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To: Spktyr
Very short range

Obviously, but I don't suspect Houthi drones are very fast or rugged. It just seemed to me that "shooting skeet" was a way to save considerable money.

22 posted on 05/25/2025 9:04:36 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie

FYI: Many of our current destroyers only have the aft Phalanx CIWS installation. There’s about a 90 degree or more arc forward that it can’t fire in.

The Houthi drones aren’t terribly rugged, no. And yes, the CIWS Gatling is a good answer where it can come to bear and ranges on the target - much cheaper than a SeaRAM missile, a Sea Sparrow or a Standard SM-2/3 missile.

Unfortunately, one of the problems with the Houthis is that Iran and others have armed them with drones *and* some pretty serious antishipping missiles. They are known to send them in swarms with drones leading the way and sucking up AA munitions so the missiles can attempt to get through. The reason you need more range is to prolong the engagement time so that you might be able to shoot down all the incoming before an actual antiship missile gets through.

The Gatling is a good idea for onesie-twosie drone attacks, but needs help against swarms or group threats. So something else needs to be used as well, or we need a lot more Phalanx CIWS on ships with deeper magazines.


26 posted on 05/26/2025 3:39:52 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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