These??
Posted on 02/01/2024 3:23:58 AM PST by dennisw
A Houthi missile recently put a US destroyer's close-in weapons system to the test, a report said. A warship's CIWS is usually considered its last line of defense and is for close-range intercepts. The Tuesday incident marks the latest Houthi missile attack, though not the latest exchange of fire. A Houthi anti-ship cruise missile fired into the Red Sea came within a mile of a US Navy destroyer on Tuesday, a report said, close enough that the American warship turned to its close-in weapons system — a last line of defense.
Most missiles are shot down farther out. This was the closest that a Houthi attack had come to an American warship, four US officials told CNN, which reported additional details of the incident on Wednesday. US Central Command initially said on Tuesday that around 11:30 p.m. local time, the Houthis fired a single anti-ship cruise missile from Yemen toward the Red Sea, and it was shot down by USS Gravely.
For several months, the Iran-backed rebels have relentlessly fired one-way attack drones and missiles into key waterways off the coast of Yemen. Many of these threats have been shot down by US warships — and sometimes by British or French forces No warships have been struck.
US Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are equipped with at least one CIWS, which features a close-range, radar-guided automatic 20 mm cannon that can fire up to 4,500 rounds a minute and has an effective range out to about two nautical miles.
Before a ship's CIWS is engaged, capabilities such as the warship's SM-2 or SM-3 interceptors come into play. These are fired from vertical-launch-system cells before they then intercept and destroy airborne threats. An SM-3 "hits threats with the force of a 10-ton truck traveling 600 mph," according to Raytheon, the weapon's manufacturer.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Keep upping the incoming numbers and you will hit a number that overwhelms ANY system.
These??
True, but the article did NOT state this as fact.
Good ONE!!
I hope!
20 minutes to re-load?!?
Where?
That would be my guess. The Gatling Gun was the original multi-barrel rotating gun, but rotation was based on mechanical intervention (turning a crank). I believe the genre is now referred to as either an autocannon (if based on the 20mm M61) or minigun if based on a smaller caliber and both use an electric motor. The Phalanx is completely automated with minimal inputs from the ship, so that it can continue to protect the ship even if the ship has suffered damage. The R2D2 houses its targeting radars. The Phalanx is an autocannon with the M61 using 20mm projectiles.
FWIW, the A-10 Warthog uses a bigger version of the autocannon ... the GAU-8 Avenger 30mm.
"The cost effective solution is carpet bombing the launch sites and support facilities. But it is too politically unpalatable."Carpet bombing their population centers to create a massive Dresden-style firestorm is even more politically unpalatable. But that how wars against a determined opponent were won in the past.
Then there’s the Iranian ship that’s been loitering for over a year in both the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that is now apparently picking out targets for the Houthis.
Over last July 4th, there was an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in a local port and civilian tours were allowed once one cleared security.
The weapons systems were quite impressive, but I noticed during the tour that the forward Phalanx was disassembled and what appeared to be a 4-man crew hastily working on it...grease up to their elbows. There was no rearward Phalanx mounted on this particular ship. I asked the tour guide about it, and she said they’d been scheduled to install a rearward mount along with some other weaponry but they’d not yet been given the opportunity to do so.
As for the crew; a nice bunch of really young folks, but most em appeared to be grossly out of shape....except for the Marine contingent assigned to guarding the ship and running the security screening. Those guys were all in shape and all business....impressive.
Oh, I also noticed that it was flying a Ukrainian flag along with ours which I thought was kinda weird, but hey, in this day and age...well....
None of these weapons are 100% effective and sooner or later a US warship is going to get hit. The question is will Biden be awake, on vacation or just befuddled when this happens. Consider if Trump were POTUS, not only would the terrorist bases in Yemen have long ago been flattened, but Iranian assets supporting the terrorist would have been taken out.
The gun can put a 20mm slug in every square foot of a football field in a few seconds.
The 20 mm autocannon was originally designed for use against human wave assaults, such as those launched by the Chinese during the Korean War.
The enemy only needs to get lucky once, Like they did at Tower 22. We must be lucky everytime. Odds will not be in our favor in the long run. Like the Russians we are discovering that drones have changed naval war. Maybe we need to go back to ironclads that can take a punch?
Dayum ... seems like overkill ... a minigun would do the exact same thing and the ammo would cost a lot less.
Ahem … so we can safely assume our “very special” forces guys have long been on the ground in Yemen, taking notes and blowing up important stuff (and important people).
Gotta love it. OF COURSE our specials are inside Yemen. Probably inside Iran too.
My nephew’s frigate, well, the Navy’s frigate, had one of those bad boys. Very cool weapon. I didn’t get to see it fired, but would have liked that opportunity. Unfortunately, no targets in Mayport.
What was cool about R2D2 with a hard-on is that it was entirely self contained. Most fire control systems don't have a search radar. The continuous wave radar associated with the missile or gun system had to use either a saw tooth or step pattern to acquire a target if it didn't receive target designation from a search radar. Precious seconds when a mach+ target is coming at you. CWIS has it's own independent little search radar under the dome, which then sends it's own target designation to it's second CW fire control radar. Acquisition in less than a second. I loved my job.
A bunch of strikes in one day is not enough to stop the Houthis.
We may need to bomb them for 30 days. And then warn the Iranians that if they don't stop, we'll bomb Tehran next.
But Joey (or his handlers anyway) is Jimmy Carter # 2.
The Iranians will continue to escalate because there's no consequences to their actions. So stay tuned.
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