LCS 10 fires off first NSM

HONG KONG - While China paraded some of its powerful weaponry during its 70th anniversary as a communist state, the U.S. Navy tested its newest piece of firepower in the Pacific region. Off the coast of Guam, the Mobile, Ala.-built USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) fired off a Naval Strike Missile (NSM), a sea-skimming cruise missile that is difficult to spot on radar, and that can maneuver to avoid defenses. The NSM, along with a variety of weapons, were fired at a surplus frigate (the former USS Ford), which was towed to the Pacific to act as a target for exercises called SINKEX. LCS 10 the first U.S. Navy ship to deploy with the NSM, and analysts say it helps even the equation in the Pacific, where China still has a 3-to-1 advantage in cruise missiles. But, the NSM may eventually "change the game," said Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain now an instructor at Hawaii Pacific University. (Source: CNN.com 10/02/19) LCS 10 was built by Austal USA shipyards in south Alabama. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/asia/us-naval-strike-missile-test-guam-intl-scli-hnk/index.html