The Telegraph: UK Royal Navy warships will be left without anti-ship missiles

[Zarvan]

HMS Duncan (c) Royal Navy


The Telegraph reported that UK Royal Navy warships will be left without anti-ship missiles and be forced to rely on naval guns because of cost-cutting.

The Navy’s Harpoon missiles will retire from the fleet’s frigates and destroyers in 2018 without a replacement, while there will also be a two year gap without helicopter-launched anti-shipping missiles.

Naval sources said the decision was “like Nelson deciding to get rid of his cannons and go back to muskets” and one senior former officer said warships would “no longer be able to go toe-to-toe with the Chinese or Russians”.

Harpoon missiles are unlikely to be replaced for up to a decade, naval sources said, leaving warships armed only with their 4.5in Mk 8 guns for anti-ship warfare.

The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system, developed and manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). In 2004, Boeing delivered the 7,000th Harpoon unit since the weapon’s introduction in 1977. The missile system has also been further developed into a land-strike weapon, the Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM).

A spokesman for the Navy said: “All Royal Navy ships carry a range of offensive and defensive weapons systems. Backed by a rising defence budget and a £178 billion equipment plan, upgrade options to all our weapons are kept under constant review.”

http://defence-blog.com/news/the-te...-will-be-left-without-anti-ship-missiles.html

 

[Penguin]

@Zarvsan: why another thread on this?
You already opened https://defence.pk/threads/uk-to-retire-gws60-harpoon-at-end-of-2018.460544/

 

[Mrc]

Thats just pathetic... most frigates dont even hve guns these days

 

[Penguin]

Thats just pathetic... most frigates dont even hve guns these days

That's not true at all. The Brits tried that on Type 22 Broadsword class, but reinstated guns in the third batch, after the Falklands war.

 

[Mrc]

That's not true at all. The Brits tried that on Type 22 Broadsword class, but reinstated guns in the third batch, after the Falklands war.

U have any pics.. i havent seen any.. US zulmat class is just a misssile carrying stealth vessel.. probably has only ciws and one 23mm... may b i am wrong

 

[Penguin]

U have any pics.. i havent seen any.. US zulmat class is just a misssile carrying stealth vessel.. probably has only ciws and one 23mm... may b i am wrong

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_22_frigate#Specifications

 

[Penguin]

US zulmat class

Say what?!?

USS Zumwalt?

2 × 155 mm Advanced Gun System
2 × Mk 46 30 mm gun (GDLS)

PNS Azmat?

• 1 × 23 mm automatic gun
• 1 × AK-630 CIWS

Zumwalt has two 155mm guns, but does not have a CWIS... which is a big mistake.

It gets a pair of 30mm MK46 MOD 2 Gun Weapon Systems. The Mk 46 30 mm (1.2 in) Gun System was deemed more effective than the 57mm Mk 110 with increased capability, reduced weight, and significant cost avoidance. The Mk 46 has a rate of fire of 200 rpm and a range of 2.17 nmi (4.02 km; 2.50 mi). The Bofors 57mm can handle incoming missiles. If the 30mm Bushmaster is deemed more effective, it too can engage missiles.

Now, the ship’s guns literally have no ammunition to fire.

That is not correct.
150 LRLAP guided projectiles were procured in FY2015 with a unit cost of $476,946.67
http://www.defensenews.com/articles/new-warships-big-guns-have-no-bullets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Land_Attack_Projectile
About 90 rounds had been secured for testing aboard the three hulls, but a full buy of about 2,000 planned rounds would be about $1.8-2 billion
https://news.usni.org/2016/11/07/navy-planning-not-buying-lrlap-rounds

Zumwalt's non-AEGIS combat management system can't support SM-2, SM-3 or SM-6 either, so it's restricted to ESSM until software mods can be made:

These destroyers ended up being focused on the land bombardment and littoral dominance missions, not on air defense–even though these mission requires robust air defense capabilities to be successful. Area air defense and anti-ballistic missile patrol duty will instead be provided by the upcoming Flight III Arleigh Burke class ships and existing Aegis equipped surface combatants. In fact, while the DDG-1000 has most of the physical hardware needed for wide-area air defense missions, and even anti-ballistic missile defense, it runs non-Aegis software that does not have the capability to fire and use the SM-2/3/6 “Standard” series of missiles. Making things worse, half its intended radar system, one that would have made it the most capable air defense asset ever sent to sea, was gutted as a cost saving measure.

As a result, the DDG-1000 will only be stocked with Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSMs) for self defense against aerial threats, vastly restricting the range and breadth of the ship’s counter-air potential. The RIM-162 ESSM has the ability to fly out to around 30 miles, which pales in comparison to the long-range and heavy hitting Standard missile series carried by the Navy’s existing AEGIS cruisers and destroyers.

[/QUOTE]

The Mk57 can handle all these missiles. Having an active radar homing guidance, the SM-6 should be easiler than the other to integrate.