National Interest: Sinking Enemy Warships: the U.S. Navy’s Fiery New Weapon
The United States Navy’s fleet of Aegis cruisers and destroyers are getting a massive boost in lethality. For years, many believed that America’s mighty surface combatants were on track to be outgunned by their Russian and Chinese counterparts—however, a newly unveiled modification to the Raytheon Standard SM-6 changes of all of that.
“I'm announcing today new capability for the SM-6. We're modifying the SM-6, so that in addition to missile defense, it can also target enemy ships at sea at very long ranges,” U.S. defense secretary Ashton Carter said at Naval Base San Diego in California on February 3.
“This is a new anti-ship mode. It makes the SM-6 basically a twofer. Can shoot down airborne threats,” Carter said. “And now you can attack and destroy a ship at long range with the very same missile.”
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WNU Editor: This definitely adds to the arsenal of the US Navy.
2 comments:
This is a very interesting development. The missile isn't that important as is the system it operates in. I have my doubts on the multi-target effectiveness of the missile. Claiming kinetic energy alone can cause enough damage (along with the warhead) to sink warships is a supposition. This though is a minor problem that can be remedied fairly easily.
The other interesting point is the release of this information now. It smacks of woofing at the Chinese.
"The other interesting point is the release of this information now. It smacks of woofing at the Chinese."
The SM-6 Project is an attempt to fill a capability gap in the USN Arsenal.
Russia's Kalibr strikes in Syria exposed a major vulnerability, as the US Harpoon has become severely out classed in both range and speed,
So in the short term, the SM-6 will be modified to allow USN ships to reach out and touch someone at long range,
But even with a modified warhead, the SM-6 will never be a "ship killer", but several missiles or a lucky hit might take an enemy ship out of the fight.
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