"We are undertaking a large-scale effort to upgrade combat systems," Captain
Jason Kipp, Program Manager, PEO Integrated Warfare Systems told an audience
at the navy league's sea air space symposium.
Part of the effort includes an introduction of new government furnished
equipment likely intended to improve fire control, targeting and integration
across a group of shipboard weapons systems. These weapons include an
over-the-horizon naval strike missile, Close-in Weapon System for near-in
threats and mid-range defensive interceptors such as SeaRAM and Rolling
Airframe Missile.
"Over the course of many years of development, the SeaRAM missile has
engaged and destroyed an aerial drone," navy officials said.
"This was the first shipboard firing of the new weapon which emerged from
extensive planning, assessment modeling and simulation," navy officials
added.
Kipp said the combat system's qualification for LCS-19, the USS St Louis
recently completed by firing a remote controlled aerial targeting with C-RAM
in only the second second, full up display of C-RAM detecting and engaging
from aboard the freedom variant of the LCS.
All of these weapons enhancements are intended to help establish the
technological infrastructure sufficient for massive LCS survivability and
lethality upgrades planned for 2023, Kipp said.
CIWS (Close-In-Weapon System)
The CIWS ship self-defense weapon uses a phalanx gun able fire 4,500 small
projectiles per minute to blanket an area. The C-RAM weapons replaces the
gun with larger, longer range rolling airframe missiles unlike the ciws
weapons which as an area defense weapon, uses a 20 millimeters cannon to
shoot down threats close to a ship, C-RAM fires a rolling airframe missile
SeaRAM from an 11 missile battery, Raytheon officials explained.
The rolling airframe missile is what defense experts call a fire and
forget missile, meaning it uses an RF or radio frequency detection
technology along with a heat seeking infrared sensor to find its way
toward an approaching threat in order to intercept and destroy it.
Navy destroyers would likely use a Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) to defend
against an attacking long-range ballistic missile threat flying through
space toward a target. Medium-range anti-ship missiles or sea skimming
enemy rockets could be destroyed by an SM-2 or SM-6 interceptor.
Threats a bit closer could be taken out by an evolved sea sparrow missile
or essm or cram before a close-in weapons system strikes down approaching
fire. Arming destroyers in the literal combat ship with more lethal
precise and longer range weapons can easily be interpreted as being part
of the navy's larger, distributed lethality strategy which first emerged
in 2015 as part of an effort to massively arm the surface fleet.
Since that time, the strategy has evolved and migrated into what the
service calls distributed maritime operation. A term perhaps indicating
that newer networking, AI enabled computing and cross-domain operations
are inspiring the navy to migrate or further develop its surface warfare
strategy.
Broadly speaking, the idea is to help the navy return more fully to a
focus on blue water combat against potential near-peer adversaries
following a decade of ground wars wherein the navy expended more effort on
things like counter piracy, visit board search and seizure and counter
terrorism.
