Roadrunner and Coyote: Navy Set to Deploy Land-Based Anti-Drone Systems at Sea

The Navy says it is working to reduce the growing costs of fighting Houthi drones launched from Yemen by placing two new experimental systems on destroyers that are slated to deploy later this summer.
"We're going to be deploying the Ford strike group with two additional missile systems on our destroyers -- the Roadrunner system and the Coyote system -- both specifically designed to go after UAVs," or unmanned aerial vehicles, Adm. Daryl Caudle, the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces, told reporters last week. "Those two systems ... are part of that attempt to get after the cost curve, give our commanding officers more options to engage the threat and ultimately be more effective in defending the high-value unit," Capt. Mark Lawrence, the commander of the destroyer squadron whose ships will employ the new systems, told reporters March 21.