Why current at-sea VLS reloading may be too cumbersome

Will the proposed destroyer-tender system make VLS reloading at sea practical?

The portable rig makes reloading possible, but transferring it aboard and removing it adds time and handling. Installed shipboard equipment is predicted as the likely longer-term solution, though the portable approach could prove more successful than expected.

The portable approach transfers a reloading rig aboard the combatant, uses it to replenish VLS cells, and then removes it. That avoids changing existing ships, but adds handling steps and time to the replenishment. An integrated shipboard system is suggested as the more likely long-term outcome, returning to a direction explored during the Cold War. The prediction is explicitly uncertain: the portable approach could prove more successful than expected.