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  • 7/7/2025
At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) questioned Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby about the cost of firing missiles.
Transcript
00:00Senator Hovind.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Admiral Kilby, for the attack on Qatar yesterday, 14 missiles by Iran.
00:11Were they shot down by Qatar? Were they shot down by our forces?
00:16And by what systems? To the extent you can cover any of that in non-confidential, would you go to that?
00:21I can get you specific, sir, but I believe the Patriot system was the most effective U.S. system in support of that.
00:28Whether or not there was any Qatar defensive measures taken that were excessive, I'll have to get back to you on that.
00:35So primarily it was our Patriot batteries?
00:37Sure.
00:38At UD there that they fired on?
00:40Okay. For all three of you, starting with you, Mr. Secretary, do you think that the United States needs to keep its lead in ISR technology,
00:48or can we just tell the Air Force and Space Force, nah, we don't need the new ISR systems, we'll just do everything with satellites?
00:58Or do you think in the near-peer competition and for what's going on in Ukraine and the Middle East and everywhere else,
01:03we actually need the new ISR technologies that will enable us to make sure that we can be there for long periods of time
01:11with nobody known and with kinetic capabilities?
01:13Thank you, Senator, for the question.
01:18Yes, we need to have good counter-ISR capabilities, and I'm always someone who believes in combat and also in navies and ships.
01:27You need redundant systems.
01:29You need backups.
01:30You need different forms of systems.
01:32And so I think it's a critical thing that we need.
01:35Admiral, your same question.
01:37I share Secretary Phelan's belief in this.
01:40I think multiple systems is good.
01:42When we have a single answer, it can be engineered against.
01:46So we need to have terrestrial systems, air and surface as well as space, sir.
01:51General?
01:53Yes, sir.
01:54Our investment in that is the MQ-9, a big-wing drone, along with other ISR capabilities,
02:00but they're vital to us in the Indo-Pacific based on their endurance and their range.
02:04And the MQ-9 is something you would use in the Indo-Pacific from land,
02:09which is vitally important to support naval ships and submarines, right?
02:11Yes, sir.
02:12Absolutely.
02:13That is the purpose of it.
02:14And it's not just the existing systems, MQ-9, but we need the newer high-tech systems as well, right?
02:20That is right.
02:20So we're always looking to improve.
02:22Okay.
02:23And, frankly, the Navy, you have been strong on this, and I commend you for it.
02:28And I appreciate it.
02:29And thank you for so stating on the record.
02:31Based on what we're seeing in the Middle East and what we're seeing in Ukraine and Russia,
02:38we've got to do more on drone and counter-drone, and not only here in terms of having the best
02:46technologies that exceed any adversary, but also cost and numbers.
02:54Talk to me about what you're doing and what we need to do to help you make sure that we're in that position.
03:01Starting with you, Secretary.
03:03So I'll let the Admiral give you specifics on ways we have started to lower the cost per shot
03:08or the way to take out drones because we've definitely pivoted from using some of our more exquisite platforms.
03:15At the end of the day, look, we have to protect the ships because if they hit the ship, that'd be a lot more expensive problem.
03:22But this is an area we are very focused on and one we are looking at for counter-drones.
03:27But I would let the Admiral kind of walk you through a little bit some of the things we've been doing to lower it.
03:32Yeah, in fact, I was on the USS Cole in the Mediterranean after they had returned,
03:38and they'd fired off all their missiles, very expensive, as well as using their cannon on the front deck and their .50 cal.
03:46And all of those become less desirable because as you, the UAS is getting closer to your ship
03:55as you kind of work down the chain of what's more economical, right?
03:59Hey, sir, sir, really quickly, I agree with you completely.
04:03We can't use our most expensive munitions, which are really capable offensively in defense,
04:09but we found ourselves in that position when the Red Sea started.
04:12As things developed, we started to use air wings and the ability to attract the threat to range,
04:17to even include helicopters.
04:20What we've done recently is Fort Strike Group, who is just on the precipice of deploying,
04:24has a number of systems that we installed on their combatants that are not integrated in the combat system.
04:33But they're knockoffs from the Army, which is a coyote system, or Hellfire and Longbow,
04:38which are missile systems that should get us that range without having to use SM-2s and SM-6s.
04:43So that's our start in that, but we are very focused on terminal defense
04:47and being able to have those sailors have confidence in those systems
04:51to not have to use those more expensive, preferred munitions.
04:54And proximity to your ships is huge.
04:57It puts you at risk, and an adversary is going to flood the zone and make you fire off all your missiles.
05:03Yes, sir.
05:03So this is something you have to have today, right?
05:06Yes, sir.
05:07And do you feel that you are on top of this today?
05:10Just like for our bases, we're not on top of counter-drone.
05:13They're flying these things all over our bases.
05:15This is ridiculous.
05:16It puts us in jeopardy.
05:18But we need to be on that now, guys.
05:19So do you feel like, I mean, do you have a certain comfort level?
05:23You got it?
05:23I don't say we have it because it is a vexing threat.
05:26I think we're taking steps, as we've seen with the Ford Strike Group,
05:29and we'll continue to take those steps to get on the right side of the cost curve.
05:34Secretary or General, anything you want to add on that?
05:37I would say the base issue and even our shipyard issues after seeing what Ukraine did to the Russians
05:45is something we are very focused on, and it's going to take a cross-government issue
05:50because, you know, unfortunately today, if a drone is flying over Groton Shipyard,
05:54there is nothing we can do about it, and that needs to change.
05:57Right.
05:58General, anything you want to add?
06:00No, sir.
06:00We're working at all levels.
06:01We're working organic counter-UAS.
06:03We're working installations counter-UAS.
06:06We're working some of our bigger systems, our L-MATIS,
06:09our lightweight marine air defense integrated system, our medium-range intercept capability,
06:14but our counter-UAS for installations is woefully behind.
06:19Final point.
06:20Is, you know, we're talking so much about the B-2s and rightly so,
06:25but what you did with your submarine was absolutely incredible as well.
06:30You guys are absolutely amazing what you do.
06:32Thank you so much.

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