Overview
- BAE completed the first live-fire demonstration of the Adaptable Deck Launcher at China Lake on October 27, 2026, a technical milestone that validated the system's basic firing and packaging concepts.
- The ADL is engineered to use Mk 41 VLS electronics and to accept ESSM Mk 25 quad-pack canisters, which let a single canister carry four Evolved SeaSparrow interceptors.
- Because the launcher sits on deck and fires from fixed-angle canisters, crews can replace spent canisters at sea with standard shipboard handling gear rather than relying on below-deck launch cells.
- BAE and journalists stress that the test is an initial proof point and that further live trials, repeated reliability checks, demonstrations of at-sea reloading and formal U.S. Navy or allied evaluations are required before any procurement or fleet integration.
- The ADL was developed for the NATO Seasparrow Project Office and is pitched for carriers, amphibious ships, other surface combatants and medium unmanned surface vessels to add air‑defense capacity without major ship refits.