>> The youtube video of the CWIS shooting at the red-painted target speedboat showed exceptionally underwhelming performance. <<
Very underwhelming. Keeps missing the damn boat. It makes me wonder just how well it would do against a cruise missile which had the ability to zig-zag a bit on final approach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iHGabvM_BI
Me too. A missile coming at you head on is a small target going really fast.
Iran has a lot of small, fast boats and our modern destroyers and frigates are slower and have much less gun power than WW2, vessels did.
I'm not sure that a CIWS engaging a surface target is in the same automatic mode that it would be engaging an inbound missile. The addition of optic tracking would seem to mean it's being tracked by a gunner and not the radar/computer. I'm not positive on this, the last ship I was on did not have this upgrade at the time.
I’m no expert, but I assume there’s a reason why ALL navies have CIWS for last-ditch air defense and other stabilized gun systems (12.7mm to 30-35mm) for taking on speedboats and similar threats.
A CIWS has a high rate of fire, but does it have a stabilization mechanism to shoot up a boat bouncing around in the water? It’s easier to create a wall of lead to stop an incoming missile than to take a few shots at a speed boat unless its sitting still. Experienced navy folks will be able to explain better.