US Navy News and updates

ASSAIL

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro

colay

New Member
During testing off California between 18-20 June, John Paul Jones successfully conducted five live-fire tests for the Baseline 9C Aegis system, to meet the combined needs of Combat Systems Ship's Qualification Trials and NIFC-CA testing. The ship successfully engaged six targets, firing four SM-6 missiles and one SM-2.

6 targets successfully engaged by 5 missiles?
 

CB90

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
During testing off California between 18-20 June, John Paul Jones successfully conducted five live-fire tests for the Baseline 9C Aegis system, to meet the combined needs of Combat Systems Ship's Qualification Trials and NIFC-CA testing. The ship successfully engaged six targets, firing four SM-6 missiles and one SM-2.

6 targets successfully engaged by 5 missiles?
Mebbe one was "engaged" but not engaged.
 

CB90

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
As in, target was tracked and relevant tracking data handed over to another ship in a better position to engage?
As in the first could've been a "dry fire" run to check out systems/practice prior to the live engagements.


Admittedly just a guess though.
 

bdique

Member
As in the first could've been a "dry fire" run to check out systems/practice prior to the live engagements.


Admittedly just a guess though.
I see...to me it just felt that passing up this opportunity to conduct "networked" exercises would be a bit of a waste
 

StobieWan

Super Moderator
Staff member
I see...to me it just felt that passing up this opportunity to conduct "networked" exercises would be a bit of a waste
They usually run a drone past or towards the exercise platform to ensure everyone's awake, on their toes, all the kit works etc. And sometimes they squirt off time-expired missiles rather than pull them, so you can get all sorts of interestingly depressing ideas about reliability (one test had 4 from 5 missiles failing to launch or guide due to their age and condition, and the opinion was "great, it'll give everyone experience in dealing with duds".

I *believe* CEC engagements are relatively transparent at the console - all the presentation is managed in the background so there's not much difference from an operator point of view - anyone know different?
 

MickB

Well-Known Member
That having been said it's also clear they're doing the testing for a reason, and it's not a stretch to think that the powers that be have come around to the idea of the LCS requiring a larger anti-surface weapon than what is currently planned. Remember in the recent exercises the LCS was apparently quite successful in the anti-surface role where some kind of anti-ship missile was simulated, using off-board data to cue the "launches". And I would think that while there might not be any stated requirement for the NSM or similar, one could make a fair argument that the requirement for expanded anti-surface capabilities is there, regardless of what's been said publicly. If you want to go speedboat-plinking then the smaller and cheaper the missile, the better - but if (and admittedly it could be a big if) the intent is to also prosecute larger targets you're not going to get nearly as much out of Griffin, Sea Spear, Hellfire etc...
I think the best way to sweep and control inshore waters, and to deal with swarm attacks is a combined squadron consisting of an LCS as flotilla leader and several updated Pegasus class PHMs.

The LCS has to space for a command staff and can carry a limited amount of spares and resupply. Its helo would greatly extend the search area.If fitted with primarily AA weapons it would complement the surface warfare abilities of the Pegasus.
 

Bonza

Super Moderator
Staff member
I think the best way to sweep and control inshore waters, and to deal with swarm attacks is a combined squadron consisting of an LCS as flotilla leader and several updated Pegasus class PHMs.

The LCS has to space for a command staff and can carry a limited amount of spares and resupply. Its helo would greatly extend the search area.If fitted with primarily AA weapons it would complement the surface warfare abilities of the Pegasus.
At this point I'm really not sure on the best way to control the littoral. I do think that if you have signature-managed combatants lurking in the littoral then the capacity to initiate AShM attacks on blue water targets based on off-board targeting data would be a good capability, but then that's somewhat secondary to actual littoral warfare itself and a lot of it depends on how the USN intends to operate the vessels - I have minimal understanding of this.

I think airborne drones and helos are probably best for anti-swarm attacks, although a small ship-launched missile with sufficient range (and again probably one that can get fed data from other sources, for example embarked helos) might also be useful. With the weapons fitting this description my concerns would be range (don't know if that can be helped though) and numbers, as you're going to want more than 6-8 if you're engaging speedboat swarms I would imagine. I don't know, it would be nice if there was a small surface-to-surface missile that could be quad-packed into a VLS, but at this stage we don't even know if the littoral ships (and I'm including LCS and any possible follow on "frigate" design) will have a VLS at all. If they did then you could shoehorn ESSM into the anti-surface role but that's far too expensive for plinking speedboats. The advantage would be your local air defence and anti-cruise missile capabilities take a big step up with the same loadout.
 

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
bear in mind that there is also a rise and a push to have a mini LCS and USV's as a future green and brown water option

they're also seen as a narrow straits, harbour management option
 

bdique

Member
I think the best way to sweep and control inshore waters, and to deal with swarm attacks is a combined squadron consisting of an LCS as flotilla leader and several updated Pegasus class PHMs.

The LCS has to space for a command staff and can carry a limited amount of spares and resupply. Its helo would greatly extend the search area.If fitted with primarily AA weapons it would complement the surface warfare abilities of the Pegasus.
The LCS is meant to tackle such threats on their own, or perhaps with another LCS. Being forward-ported, the LCS will be in-theatre faster than these upgraded Pegasi can (especially if they are home-ported in the US), unless they too are forward-ported.

But there is an interesting idea here - if the LCS is able to deploy USVs capable of plinking small ships, then that might give the commander an advantage in surface warfare. I'm curious to know if there have been any trials conducted to integrate USVs aboard the LCS.
 

bdique

Member
USV's have been tested from larger skimmers, shore based and air managed
Air managed? That's interesting. The Protected USVs employed by the RSN at ABOT during OIF were limited in range (controlled by line-of-sight IIRC from the LPD acting as mothership) so I'm quite curious to know more about those trials - controlled from a chopper, or fixed wing?

Also, the next evolution of USVs is to become autonomous. I'm quite excited to see what the future holds.
 

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Air managed? That's interesting. The Protected USVs employed by the RSN at ABOT during OIF were limited in range (controlled by line-of-sight IIRC from the LPD acting as mothership) so I'm quite curious to know more about those trials - controlled from a chopper, or fixed wing?
both rotor and fixed
 

AegisFC

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
USV's have been tested from larger skimmers, shore based and air managed
To give an idea how long this has been going on back in 2003 the Gettysburg test deployed the Spartan RHIB in place of one of the normal ships RHIB's. The Spartan was semi-autonimous and by all accounts the test deployment was a sucess.

-------

Some good news, the first Block 3 Virginia, the North Dakota looks like it will be delivered on time after all. From the article it appears it came down to vendor problems.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/...e-Delays-New-US-Navy-Sub-Headed-Time-Delivery

The building program of the US Navy’s Virginia-class submarines has an outstanding reputation, both for keeping to cost and for on-time delivery. There’s even a modest competition between the two shipyards that build the subs to see who can shave off more time of the contractual delivery date.
I think any country would love to have a program this consistantly on time and cost.

About 20 percent of the submarine was redesigned for the Block III variant, much of it focused on a major redesign of the bow.
I knew the Block 3 was a major change but I didn't realize it was that big from a desing standpoint.

Goggins also noted that the post-delivery schedule for Block III submarines will be significantly different than earlier Virginia-class subs. After delivery, about 25 months of additional work and testing was needed for those submarines before they were turned over to the fleet to begin deployment workups. A key element in that time span was the need to dry dock the ships and carry out modernization work during a post-shakedown availability (PSA).

But “for Block 3 and out, the plan is 12 months or less,” Goggins said.

“The post-completion modernization work is basically being done up front now,” he said. “The PSA will be waterborne” — no dry docking necessary — “more like a traditional PSA.”
That is a major change as well, and more welcome good news.
 
Last edited:

AegisFC

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Some potential LCS weapons news.

SEAPOWER Magazine Online

The Navy is scheduled to conduct a live-fire demonstration of a Kongsberg-built Naval Strike Missile (NSM) aboard the littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) while underway in the Pacific Ocean Sept. 24, a Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman announced in a Sept. 18 release.

The Kongsberg NSM is a long-range precision-strike missile designed to be launched from a variety of ships against a variety of targets. This demonstration is intended to test the capabilities of the Norwegian-made missile from a sea-based platform against a Mobile Ship Target (MST) and provide insights into the weapon’s stated capabilities of increased range and lethality. The Navy does not currently have any acquisition or integration requirements for the NSM aboard any of its ships.
Raytheon Tests New Extended Range Griffin Missile | DoD Buzz

Raytheon is testing a new extended range Griffin missile which triples the range of the existing weapon and adds infrared imaging guidance technology, company officials said.
 

NeoIsolationist

New Member
Griffin and NSM

Two 30mm gun systems, a weapon module dedicated to sea griffin or a similar weapon, and bolt-on launchers for 8 or 12 naval strike missiles. I'd say that's a complete and capable armament for the basic LCS--to say nothing of the mission module carried of course. All of this is do-able on the current hulls.

Now if they can upgrade the 57 mm to 76mm strales/volcano that'd be best.....
 
Top