@Penguin What you think about it?
Brahmos of Mighty IN can take On little USN's laser based air defence, SM-2/3/6, ESSM-1/2, their ECM & ECCM, their E-2D Hawkeyes (which can guide missile if needed), their protective circle of ACC launched fighter jets etc. Wow.
Countering Brahmos speed:
The multi-mission SM-6 SM-6 can be used as a BMD, an anti-air/missile and as an anti-ship weapon. It is engineered with the aerodynamics of an SM-2, the propulsion booster stack of the SM-3, and the front end configuration of the AMRAAM. Estimates of the SM-6's range vary; its official published range is 150 mi (130 nmi; 240 km), but it could be anywhere from 200 nautical miles (230 mi; 370 km) to as much as 250 nmi (290 mi; 460 km). Warhead would be light for antiship mission, but high speed (mach 3.5) means kinetic effects too. Ripple fire can compensate for light warhead in antiship role. Plus, given its long range, the USN ship's cooperative engagement capability and the USN's Naval Integrated Fire Control – Counter Air, or NIFC-CA, capability, which lets the USN use air assets (Hawkeye AEWCs but also e.g. F-35) to help target SM-6 aboard ships, it can also take out (in principal) current Brahmos at or just after launch, provided early detection by an airborne asset.
Consider that it would take the Mach 3 Brahmos about 391 seconds to cover 400km (about 6.5 minutes). At Mach 3.5, the SM-6 takes 336 seconds (about 6 minutes) to cover that same distance. That gives the USN sihp a window of half a minute to detect the launch and initiate an effective response against the missile launched and/or the ship that launched the missile,
irrespective of whether the ship targeted by IN would be hit by the incoming Brahmos. If USN can manage to do that in half a minute, then it creates a mexican standoff ("you shoot me, you too die instantly")
even if it were unable to actually kill the Brahmos missile.
But clearly, provided airborne early warning, USN can start shooting at the Brahmos al most immediately upon launch with the active radar homing 240-460km RIM-174/SM6, and then with semi-active radar homing 185km RIM156A/SM2ERblkIV (also Mach 3.5 and antiship capable), then with the 50km semi-active radar homing ESSM (Mach 4+ and also antiship capable. NB Block 2’s
active seeker will support terminal engagement without the launch ship’s target illumination radars), and then with the IRH/RFH 22.5km RAM block 2 (mach 2+). Add to that on board jammers, chaff/flares, nulka hovering decoys to confuses the attacking Brahmos's main targeting sensor and datalink.
WRT the counter that Barak-8 would eliminate these, consider Kolkata only have this and they carry 32 per ship i.e. max 64 in a carrier battle group that comprises 2 of these ships. A USN carrier group can more easily bring to bear long range saturation fire on the IN carrier group than vice-versa.
A typical carrier group has a Tico, 3 Burkes and an SSBN. A Los Angelos class SSN carries up to 37× weapons (a mix of Mk 48 torpedo, Tomahawk land attack missile, Harpoon anti–ship missile, Mk 67 mobile, or Mk 60 Captor mines). Besides 25 torpedotube launched weapons (including Harpoon and Tomahawk), 688i FLTII and FLTIII have a 12-tube VLS dedicated for launching Tomahawks. Standard missile loadout for a
Ticonderoga cruiser VLS is 80 SM-2 SAMs, 16 ASROC anti-submarine rockets, and 26 Tomahawk cruise missiles (plus 2x4 rack-launched Harpoon). Translated to a Burke, that would be 60 'anti air', 16 ASROC and 20 Tomahawk, with 'anti-air' being a mix of quadpacked ESSM and single packed SM2/SM3/SM6 (e.g. 16 SM2, 16 SM3 and 16 SM6, plus 48 ESSM). So, that makes for around 100 Tomahawks. And then there is the carrier aviation to consider. Even if Barak-8 were a one-shot, one kill missile, with 64 such missiles in a carrier escort group, IN would soon find itself without missiles left under a sustained attack by a CVN battle group. And that's not even considering long range USAF aviation (B52, B1b, B2), each unit of which can carry tens of antiship weapons.
Countering Brahmos range:
LRASM brings a (450 kg) blast-fragmentation penetrator. . DARPA states its range is "greater than 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi)." This is equal the range of the normal JASSM weapon. Although the LRASM is based on the JASSM-ER, which has a range of 500 nmi (930 km; 580 mi), the addition of the antiship sensor and other features will somewhat decrease that range. It is estimated that the LRASM has a range of 300 nmi (560 km; 350 mi). IN would need the 600 or 800km version of Brahmos on its ships in order to outrange LRASM fired from Mk41s aboard USN ships.
Still, the USN could counter this longer range version with MK41 launched Block IV TLAMs modified with a maritime attack capability, which will enter service in 2018-2019. In 2014, Raytheon began testing Block IV improvements to attack sea and moving land targets. The new passive radar seeker will pick up the electromagnetic radar signature of a target and follow it, and actively send out a signal to bounce off potential targets before impact to discriminate its legitimacy before impact. Mounting the multi-mode sensor on the missile's nose would remove fuel space, but company officials believe the Navy would be willing to give up space for the sensor's new technologies. Range Blk IV is 900 nmi (1,000 mi; 1,700 km)
Just some late night thought on the matter.
PS the opening video spouts a load of BS. ESSM for example is not a system but a missile. It can be quad packed in a Mk41 VLS cell (only older carriers and secondary units still use trainable 8-round Mk29 NSSM launcher anymore). The AEGIS system handles the missiles, not the ESSM system. It is totally separate from Phalanx. The 'three ESSM systems" with quadpacked ESSM would allow 12 Brahmos to be engaged. But this is BS: there are 3 target illuminators aboard a Burk DDG, 4 on a Tico. That means 3-4 semi-active homing missiles can be provided with terminal target illumination at any given time (but more missiles can be in the air already simultaneaously). This is exclusive of any ACTIVE radar homing missiles e.g. SM6 and ESSM block 2. USN ships, notably Arleigh Burkes, have 90 or 96 MK41 cells, and Ticonderoga's have 122 MK41 cells for a variety of weapons (VL ASROC, Tomahawk, LRASM, ESSM blk I/II, SM2ER blk IV, SM3 BMD, SM6 multirole). Against a supersonic missile target, USN would fire 6-8 missiles, not 4 (e.g. in succession 2 SM6, 2 SM2ER, 4 ESSM). The claim that Kolkata carries 16 antiship brahmos is questionable. In reality it would be more likely to carry 8 antiship and 8 land attack versions, making it a more multi-role ship. But even if it carried 16, then we'ld need 32 SM6, 32 SM2blkIV and and 64 ESSM. An single Burke DDG flight II or higher has enough VLS cells for this, if it doesn't carry other missile types.
But we're assuming there is a one-on-one scenario here, and neglecting that ships operate in groups. 3 Burke DDGs and a Tico and 1-2 cruise missile armed SSN are a normal CVN escort. By comparison, the Indian Navy's carrier battle group centered on
Viraat consists of two destroyers, usually of the
Delhi class (previously
Rajputs), two or more frigates, usually of the
Brahmaputra,
Godavari or
Nilgiri classes. The navy's new carrier battle group centered on
Vikramaditya consists of the modern Kolkata class destroyers (2?), Shivalik and Talwar-class frigates (2?), Kamorta-class anti-submarine warfare corvettes (2?), with INS Chakra II expected to fill the sub-surface component. Kolkatas could each carry 16 Brahmos and a Talwar 8 (provided it's a batch 2 ship). Shivalik and Talwar batch 1 carry 8 Klub antiship missiles. The Kamorta's don't have antiship missiles. Worst case then, we have 2 Talwar batch 2 in the escort group so that the 3 Burke DDGs can be off-set. This still leaves a Ticonderoga to counter. Not to mention the imbalance between the 2 air groups and between the SSNs.
Anyway, then there is the claim that Barak-8 can stop Brahmos 200m before hitting a ship. Well, let me tell you, at that distance, you still will be on the receiving end of a load of missile debris coming in at Mach 3. Besides, it is not that somehow only a Mach 2 (680 m/s) active radar homing Barak-8 could hit a Brahmos missile. Also, in the vid, its claim is later changed from 200m to 500m... Against low level targets, Kolkata's radar detection range will be limited by earth curvature, just like with any other radar. So, that severly limits its response time. And I don't think IN has the same level of target data sharing as USN has (i.e. no CEC and no NIFC-CA)...
