USS Ronald Reagan Fires RAM

Sailors aboard aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) tested one of its weapon systems, May 6, by launching multiple RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM) against multiple airborne and low altitude targets.

The RAM is a lightweight, quick-reaction, fire-and-forget missile designed to destroy anti-ship missiles and asymmetric air and surface threats.

Cmdr. Matt Mowad, Reagan’s combat direction center officer, said:

For a ship to come out of an eight-month maintenance availability and have only been out to sea for a short amount of time to roll into a complex weapons shoot and succeed is almost unheard of.

Mowad said these tests are very important to the ship and its mission.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Scott Abplanalp, tactical support center division officer and Reagan’s senior tactical action officer, said this was a very complex event that took a lot of coordination and training. He said the targets, which are remote controlled aircraft that are flown toward the ship, flew in the same flight profile and speed as some of the threats Reagan could encounter around the world. The ship’s systems and operators performed up to Team Reagan’s high standards, flawlessly.

Image: US Navy