US Navy deploys containerized Tomahawk missile launcher to Norway for Atlantic City 26.

On August 27, 2026, the U.S. Navy deployed a four-cell Containerized Launching System to Trondheim, Norway, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III as part of Operation Atlantic City 26. The deployment serves to validate strategic inter-theater air mobility, expeditionary advanced base operations, and distributed strike integration in the High North alongside British and Norwegian forces. This exercise tests the command-and-control networks required to coordinate geographically separated long-range missile launchers, such as those capable of firing SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles, within a unified joint kill web.

The four-cell Containerized Launching System, derived from Lockheed Martin’s Mk 70 Mod 1 Payload Delivery System, packs strike-length Mk 41-equivalent capability into a 40-foot ISO container footprint. Following a shipboard firing test on USS Savannah in October 2023 and land-basing maneuvers in Denmark in May 2024, the Norway movement completes a three-part validation series focusing on air transportability, expeditionary basing, and distributed sensor-to-shooter C2 integration.

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The Containerized Launching System (CLS) is a transportable U.S. Navy missile launcher that packs four Mk 41-derived strike-length launch cells inside a 40-ft container, allowing weapons such as the SM-6 and Tomahawk to be deployed without needing a permanent VLS. (Picture source: US DoD)

On August 27, 2026, the U.S Navy deployed a four-cell Containerized Launching System (CLS), which could support missiles such as the SM-6 and Tomahawk, to Trondheim, Norway, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III for Operation Atlantic City 26. Atlantic City runs from August 26 to September 4 and extends to Jan Mayen, 1,000 km (620 mi) from mainland Norway and north of the GIUK gap. U.S. participants include MARFOREUR/AF, II MEF, 10th Marine Regiment, Marine Air Support Squadron 1, U.S. Sixth Fleet, Task Force 68, and a HIMARS platoon from the New Hampshire Army National Guard's 3-197th Field Artillery Regiment, supported by MC-130 and C-130 aircraft. Britain contributes RAF LXX Squadron and Royal Marine Commandos, while Norway contributes the Royal Norwegian Navy and Home Guard. The deployment follows an SM-6 firing from USS Savannah (LCS-28) on October 24, 2023, and a Bornholm, Denmark, land-based rehearsal in May 2024, giving the U.S. Navy three separate CLS demonstrations: shipboard firing, expeditionary emplacement, and C-17 strategic transport in less than three years.

The U.S. Navy's Containerized Launching System (CLS) is likely based on Lockheed Martin's Mk 70 Mod 1 Payload Delivery System. It includes four Mk 41-derived strike-length cells, launcher electronics, and support equipment within a 40-ft ISO-container-sized structure. Capacity grows in four-cell increments: two launchers provide eight cells, four provide 16, eight provide 32, 16 provide 64, and 24 provide 96. A conventional Mk 41 installation uses eight-cell modules; the Strike module is 25 ft 3 in, or 7.7 m, high and weighs 32,000 lb, or 15,000 kg, compared with 22 ft 2 in, or 6.76 m, for Tactical and 17 ft 5 in, or 5.31 m, for Self-Defense. Strike-length canisters reach 22 ft, or 6.7 m, in length and 25.12 in, or 63.8 cm, in width, allowing weapons in the Tomahawk, SM-6, and SM-3 size classes. One CLS therefore equals 50% of one eight-cell Mk 41 module, 12.5% of a 32-cell installation, 4.17% of a 96-cell magazine, and 3.28% of a Ticonderoga-class cruiser's 122 cells. Its advantage is not magazine depth but the ability to separate strike-length cells from the hull of a dedicated combatant.

USS Savannah established the most concrete weapon configuration when it fired an SM-6 from a containerized launcher mounted on its aft mission deck on October 24, 2023, despite the Independence-class LCS lacking an integral Mk 41 battery. The SM-6 is 21.5 ft, or 6.55 m, long, weighs roughly 3,300 lb, or 1,500 kg, and supports air defense, terminal ballistic missile defense, and anti-surface missions. Mk 70 architecture is also associated with Tomahawk through the U.S. Army Typhon Mid-Range Capability; a boosted Tomahawk measures 20 ft 6 in, or 6.25 m, has a 20.4-in, or 0.52-m, diameter and weighs 3,500 lb, or 1,600 kg, while the Block Vb range figure exceeds 900 nmi, or 1,666 km. A four-cell CLS configured for such weapons would still carry only four missiles: one launch consumes 25% of the magazine and four launches exhaust it. Four CLS units provide 16 cells, eight provide 32, 16 provide 64, 24 provide 96, and 31 provide 124, slightly exceeding a Ticonderoga's nominal 122-cell capacity. Physical Mk 41 compatibility does not itself establish operational certification, which also requires the appropriate software, fire-control interface, communications, and weapon-specific integration.

The force-structure comparison shows the scale required for CLS to offset retiring naval magazines. Constellation-class frigates are planned with 32 Mk 41 cells, equivalent to eight CLS units; early Arleigh Burke destroyers carry 90 cells, later Burkes 96 and Ticonderoga cruisers 122, corresponding to 22.5, 24 and 30.5 four-cell launchers. Zumwalt-class destroyers carry 80 Mk 57 cells rather than Mk 41. The four Ohio-class SSGNs are more significant numerically: each can carry 154 Tomahawks through 22 converted Trident tubes holding seven missiles each, equal to 38.5 CLS units per submarine and 616 missile positions, or 154 CLS units, across all four boats. With the SSGNs leaving service by 2028 and the Ticonderoga class by 2029, the retirement cycle removes more than 2,000 missile cells or positions. Replacing 2,000 positions numerically would require 500 four-cell CLS units before accounting for reloads, spare launchers, missiles, transport vehicles, crews, communications, maintenance, or security.

The program's development sequence also shows that firing a missile is only one part of making CLS operational. Savannah proved shipboard launch in October 2023. Bornholm in May 2024 tested movement and establishment ashore with U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11 and Danish personnel, requiring the launcher to operate without the propulsion, power generation, sensors, and permanent combat system of a warship. The August 25-27, 2026 movement to Norway added inter-theater airlift by C-17A and subsequent land transport. These three events occurred within 34 months and addressed three distinct functions: live launch from an improvised shipboard installation, expeditionary land basing and strategic air movement into the High North. The Norway deployment does not establish another live firing, however, and provides no demonstrated SM-6 or Tomahawk launch from Trondheim or Jan Mayen.

A deployable CLS battery is also larger than the launcher container itself. The Norway movement involved the launcher together with a military tractor or truck and flatbed trailer; once unloaded, the firing element still requires road movement, a prepared position, electrical power, operators, communications, fire-control connectivity, security and missile-handling support. Magazine scaling quickly multiplies that footprint: eight launchers are needed for 32 cells, 16 for 64, 24 for 96, 50 for 200 and 100 for 400. Reloading is critical because a four-round salvo empties one launcher completely, requiring either additional preloaded CLS units or replacement canisters and handling equipment. A later Arleigh Burke concentrates 96 cells, SPY radar, Aegis, communications, power generation, crew, and defensive weapons on one hull; matching only its cell count with CLS requires 24 launchers plus external support. Trondheim proves that a CLS can be carried into theater by C-17A, but does not establish emplacement time, displacement time, reload time, minimum crew size, or sustained salvo rate.

Atlantic City 26 is therefore relevant because it tests the sensor and command architecture on which a separated launcher depends. The 10-day operation links multinational sensors, command-and-control nodes and precision fires across the Norwegian Sea and Jan Mayen operating area, while Northern Viking 26 runs concurrently under the wider Arctic Sentry framework launched in February 2026. The U.S. force combines Marines, Army HIMARS, Sixth Fleet, Task Force 68, MC-130 and C-130 assets with British and Norwegian units. Unlike an Arleigh Burke, which carries its radar, Aegis combat system, and 90- or 96-cell magazine on the same moving hull, CLS may be geographically separated from the sensor generating the track and the command node authorizing the engagement. Long-range missile cells are therefore useful only if the network can deliver sufficiently accurate and timely target data over potentially hundreds of kilometers. The C-17 movement demonstrates strategic mobility; Atlantic City addresses whether dispersed Allied sensors, command nodes and firing units can function as one kill chain in the High North.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.