Posted on 07/23/2015 4:41:18 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The resulting fire on USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) following the explosion of a Raytheon SM-2 Block IIIA guided missile. US Navy Photo obtained by USNI News
This post has been updated with additional information from NAVSEA.
A Navy guided missile destroyer was damaged after a missile exploded shortly after launch during an exercise off the U.S. Atlantic coast on Saturday, Navy officials have confirmed to USNI News.
“On July 18 at approximately 9 a.m. (EDT) a Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) test missile exploded after suffering a malfunction as it was fired from the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) during a planned missile exercise off the coast of Virginia,” read a statement from Naval Sea Systems Command provided to USNI News.
There were no reported injuries and though the ship suffered a small fire on its port side “from missile debris” the destroyer was able to return to Naval Station Norfolk, Va. unassisted, NAVSEA said.
“It is too early to determine what, if any, effect this will have on the ship’s schedule,” read the statement.
The missile, believed to be an older Raytheon Standard Missile 2 Block IIIA, exploded shortly after takeoff and showered the ship with debris sparking the fire on the ship’s port side, according to pictures of the incident obtained by USNI News. The photographs show ignited debris shower the ship and the surrounding ocean. The explosion appears to have occurred slightly lower than the mast of The Sullivans.
The warhead on the missile was unarmed, NAVSEA told USNI News.
Naval Sea Systems Command’s program executive office Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) is now investigating the cause of the malfunctioning missile, NAVSEA officials told USNI News.
According to pictures of the explosion obtained by USNI News, a fire broke out on the port side of The Sullivans shortly after the missile launched.
The Sullivans was performing a missile exercise along with the guided missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG-64) which was not damaged during the incident, USNI News understands.
A Raytheon SM-2 Block IIIA guided missile explodes over USS The Sullivans during a training exercise on July 18, 2015. US Navy Photo obtained by USNI News
The SM-2 Block IIIA, first fielded in 1991, was developed to not only handle traditional air threats like fighters but was modified to interdict sea skimming targets like cruise missiles.
While the Navy didn’t comment on why the missile failed, the photos point to a problem with the rocket engines that drove the SM-2.
Largely for safety reasons, the Navy almost exclusively uses solid rocket fuel for its missiles and incidents involving failures of the engines have largely non-existent.
Several experts contacted by USNI News could not recall a similar incident with any other SM-2 missiles but all recalled a solid rocket failure from more than four decades ago.
In 1969, the solid rocket motor of a MK-32 Zuni rocket was overheated and misfired from a F-4 Phantom onboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) that sparked a fire on the flight deck resulting in the death of 27 personnel.
The following is the complete July 22, 2015 statement from the Naval Sea Systems Command on the July 18 incident.
On July 18 at approximately 9 a.m. (EDT) a Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) test missile exploded after suffering a malfunction as it was fired from the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) during a planned missile exercise off the coast of Virginia. There were no injuries and only minor damage to the port side of the ship resulting from missile debris. The ship returned to Naval Station Norfolk for assessment. An investigation into the malfunction has been ordered and is being conducted by the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems, which is part of Naval Sea Systems Command. It is too early to determine what, if any, effect this will have on the ship’s schedule.
My guess would be the fire the missile started.
I’m thinking sabotage.
High explosive going off that close to something well cause some damage.
What was the price tag on that missile?
For that much money, why the hell did it malfunction?
The missile was unarmed. The damage was from the shower of solid propellant that exploded. There's no "mechanism" in engine of a solid fuel rocket (just propellant, burn chamber, and nozzle), so there's actually very little that can go wrong with them. Pretty much the only way they explode is if something blocks the nozzle.
Maybe John McCain was visiting the ship?
The article states there was no warhead on the missile. The fire and explosion must have been caused by the fuel.
A missile, whether a ground-launched biggie like an ICBM, a cruise variety (GLCM or ALCM), or shipboard or submarine, or even an anti-tank TOW, is an extremely complicated piece of gear.
Warhead didn’t explode. Rocket propellant did.
Or manufacturing problem with propellant or cracks in casing.
A cracked solid propellant rocket motor would do it.
I’m aware of that—Used to do defense work.
The things don’t come cheap, and for them and the launch control system to not work properly is extremely troubling.
See the F-35 debacle.
Then you would think they'd sabotage it in a way that would do more damage to the ship, like blowing up in the launch tube. Missiles get old, they fail on rare occasions, there is nothing suspicious in this.
No warhead.
Good to see I wasn’t the only one with that as a first thought.
I would expect basic quality checks during manufacturing to catch manufacturing issues; it's just a tube, packed with propellant, plugged at one end, nozzle at the other. Damage during handling would be my first suspicion.
Hecho en Mexico, well there is your problemo....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.