the SMs because missiles like that whould be fired about50~60nms away
[snip]
Please elaborate and cite your sources.
http://www.news.navy.mil/search/print.asp?story_id=2532&VIRIN=1883&imagetype=1&page=1
“The following day, Lassen also participated in two vandal exercises (VANDALEX) involving missile launches. The exercise is designed for ships to intercept hostile missiles with their own missiles. In both exercises, shore launched, remote-controlled drones were used to simulate the hostile missiles. One of the drones closed in on the ship at a speed of Mach 2.1 (approximately 1,500 miles per hour) grazing 50 feet above the ocean’s surface. Lassen’s SM-2 surface-to-air standard missile successfully intercepted the drone six miles from the ship.”
Well,the vandal exercises don`t take place streaming the missle right in to the ships participating in the exercise, of course,and that means the “drones”
don`t take evasive manners like the real vampires and in reality they don`t get fired on stationary platforms far away,which means real supersonic missilers closes on the ship in a lo-lo mode then just climb up once to shoot and just run away outside the ships weapon evenlope,which means the ship has little time to react,and it is very possible it`ll be at least 4~5 vampires closing on the ship the same time.
The Standard is said to have a range of over 80nms,but the range won`t have any merit because all missiles these days have sea-skimming capabilities,which means the Ship`s AA rader can`t spot the missile,until it closes on the ship(roughly around 30nms?) as farther detection range means more extra space and handicaps for the missile to exploit.And the Standard is certainly not designed for intercepting supersonic missiles,as missiles with secondary boosters can`t gain sudden thrust right after it takes off,
and it would be very FATAL as the mach2.0+@ Vampires would be first detected only about 35~40km away which means there is only one chance to knock off the missile before the ships CIWS and ECM are activated.
The theory proved in the VANDALEX would be practical only if the Ship has caught the missile miles and miles away(At full dectection range),giving enough time for the SM-2 to react and close on the target,but in reality it would`nt be pretty like that.
I seriously doubt the VANDALEX took place simulating almost the real thing like by shooting mutiple drones on the ship directly and being first detected only a few tenfold miles away. Well,if there are AEW planes like the E-2C Hawkeye or E-3,they might catch the missile the instant it`s fired,but if it comes only like a solo Standard armed AA Ship Vs Supersonic missilier,the AA ship is likely to be doomed.
ASMs that does not fly in a hi-hi mode can be NEVER detected from the full range of the AA raders which renders the awesome range of the SM-2 useless.I`m pretty sure the the Lassen was backed up by any type of AWACS to exploit the chances of intercepting the drones on their full range,which means ships that don`t have the support of any sort of AEW armed with Standards is likely to be history(like the KDX Ships with out the support of ROKAF`s AWACs we don`t have,for instance)
That`s why some ship designs just being offered in some European states have only ESSMs for defense,realizing the reality and the fraud of “long range SAMs can start their intercept at maximum range.
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