Posted on 01/24/2006 5:58:58 AM PST by Esther Ruth
Did the brits have CIWS (Close In Weapon System) during the Falklands?
As for weeks for air force, um, the Navy brings its own. As for very restricted waters, you can fire from outside the straits, easily. US surface combatants have Tomahawks. And their primary air defense umbrella extends out to 100 miles. The main worries are (1) mines, which the Iranians would lay by sub and by small boats operating at night, and (2) shore batteries of SSMs. But the second of those can be shot out of the sky by modern air defense, which all our DDGs and CGs have. Of course you'd also want to go after the launch sites, with F-18s and Tomahawks.
On mines, we are much better prepared than in the 80s because of the lessons then. The first line is all the helos the surface ships carry can deploy sweeping gear. There are also a number of special mine warfare ships prepositioned in the area.
Might a US surface combatant take a hit occasionally? Sure, it is possible. All that have in recent times have survived, and we aren't going to run out. Won't seriously hamper operations at all. The Japanese hit 500 US ships off Okinawa and never stopped a single operation. The USN does not stop for donuts.
A more realistic worry is the shore battery SSMs, mines, and perhaps also their few subs directly, hitting civilian shipping in the gulf, rather than warships. So you have to take out those toys and you have to escort shipping in the meantime with air defense capable ships. All do-able, with some period of disruption of traffic, obviously. That is the only cost the Iranians can seriously impose.
Good point, there Type42s were retrofitted with CIWS after the Falklands war.
They currently, and since the early 90s, have been using the "Goalkeeper" ciws system. It is a 30mm gatlin gun with 7 barrells.
30MM VULCAN PHALANX (CIWS) (2): The Primary Close in defensive weapon of the Destroyers are the primary defence against inner range aircraft and missiles. The 30mm Cannons are manned by gun crews and are very effective against low flying aircraft.
PRIMARY PURPOSE: Anti-Missile
SECONDARY PURPOSE: Anti-Aircraft
RANGE: 1 Mile (1.6 KM)
DAMAGE: 3D6 M.D. per 10 round short burst
RATE OF FIRE: Equal to the controller's number of hand-to-hand attacks. If set on automatic by the Principal Weapons Officer it can fire up to 4 bursts per round.
PAYLOAD: 500 rounds
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