How accurate is the Phalanx???

A recently hired sim tech is an ex-Navy puke. I will try to overlook that flaw. 🙂 Anyhow, this guy was a radar tech on the Phalanx. Needless to say I bombarded him with questions. 😀

I can’t vouch for his credibility, but he gave me some interesting anecdotes on the performance of HIS system. In certain tests, an aircraft (F18) will tow a small target on a ver, very long cable. As the aircraft streaked by the ship, the techs would power up the Phalanx, which would then lock-on to the target. This guy told me that his system was so well calibrated that it could slice the cable just ahead of the target in half. I thought that was interesting. I hope it hit the target too, becuase not too many SSMs will be coming in on long cables. 🙂 However, I guess it was considered to be a good thing becuase he bragged about it a bit.

BTW-this was an older Phalanx, as he was in the Navy 10 years ago.

Anyone have any interesting stories or anecdotes about different CIWS? Ahem, Jonesy, Tom?