US Navy creates weapons on new physical principles
It would seem that the US Navy today has a sufficient set of means of protection against cruise and ballistic anti-ship missiles (ASM). However, some military experts doubt that these defenses will be able to withstand the new generation of winged and ballistic anti-ship missiles being developed in a number of countries, primarily in China.
Volley for a million
The September report of the US Congress Research Service is devoted to the analysis of work in the field of creating weapons based on new physical principles. This report clearly shows the concern of military experts that in a number of combat scenarios during massive attacks by surface ships by various means of air attack, the existing ammunition load of traditional means of defense may, firstly, not be enough, and secondly, the cost of naval anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM) of this ammunition will simply be incomparable with the cost of the attacking weapon.
The US Navy's missile cruisers are known to carry 122 missiles, while destroyers carry 90–96 missiles. However, part of the total number of missile weapons is Tomahawk cruise missiles for strikes against ground targets and anti-submarine weapons. The remaining amount is missiles of which there can be up to several dozen units. In this case, it is necessary to take into account: to increase the probability of hitting an air target, two missiles can be launched against it, which increases the rate of ammunition consumption. In universal vertical launchers (UVPU) of ships, missile weapons of various types are installed jointly, and therefore the UVPU can be reloaded only when returning to the base or at a stop.
If we analyze the cost of specific samples of US Navy shipborne missiles, then the defense of a surface ship is costly. Thus, the price of one unit of anti-aircraft missile weapons for some types exceeds several million dollars. For example, RAM (Rolling Airframe Missile) missiles costing the treasury $ 0.9 million per unit and ESSM (Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile) missiles for 1.1 -1.5 million. For protection in the middle zone from aircraft and winged anti-ship missiles, as well as from ballistic anti-ship missiles in the final section of the trajectory, the SM-6 Block 1 SAM "Standard" costing $ 3.9 million is used. Missiles "Standard" SM-3 Block 1B (14 million dollars per unit) and missiles "Standard" SM-3 Block IIA (more than 20 million) are used to intercept attacking ballistic anti-ship missiles in the middle out-of-atmospheric trajectory.
To improve the effectiveness of surface ships' defenses, the US Navy is currently working on laser weapons, electromagnetic cannons, and hypervelocity projectile (HPV) projectiles. The availability of such means will make it possible to counteract both air and surface attack means.
By the power of light
The work of the Navy in the development of high-power military lasers has reached a level that allows it to counter certain types of surface (NC) and air targets (CC) at a distance of about 1, 6 kilometers and begin their deployment on warships (BC) in a few years. More powerful shipborne lasers, which will be ready for deployment in the coming years, will give the US Navy surface BC the ability to counter the NC and CC at ranges of about 16 kilometers. These lasers will, among other things, provide last-line anti-missile defense for the BC against certain types of ballistic missiles, including the new Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM).
The Navy and the US Department of Defense are currently developing three types of lasers that, in principle, can be used on the BC: a solid state fiber SSL (solid state laser), an SSL slit laser, and a free electron lasers (FEL) laser. One of the experienced SSL fiber laser demonstrators was developed by the Navy under the LaWS (Laser Weapon System) laser weapons system. Another variant of the Navy's SSL fiber laser was created under the Tactical Laser System (TLS) program. Among a number of US Department of Defense programs to develop an SSL slit laser for military purposes, the MLD (Maritime Laser Demonstration) marine laser demonstration program appears.
The Navy has also developed a low-power prototype FEL, a free electron laser, and is currently working on a prototype of this higher-power laser.
The report emphasizes that although the Navy is developing laser technologies and prototypes of potential shipborne lasers, and also has a generalized vision of the prospects for their further development, there is currently no specific program for the purchase of serial versions of these lasers or a program that would indicate specific dates for the installation of lasers. for certain types of bookmakers.
As noted in the report, laser weapons have both certain advantages and a number of disadvantages in countering various types of threats, including ballistic missiles.
Laser - the pros
Among the advantages of a laser weapon is its economy. The cost of ship fuel for generating electricity required to fire an electrically pumped laser turns out to be less than one dollar per shot, while the cost of one short-range missile defense system is $ 0.9-1.4 million, and long-range missiles are several million dollars. The use of lasers can give the BC an alternative when destroying less important targets such as UAVs, while missiles will be used to ensure the destruction of more important targets. BK is a very expensive type of naval equipment, while the enemy uses relatively cheap military means, small boats, UAVs, anti-ship missiles, ballistic anti-ship missiles against it. Therefore, through the use of lasers, it is possible to change the ratio of costs for the defense of the ship. The BC has a limited ammunition load for missile and artillery weapons, the use of which will require a temporary withdrawal of the ship from the battle to replenish the ammunition load. Laser weapons have no restrictions on the number of shots and can be used to destroy decoys that are actively used to use up the ship's ammunition. A promising ship with laser and missile weapons will turn out to be more compact and less expensive than an URO ship with a large number of missiles in vertical launchers.
Laser weapons will provide almost instant hitting of the target, which eliminates the need to calculate the trajectory of intercepting an attacking target by an anti-missile missile. The target is disabled by focusing a laser beam on it for several seconds, after which the laser can be re-aimed at another object. This is especially important when a BC operates in the coastal zone, when it can be fired at with missile, artillery and mortar weapons from relatively short distances.
Laser weapons can hit super-maneuverable targets that are superior in aerodynamic characteristics to ship's anti-missile missiles.
The laser provides minimal collateral damage, especially when fighting in the port area. In addition to the functions of hitting targets, the laser can be used to detect and track targets and non-lethally affect them, providing suppression of on-board optoelectronic sensors.
Laser disadvantages
These include the implementation of interception only within the line of sight of the target and the impossibility of destroying over-the-horizon targets. Limiting the ability to intercept small objects in high seas, which hides them in the crests of waves.
The intensity of laser radiation passing through the atmosphere is attenuated due to absorption in spectral lines of various atmospheric components or due to Rayleigh scattering, as well as macroscopic inhomogeneities associated with atmospheric turbulence or heating of the atmosphere by the very same beam. As a result of scattering by such inhomogeneities, the laser beam can expand, which will lead to a decrease in the energy density - the most important parameter characterizing the lethality of laser weapons.
When repelling a massive attack, one laser on the ship may not be enough due to the need to repeatedly retarget it in a limited period of time. In this regard, it will be necessary to place several lasers on the BC of the type of anti-aircraft artillery systems (ZAK) of self-defense at the last frontier.
Low power kilowatt lasers can be less efficient than higher power megawatt level lasers when targeting shielded targets (ablative coating, highly reflective surfaces, body rotation, etc.). Increasing laser power will increase its cost and weight. Exposure to the laser beam in the event of a miss can cause unwanted collateral damage and damage to your aircraft or satellites.
Size matters
Nevertheless, potential targets for laser weapons can be optoelectronic sensors, including those used on anti-ship missiles; small boats and boats; unguided missiles, shells, mines, UAVs, manned aircraft, anti-ship missiles, ballistic missiles, including ballistic anti-ship missiles.
Lasers with an output power of about 10 kilowatts can counteract UAVs at short ranges, with a power of tens of kilowatts - UAVs and boats of some types, a hundred kilowatts power - UAVs, boats, NURs, projectiles and mines, hundreds of kilowatts power - all of the above targets, as well as manned aircraft and some types of guided missiles, with a capacity of several megawatts - to all previously mentioned targets, including supersonic anti-ship missiles and ballistic missiles at ranges of up to 18 kilometers.
BC with lasers with a power of more than 300 kilowatts can protect not only themselves, but also other ships in their area of responsibility when, for example, as part of an aircraft carrier strike group.
According to the US Navy, cruisers with the Aegis missile defense system and destroyers (ships of the CG-47 and DDG-51 types), as well as helicopter landing dock ships (DVKD) of the San Antonio LPD-17 type have a sufficient level of power supply. for combat operations using laser weapons such as LaWS.
Some US Navy ships will be capable of using SSL-type lasers with an output power of up to 100 kilowatts in combat conditions.
So far, the Navy does not have BCs that have a sufficient level of power supply or cooling capabilities to ensure the operation of SSL lasers with an output power of over 100 kilowatts. Due to the large dimensions of the FEL-type lasers, they cannot be installed on existing cruisers or destroyers. The dimensions of aircraft carriers and general purpose amphibious assault ships (LHA / LHD) with a large flight deck can provide sufficient space to accommodate a FEL laser, but they do not have sufficient power to support a megawatt FEL laser.
Based on these conditions, the Navy in the coming years will have to determine the requirements for the designs of promising spacecraft and the restrictions imposed on them in the case of the installation of naval lasers, in particular SSL lasers with a power of over 100 kilowatts, as well as FEL lasers.
These restrictions led, for example, to the completion of the CG (X) cruiser program, since this project provided for the operation of an SSL laser with a power of over 100 kilowatts and / or a megawatt FEL laser.
After the completion of the CG (X) program, the Navy did not announce any future plans for the acquisition of a BC capable of operating a SSL-type laser with a power of over 100 kilowatts or a FEL laser.
Laser carriers
However, as highlighted in the report, options for ship designs that could expand the Navy's ability to install lasers on them in the coming years may include the following options.
Designing a new variant of the DDG-51 Flight III destroyer, which the Navy plans to purchase in fiscal 2016, with sufficient space, power and refrigeration capabilities to support an SSL laser with a capacity of 200-300 kilowatts or more. This will require lengthening the DDG-51 housing, as well as providing room for laser equipment and additional power generators and refrigeration units.
Design and procurement of a new destroyer, which is a further development of the DDG-51 Flight III variant, which will provide an SSL laser with an output power of 200-300 kilowatts or more and / or a megawatt FEL laser.
Modification of the design of the UDC, which will be purchased in the coming years in such a way as to ensure the operation of an SSL laser with a power of 200-300 kilowatts or more and / or a FEL laser of a megawatt class.
Modification, if necessary, of the design of a new aircraft carrier of the "Ford" type (CVN-78), so that an SSL laser with a power of 200-300 kilowatts or more and / or a FEL laser of a megawatt class can be operated.
In April 2013, the Navy announced that it was planning to install laser weapons on the USS Ponce, which had been converted from a landing craft to an experimental one for the technological development of laser weapons against attacking boats and UAVs. In August last year, this 30 kilowatt laser was installed on this ship, which is located in the Persian Gulf. According to the US Central Command, the ship's laser successfully destroyed a high-speed boat and a UAV during testing.
As part of the program for the creation of shipborne laser weapons, the Navy initiated a project for the technological refinement of a solid-state laser technology SSL-TM (solid-state technology maturation), within which industrial groups led by BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman) and Raytheon are competing for the development of a shipborne laser with a power of 100-150 kilowatts, effective against small boats and UAVs.
The R&D Department of the US Navy will conduct a thorough analysis of the results of laser testing at the Pons UDC for its further use in the SSL-TM program, the goal of which is to create a prototype laser with a power of 100-150 kilowatts for sea trials by 2018. The rules of interception and the technology for using LaWS in combat conditions will be determined, which are then supposed to be implemented in more powerful laser weapons.
A further increase in the laser power to 200-300 kilowatts will allow this weapon to counter some types of winged anti-ship missiles, and an increase in the output power to several hundred kilowatts, as well as up to one megawatt and above, can make this weapon effective against all types of winged and ballistic anti-ship missiles.
But even if the developed weapon based on solid-state lasers has sufficient power to destroy small boats, boats and UAVs, but cannot counteract winged or ballistic anti-ship missiles, its appearance on ships will increase their combat effectiveness. Laser weapons will, for example, reduce the consumption of missiles to intercept UAVs and increase the number of missiles that can be used to counter anti-ship missiles.
By the force of induction
In addition to solid-state lasers, the Navy has been developing an electromagnetic gun since 2005, the idea of which is to apply voltage from a power source to two parallel (or coaxial) current-carrying rails. When the circuit is closed, placing on the busbars, for example, a mobile cart that conducts current and has good contacts with the busbars, an electric current is generated that induces a magnetic field. This field creates pressure, which tends to push the conductors that form the circuit apart. But since the massive rails-tires are fixed, the only moving element is the trolley, which, under the influence of pressure, begins to move along the rails so that the volume occupied by the magnetic field increases, that is, in the direction from the power source. The improvement of EM guns is aimed at increasing the final speed to the numbers M = 5, 9–7, 4 at sea level.
Initially, the Navy began developing an EM cannon as a weapon of direct coastal support for the Marine Corps during amphibious operations, but then reoriented this program to create an EM weapon to protect against anti-ship missiles. The Navy is currently funding the work of BAe Systems and General Atomics to create two EM weapons demonstrators, which began evaluating in 2012. These two prototypes are designed for throwing projectiles with an energy of 20-32 MJ, which provides a projectile flight at a range of 90-185 kilometers.
In April 2014, the Navy announced plans to install a prototype EM cannon in fiscal 2016 aboard the Spiehead-class JHSV (Joint High Speed Vessel) multipurpose fast amphibious assault ship for sea trials. In January 2015, it became known about the plans of the Navy to adopt the EM-gun in the period 2020-2025. In April, it was reported that the Navy was considering installing an EM cannon on a new Zumwalt-class destroyer (DDG-1000) in the mid-2020s.
At the end of 2014, the command of the naval systems of the US Navy NAVSEA (Naval Sea Systems Command) accidentally published a request for information RFI (Request for Information) on the program to create a powerful rail EM-gun. The request was issued on behalf of NAVSEA (PMS 405), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. It appeared on the government website FedBizOpps on December 22, 2014, and was canceled four hours later. Anyone who has had time to familiarize themselves with RFI can get an idea of the directions of the development of the EM rail gun program. In particular, industry and academic institutions were invited to submit their proposals for the development of a fire-control sensor (FCS) EM-gun for detecting, tracking and hitting ground and air targets and ballistic missiles.
According to the RF, the FCS sensor of the future EM rail gun should have an electronic scanning field of view of more than 90 degrees (in azimuth and in the vertical plane), track targets with a small effective scattering surface (ESR) at a long range, track and hit ballistic targets in the atmosphere, block environmental interference (weather, terrain and biological), ensure data processing when repelling a ballistic missile strike, providing air defense and hitting surface targets, simultaneously tracking attacking targets and launched supersonic projectiles, and conducting a qualitative assessment of the degree of combat damage. In addition, the FCS sensor must demonstrate fast closure of the fire control loop, increased resistance to technical and tactical countermeasures, high speed tracking and data collection, as well as technology readiness sufficient to create a prototype in the third quarter of fiscal year 2018, and ensure operational readiness. in 2020–2025.
RFI asked industrial companies and research institutes to describe the key elements and the readiness of their FCS technologies, provide information on their suitability for multipurpose applications, possible integration problems with existing naval combat systems and the impact on the supply chain.
The NAVSEA Surface Warfare Research Center in Dahlgren, Virginia was expected to accept industry proposals between January 21-22, 2015 and issue a final response on February 6th. But now, naturally, all these dates are shifted to the right.
The R&D Department of the US Navy initiated an innovative program to create a prototype EM rail gun in 2005. As part of the first stage of the program, it was envisaged to create a launcher with an acceptable life span and reliable pulse power technology. The main work was focused on the creation of the gun barrel, power supply, rail technology. In December 2010, the demonstration system developed by the SIC in Dahlgren reached a world record for muzzle energy of 33 MJ and sufficient to launch a projectile at a distance of 204 kilometers.
The first EM cannon demonstrator built by an industrial company belongs to BAe Systems and has a capacity of 32 MJ. This demonstrator was brought to Dahlgren in January 2012, and a competing General Atomics prototype arrived a few months later.
On the basis of the achievements of the first stage of work, the second stage began in 2012, within the framework of which the work was focused on the development of equipment and methods that ensure the rate of fire at the level of 10 rounds per minute. To ensure a constant rate of fire, it is necessary to develop and implement the most effective methods of thermoregulation of an EM gun.
The first tests of a prototype EM-gun developed by BAe Systems or General Atomics at sea will take place aboard the multipurpose high-speed landing ship-catamaran JHSV-3 Millinocket. They are slated for fiscal 2016 and are single-shot. Firing in semi-automatic mode using the fully integrated shipborne EM cannon is scheduled for 2018.
Hyper Velocity Projectiles
The development of the EM cannon also provides for the creation of special HVP (hypervelocity projectile) guided hyperspeed projectiles, which could also be used as standard 127-mm naval and 155-mm land guns. The cruisers of the US Navy, and there are 22 of them, have two, and the destroyers (69 units) have one 127-mm cannon. Three new DDG-1000 Zumvolt-class destroyers under construction have two 155-mm guns each.
According to BAe Systems, the HVP projectile has a length of 609 millimeters and a mass of 12.7 kilograms, including a payload weighing 6.8 kilograms. The mass of the entire HVP launch kit is 18.1 kilograms with a length of 660 millimeters. Experts from BAe Systems claim that the maximum rate of fire for HVP projectiles is 20 rounds per minute from a 127 mm Mk45 cannon and 10 rounds per minute from a promising 155 mm DDG 1000 destroyer cannon, designated AGS (advanced gun system). The rate of fire from the EM cannon is six rounds per minute.
The firing range of HVP projectiles from the 127-mm Mk 45 Mod 2 cannon exceeds 74 kilometers, and when firing from the 155-mm cannon of the DDG-1000 destroyer - 130 kilometers. If these shells are fired from an EM cannon, the firing range will be more than 185 kilometers.
The Navy's RFI request sent to the industry in July 2015 for the production of a prototype EM cannon indicated the mass of the HVP projectile launcher at around 22 kilograms.
When fired from an artillery 127-mm cannon, the projectile reaches a speed corresponding to the number M = 3, which is half that when fired from an EM cannon, but more than twice the speed of a conventional 127-mm projectile launched from a ship's cannon Mk 45. This speed, according to experts, is quite enough to intercept at least some types of winged anti-ship missiles.
The advantage of the concept of using the 127-mm cannon and the HVP projectile is the fact that such cannons are already installed on cruisers and destroyers of the US Navy, which creates the preconditions for the rapid proliferation of new projectiles in the Navy as the development of HVP is completed and the integration of these weapons into the combat systems of the ships of the aforementioned types.
By analogy with shipborne laser weapons, even if hyperspeed projectiles fired from 127mm artillery cannons are incapable of countering ballistic anti-ship missiles, they will nevertheless improve the ship's combat effectiveness. The presence of these shells will allow the use of a smaller number of missiles to counter cruise anti-ship missiles, while increasing the number of missiles to intercept ballistic anti-ship missiles.
