Posted on 01/30/2012 5:17:02 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Royal Navy reveals new supersonic anti-missile system
A new air defence system that can destroy enemy missiles travelling at supersonic speeds has been revealed by the Royal Navy.
Sea Ceptor missiles fired from warships will reach speeds of up to Mach 3 and protect an area of around 500 sq miles.
The £483 million contract to develop the defence system has been awarded to MBDA (UK).
The Ministry of Defence said the five-year project would mean continued employment for around 500 workers.
Facilities across the UK including at Stevenage in Hertfordshire, Filton in South Gloucestershire and Lostock in Bolton will be used to build the missile system.
Defence Equipment Minister Peter Luff said: "The development of this missile system is a huge boost to the UK's world-leading missile industry and once again proves our commitment to providing battle-winning technology to our armed forces."
To start with, Sea Ceptor will be used on the Royal Navy's Type 23 frigates, but in future it could be adapted for use by the Army and RAF.
The head of the Navy, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, added: "This new weapon system will equip our frigates to deal with the type of sophisticated missile threat expected in the coming decades.
"Investment in advanced defence technology
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Speedy: A computer generated image of the Royal Navy's new Sea Ceptor missiles which can reach speeds of up to Mach 3 and can protect an area of around 500 sq miles over land or sea
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093601/Navy-unveils-new-missile-capable-destroying-enemy-weapons-travelling-supersonic-speeds.html#ixzz1kwjgqToA
a 500 sqmiles area is roughly a distance from the ship of approximately 22 nautical miles. This is less than the SM-2 that were carried on the Oliver-Hazard Perry class and provides minimal defense capabilities. I hope they have a longer range standoff missle and this this is the last line prior to close in weapons like our Phalanx or diversions such as Chaff. They’ll have one shot at multi-mach ASM speeds.
my math was off it’s less.
area of 500 sq nautical miles has roughly 22nm sides. corner to corner is roughly 22*sqrt 2=about 32nm. 1/2 of that since ship is in the center gives you roughly 16nm max. range to cover 500 nm.
alternatively 500sqnm circle has a radius of 12.6nm so the square solution is being nicer than the more relevant circle solution.
This missile is slated to replace the existing Seawolf point defense system so range is not it’s primary criterion. For a last ditch defense system, it’s slated range of 15-16 miles is about adequate.
And it uses the basic airframe of the existing ASRAAM missile, so it’s not exactly based on computer graphics.
http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot.com/2011/09/future-local-area-air-defence.html
Ah so more a sparrow type. Article was just a bit too grandiose for me in its praise.
Not Sparrow-like, since that is a bigger, longer-range weapon. This is lighter, smaller and has a lower minimum engagement distance as well as an active radar seeker while also being able to operate with any targetting radar.
I was thinkiing of the Sea Sparrow we had on surface ships in the early 90s that had a range of about 10 miles as opposed to the 30 nm AA sparrow both had semi-active doppler radar homing - but that’s dating myself pretty much, sigh ... your right of course about the cross section and engagement ranges.
Thanks for all your military hardware news posts! No reflection on you intended at all -- just ridiculing the media...
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