Posted on 03/13/2013 11:58:15 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Surface Combat Fleets: Obsolete?
By James R. Holmes
America is developing its own carrier killer. Defense Industry Daily reports that the U.S. Navy has budgeted some $198 million through 2017 to fund a sorely needed replacement for its swiftly aging RGM-84 Harpoon antiship cruise missile. The workhorse Harpoon is rapidly being overtaken by rivals such as the Indian Navy's supersonic BrahMos, which outranges the American bird by a wide margin. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency started developing a subsonic and a supersonic variant of a long-range antiship cruise missile, or LRASM, in 2009. It subsequently dropped the supersonic LRASM-B while pressing ahead with the subsonic LRASM-A. Testing will commence this year. Assuming all goes well, the navy may soon accept ownership of — and begin funding — the missile's development, manufacture, and deployment in fleet warships.
The Defense Industry Daily report speculates that budgetary woes may sink the LRASM program. That would represent a grave mistake, not to mention an awful signal to send to competitors in today's increasingly stressful maritime environment. Not only do U.S. surface combatants increasingly find themselves outranged, but the short tactical radius of contemporary naval aircraft has abbreviated the striking reach of carrier task forces. American forces must venture closer to enemy fleets or shores at the same time defenders are extending the lethal reach of their ASCMs and, in China's case, adding a panoply of other anti-access weaponry to the inventory. The LRASM's approximate 500-mile range is crucial to restore the balance of hitting power.
What does the more distant future of surface warfare hold? Suppose antiship missiles come to boast transoceanic ranges — hardly a whimsical prospect if the DF-21D pans out. Sooner or lat
(Excerpt) Read more at thediplomat.com ...
And I think we can all agree, lovable though they are, we don’t really want to put our missile supply chain in the hands of the Russians.
Drones can make a cheap effective anti-cruise missile defense for a ship too.
Hey, I read hobo,...doesn’t that flight line symbol mean Danger!????
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