SM-2 Block IV Extended Range

Was talking with a buddy in the business...navy weapons lab. I asked him about any future of the U.S getting a sonic anti ship missile. His response was "We already have one. It is the SM-2 ER." He claims he has seen many tests of this missile and works on the software for the missile. He says this puppy with a range of more than 200 miles is becoming even a better choice than the Harpoon.

From the way I understood it is that the SM-2ER would be the First strike weapon followed by Harpoons to finish the ship off....kind of interesting....cheers ute

Ahemm..If all the goodies were laid on the table exhibiting what Uncle Sam really has in it's arsnel and the full potential thereof....well the rest of the world would be very surprised.

*gasp!*

Aoura Spy-Planes! Laser Satelites! Cyborgs! Zombie-Juice! Monkey-Men! Laser-Sharks! Secret Brigades of Motorbike-Riding Ex-Ballet Assassins!

And that is only the surface to the can of worms you guys probably just opened.

you forgot the internet:roll:

Kampfwagen said:

*gasp!*

Aoura Spy-Planes! Laser Satelites! Cyborgs! Zombie-Juice! Monkey-Men! Laser-Sharks! Secret Brigades of Motorbike-Riding Ex-Ballet Assassins!

And that is only the surface to the can of worms you guys probably just opened.

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Oh nothing like that funny man. .But the basic technology and ablity of the weapons is beyond most nations. Too bad the politicains run the DoD and make some of the battlefield decisions...I refer to Rummy the Dummy...can't stand that guy...

All Area defence SAMs have an inherent anti ship capability, but range is normally limited to the horizon in the case of beam riding (eg TALOS and Sea Slug) or semi active radar homing (eg SM1/2 and Sea Dart) missiles, ie the ships missile guidance radars had to be on a line of sight to the target. These misiles (and their modern successors) are physically the same size as contemporary SSMs (eg Harpoon and Exocet) so it was only a matter of time before the two types began to evolve into a single multi purpose type, if only to ease pressure on the ships magazines. If a DDGs mk41 vls only has to have a single multi purpose missile this greatly increases the flexibility of the ship, if the air threat is contained by carrier aircraft then potentially the entire missile load of the ship can be used for anti shipping (unlikely, but the balance can be shifted from anti air to anti ship and back again in response to a rapidly changing threat). When you consider how many missiles an Arleigh Burke can carry in her VLS it makes the 8-cell harpoon launcher look somewhat feeble...

Obi Wan Russell said:

All Area defence SAMs have an inherent anti ship capability, but range is normally limited to the horizon in the case of beam riding (eg TALOS and Sea Slug) or semi active radar homing (eg SM1/2 and Sea Dart) missiles, ie the ships missile guidance radars had to be on a line of sight to the target.

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The Aster 30s cannot be used in an anti-ship capacity, at least on the ships they're going to be used on. Sea Dart could be (as you pointed out), though the circumstances where you would want/need to aren't very clear to me.

Anyway, Harpoon Block 2 is good enough for now, until a replacement comes along.

During this conversation I asked about attack angles. He states the software allow multi attack angles such as a direct straightdown almost dive type attack and a more conventional but not perfect sea skimming attack.

He says the warhead may not be as big as harpoon but with the speed and KE of the attack it does cause major damage to the ship destroying radar/sensors which open the ship up to a hit from say a harpoon by making the ship much less likely to be able to engage the harpoon with point defence systems. please understand I am no expert on navel warfare but I enjoy reading about this stuff. My ball of wax is Tanks....cheers ute.

utelore said:

During this conversation I asked about attack angles. He states the software allow multi attack angles such as a direct straightdown almost dive type attack and a more conventional but not perfect sea skimming attack.

He says the warhead may not be as big as harpoon but with the speed and KE of the attack it does cause major damage to the ship destroying radar/sensors which open the ship up to a hit from say a harpoon by making the ship much less likely to be able to engage the harpoon with point defence systems. please understand I am no expert on navel warfare but I enjoy reading about this stuff. My ball of wax is Tanks....cheers ute.

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Yep. Omni mode type profiles. It's amazing how the USN gets these missiles (SM's) on target in the anti-ship role. They have proven very useful and effective in this role. I actually expect USN to start getting rid of the Harpoon's on all it's ships soon. The trend right now is 4 Harpoons per ship and decreasing. In about 5 years or so, we may see none. As of now, they aren't really needed. And if the USN does want to bring back the Harpoon for anti-ship ops in greater numbers, they would purchase the Block II which would be more useful anyway. Block II Harpoons can be launched from the VLS and the electronics are already present on Baseline 7 ships to support its functions. The USN has not bought any for itself yet, but Block II's were fully tested on USN Arleigh Burke (Oscar Austin types) before being sold to foreign customers.

Right now, the USN's big muscle for anti-ship warfare for it's non-carrier surface ships is Harpoon, SM-2, and now the TacTom. That would explain why the TacTom is going to the FLT III Burkes first in significant numbers.
The real strength of USN Aegis ships is not only the amount of battle force missiles they carry, but the connectivity and types. All types of USN missiles are totally multi-mission capable now. ESSM, RAM, and SM-2 can perform anti-air, land attack, and anti-ship. Harpoon and TacTom can perform anti-ship and land attack. The only thing coming out of the VLS which is single purpose now is VLA and SM-3 interceptors for those ships that carry them. And in a few short years, everything will be totally integrated into VLS. Each USN Aegis ship can literally carry a huge load of anti-ship, land attack, and AAW missiles as a total battle force component.

bd popeye said:

Oh nothing like that funny man. .But the basic technology and ablity of the weapons is beyond most nations. Too bad the politicains run the DoD and make some of the battlefield decisions...I refer to Rummy the Dummy...can't stand that guy...

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Gotta apologize. I'm so used to being on places where the very mention of 'Top-Secret' sends people into a conspiracy theory tizzy.

But I know what you mean. It's kind of a time honored tradition, American Beuracracy. The solider in the feild thinks of a good idea to save lives. The solider submits his idea to a contractor, who trims it a little to save money. Then the DOD takes a look at it and removes some other details for humanitarian reasons or more cost issues. Then Rummy, Macnamara or whoever make the final steps, those get rejected by congress and the whole thing has to start all over from the second step.

By the time of the next war, whatever is made is now ready for some other clever solider with a new idea to come along and start the process all over again. Keeping American Ingenuity Alive!