinas-navy-aspirations\/\" target=_blank>growth of the Chinese fleet<\/a> over the past decade has prompted the U.S. Navy to plan a full-on buying spree of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/09\/06\/the-us-navy-just-deployed-its-new-ship-killer-missile-to-chinas-backyard\/\" target=_blank>ship-killing missiles<\/a> over the next five years, according to projections in the sea service\u2019s Fiscal Year 2021 budget documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his opening remarks before rolling out the Navy\u2019s new spending request, the service\u2019s budget director pointed directly at China\u2019s expanding naval force as aiding U.S. budget priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cChina has grown their battle fleet to about 335 surface ships, and that\u2019s occurred over the last 10 years as they\u2019ve shifted from a build-up of their homeland defense forces and moved to the sea in an expansionist role around the globe,\u201d Rear Adm. Randy Crites said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs we look to the future of even greater global trade and greater unpredictability, American naval power has never been more important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/asia-pacific\/2019\/08\/19\/china-grown-strong-enough-for-a-surprise-move-in-the-indo-pacific-think-tank-warns\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1138906136.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">China now strong enough for a surprise move in the Indo-Pacific<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The cost of an American counter-move may become too high, according to the Sydney-based United States Studies Centre.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy\u2019s proposed 2021 budget calls for buying 850 missiles between the years 2020 and 2025 with the sole function of seeking and destroying enemy ships at range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The anti-ship missile buying binge comes as experts project the People\u2019s Liberation Army Navy\u2019s fleet will balloon to as many as 420 vessels by 2035. By comparison, the 2016 budget request contained just 88 sole-purpose anti-ship missiles to be procured across a five-year plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/02\/10\/355-as-secdef-backs-a-bigger-fleet-dod-moves-to-cut-shipbuilding-by-20-percent\/\" target=_blank>shipbuilding might have faltered in 2021<\/a>, the Navy\u2019s budget for weapons procurement of all kinds increased by $800 million over 2020\u2032s $4.1 billion request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposed 2021 weapons procurement budget rose $1.7 billion over the 2016 request just five years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The funds could be used to buy Lockheed Martin\u2019s F\/A-18 E\/F Super Hornet-launched Long-Range Anti-Surface Missile, developed jointly with the Defense Research Projects Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It incorporates target recognition, some level of autonomous routing and extended range for killing enemy ships at a significant standoff. The unclassified range is more than 200 nautical miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy\u2019s 2017 budget submission bought 10 LRASMs, and projected buying 25 per year until 2020, for a total purchase of 85 missiles. Today, the inventory (including 2020\u2019s request for 17 LRASMs) stands at about 99 missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By requesting to boost its stealthy missile inventory by 48 weapons, the Navy\u2019s inventory will increase 50 percent, with plans to order 48 annually for the next four years, according to the service\u2019s Fiscal Year 2021 budget documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All told, the Navy wants to acquire 210 of the missiles between 2020 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"450\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lrasm.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-83828\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lrasm.jpg.jpg 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lrasm.jpg.jpg?resize=300,176 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An image of the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile. (Courtesy of Lockheed Martin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that\u2019s not the only missile the Navy is eyeing for 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy wants to continue upgrading Raytheon\u2019s Tomahawk missile into a \u201cMaritime Strike Tomahawk,\u201d which incorporates a seeker and some level of target discrimination so it can shift midair to hit a moving target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Tomahawk has an unclassified range of 900 nautical miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Navy brief says the Maritime Strike Tomahawk\u2019s new seeker kit \u201cenables the capability to hit moving maritime targets through mid-course guidance via third party or seeker mode, to a terminal seeker area of uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The missile is slated to be declared operational in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy plans to buy 44 of the Maritime Strike seeker kits in 2021, then ramping up significantly from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sea service wants to buy 451 of the upgrade kits between 2021 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>\u2018Turning point\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service wants to start buying significant numbers of the Naval Strike Missile, which is the Kongsberg\/Raytheon ship-launched over-the-horizon ship-killer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Designed to give lightly armed warships some significant teeth when operating in the Pacific, the missile deployed on the littoral combat ship Gabrielle Giffords last year, along with Northrop Grumman\u2019s MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter drone which will be used for over-the-horizon targeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy plans to purchase 15 NSMs, down three from last year\u2019s buy, but has programmed to receive 189 between Fiscal Years 2020 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2018\/06\/01\/its-official-the-us-navy-has-a-new-ship-killer-missile\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"188\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635845998643437810-nsm-140923-n-mb306-007jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">It\u2019s official: The US Navy has a new ship killer missile<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">This is a major victory for the European defense industry, which is seeing increasing interest from the U.S. Navy as it races to fill capabilities gaps in the face of competition with Russia and China.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to 850 LRASM, Maritime Strike Tomahawks and Naval Strike Missiles, the Navy wants to procure over the same span 775 of Raytheon\u2019s SM-6 missile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s primarily an anti-air missile but has a surface mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That brings the total buy of missiles with ship-killing potential to 1,625 between 2020 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eric Sayers \u2014 a former Senate Armed Services Committee staffer and former aide to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command\u2019s Adm. Harry Harris \u2014 is now and Adjunct Senior Fellow at Center for a New American Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He told Defense News the Navy\u2019s proposed spending plan represents a turning point in an anti-ship mission that\u2019s been neglected for too long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis budget is a great signal of the Navy\u2019s intent to finally get serious about the quality and quantity of the anti-ship missile inventory,\u201d Sayers said. \u201cThen-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pacom.mil\/About-USPACOM\/USPACOM-Previous-Commanders\/\" target=_blank>Pacific Commander Adm. (Robert \u201cBob\u201d) Willard<\/a> asked for this capability over a decade ago and for years we were buying them just a few at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe request for LRASM, Naval Strike Missile, and Maritime Strike Tomahawk is a real turning point in anti-ship budget seriousness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To Sayers, the Navy should move to put LRASMs inside the vertical launch tubes of its surface combatants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow that we are moving to buy LRASM in numbers, it would be great to see the Navy move to integrate it onto its large surface combatants,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is also encouraging that allies like Australia and Japan are moving simultaneously to procure these high-end weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Friday, the State Department announced that Australia had been cleared to buy up to 200 LRASMs, a purchase with a nearly $1 billion price tag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By 2025, Pentagon planners hope to have about five missiles for every Chinese warship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":36413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"7":{"categories":["your-navy","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-navy"}}},"categories":[160,114,16,36,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-43388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-federal-budget","category-naval","category-newsletters","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HJ2TI7HLYFD4PMBYTGPUZ3DCCA","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2020\/02\/11\/as-china-continues-rapid-naval-expansion-the-us-navy-begins-stockpiling-ship-killing-missiles\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>As China expands navy, US begins stockpiling ship-killing missiles - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By 2025, Pentagon planners hope to have about five missiles for every Chinese warship.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As China expands navy, US begins stockpiling ship-killing missiles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By 2025, Pentagon planners hope to have about five missiles for every Chinese warship.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/02\/11\/as-china-continues-rapid-naval-expansion-the-us-navy-begins-stockpiling-ship-killing-missiles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-11T23:04:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T23:37:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David B. 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