The second "multipurpose" promising destroyer DDG-1001 USS "Michael Monsoor" of the "Zumwalt" class, worth more than $ 3.5 billion, came off the stocks of the Bath Iron Warks shipyard, located on the river. Kennebec, Maine December 6, 2017. On the central American TV channels and other media, this event was covered with the already familiar pathos and majesty characteristic of Western Internet publications. At the same time, almost no one bothered to report the latest, most significant news regarding a radical change in the concept of using new stealth crabs, which was announced by Rear Admiral of the US Navy Ron Boxale and representatives of the US Naval Institute on their website a few days before launching of the 2nd "Zamvolta".
According to Ron Boxale, the command of the US Navy is increasingly leaning towards building up exclusively anti-ship capabilities of the Zamwolts, allowing them to carry out massive missile strikes against enemy ship and aircraft carrier strike groups. At the same time, the multipurpose designation of destroyers of this class is mentioned less and less often. Initially, the DD21 projects, and then DD (X), provided for the development of a rather heavy multipurpose surface warship with a displacement of more than 10 thousand tons, which should approximately correspond to the dimensions of the Arley Burke destroyers and the Ticonderoga missile cruisers, but significantly outstrip the latter in the range of weapons used, flexibility of use against coastal and remote continental targets of the enemy, as well as against surface and air targets. For this, the specialists of the company "Raytheon", participating in the design of the weapons control system and the radar architecture of the stealthy destroyer (MRLS AN / SPY-3), have developed a promising 711-mm quadruple universal launcher Mk 57 PVLS, from which, using transport and launch tubes of various caliber, it is possible to unify all existing tactical, strategic, anti-submarine and anti-aircraft guided missiles in service with the American fleet. Along the sides of the destroyer, 20 similar quadruple UVPUs are installed, therefore, the number of TPK with weapons reaches 80 units.
One of the main ideas of the developers was to equip the missile destroyer with a displacement of 14,564 tons (1.5 times more than that of the Ticonderoga-class missile launcher) with the possibility of high-precision artillery support for US ILC landing operations in the coastal zones of enemy states. To do this, the ships were equipped with two 155-mm artillery mounts AGS ("Advanced Gun System") with a rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute and a range of no more than 35 km when using standard high-explosive fragmentation shells (considering that the 127-mm AU Mk 45 s barrel length 54 caliber has a range of 23.2 km). The total ammunition load of 2 guns, including containers with automated round feed, is 920 shells, 600 of which (300 for each AGS gun) are located directly in the automatic loaders. Meanwhile, the use of standard artillery ammunition absolutely does not correspond to the modern operational-tactical conditions for carrying out artillery support of amphibious operations in the littoral zone. The ship and its crew will be in great danger. The fact is that in this case, in order to confidently defeat the enemy's coastal infrastructure, Zamvolt-class destroyers must approach the enemy territory at a distance of 30 km. This means only one thing: the destroyer will be in the engagement zone not only of the enemy's anti-ship and multipurpose missile systems, but also of conventional self-propelled and towed artillery installations firing large-caliber long-range active-rocket projectiles with a range of up to 40 km or more. For this reason, back in 2006, it was decided to abandon the use of standard artillery shells with a short range.
A way out of the situation was found in the development by BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin of a 155-mm promising guided active-rocket projectile LRLAP (Long Range Land Projectile), designed to destroy ground targets at distances up to 137 km (74 nautical miles) with a circular probable deviation of about 25 m. The projectile with a length of 2240 mm and a mass of 102 kg is equipped with: a powerful solid propellant charge with a long period of operation, which allows it to accelerate to a speed of more than 1000 m / s (the initial velocity after leaving the bore of the AGS gun is only 825 m / s), small nose aerodynamic rudders, 8 drop-down tail fins, GPS / radio command guidance module, as well as a 25-kg warhead with a PBXN-9 explosive mass of about 11.2 kg. Since mid-2005, the first 15 products (produced in 2004-2005) have undergone a series of firing tests, demonstrating the unique flight reliability of the INS and aerodynamic plane control drives. It also became known that moving along a "quasi-ballistic" trajectory, the LRLAP overcomes a 110-kilometer section in 280 seconds. This is due to significant ballistic braking on the descending trajectory.
Initially, it was assumed that each promising guided missile would cost the American taxpayers about 35 thousand dollars, but later the products underwent self-inflation due to the multiple reduction of the series of stealth destroyers to 3 units. As a result, the cost of one LRAP reached almost $ 0.8 million, which is only 1.5 times cheaper than the AIM-120D super-long-range guided missile ($ 1.2 million). Such costs were unacceptable even for the country's largest printing press, which was reflected in a short publication of the Defense News, which, with reference to the US Navy command, announced the abandonment of the LRLAP program. Considering that the caliber of the AGS gun is 155 mm, information has appeared about the possible adaptation of guided active-reactive guided projectiles of the related M982 "Excalibur" family, but to date the fate of the M982 integration program into the Mk 45 mod 4 artillery installation has not been determined. As a result, the US Navy receives 2 advanced fully "digital" and automated destroyers that are not capable of solving one of the most important tasks - artillery support of the US Marine Corps units. At the same time, the issue with two unused 155-mm artillery mounts will have to be resolved immediately (either by adapting Excalibur, or by returning to the idea of “supporting” conventional ballistic shells).
Now let's look at the situation with the anti-aircraft and anti-missile capabilities of the Zumwalt-class destroyers. Here the situation is much better than with an undefined "artillery asset". In particular, the universal vertical launchers (UVPU) Mk 57 PVLS ("Peripheral Vertical Launching System") have a number of significant advantages over the standard UVPU Mk 41. First of all, it is a significantly larger capacity of 28-inch (711-mm) transport launch containers of square cross-section in comparison with 22-inch (558-mm) TPK types Mk 13, 14 (mod 0/1), 15 launcher Mk 41. Due to this, each Mk 57 cell can accept as standard "equipment" in in the form of 4 defensive missile interceptors RIM-162 ESSM, and more interesting configurations (with appropriate adaptation): one ultra-long-range missile RIM-174 ERAM, an anti-missile RIM-161A / B with a kinetic interceptor Mk 142, or up to 9 advanced anti-aircraft guided short-range missiles RIM-116B by analogy with the ESSM complex, but in greater numbers. The standard transport and launch cup Mk 57 has a high modernization potential due to the length of 8 meters: thanks to this, it is possible to unify promising missiles and anti-missiles with the UVPU, which are only under development.
Despite the fact that the current concept of using Zamvolt-class destroyers does not provide for the fulfillment of regional missile defense tasks at all and official sources do not report on the use of Standards-2/3/6 from Mk 57 launchers, the latter may well be easily unified with a flexibly programmable CIUS interface of the TSCEI type, based on the high-performance terminals PPC-7A, PPC7-D and PMCD3, which synchronize all control systems for various types of weapons and radar facilities into a single combat complex. For network-centric interaction with other ships of the class, the CEC ("Consumer Electronics Control") tactical information exchange bus is used, represented by an encrypted decimeter radio channel for the exchange of tactical information with a pseudo-random restructuring of the operating frequency of the frequency hopper, similar to the "Link -16" radio channel. The latter's terminal is also present on Zamwolt-class destroyers for integration into the US Navy's advanced network-centric Kill Web concept, which has been carefully developed over the past few years on all Aegis ships, submarines, anti-submarine aircraft, as well as carrier-based aircraft during separate exercises of the US Navy, as well as joint exercises with the Japanese Navy and / or the Royal Australian Navy, which are armed with "Aegis" destroyers of such classes as "Congo", "Atago" and "Hobart" (type "AWD").
It is through Link-16 and / or other auxiliary radio channels that Zamvolty CEC buses will be able to receive target designation from numerous third-party sources of radar detection and tracking and optical-electronic reconnaissance means. These include the Arleigh Burke-class URO-class destroyers and the Ticonderoga-class URO-class destroyers equipped with multifunctional AN / SPY-1A / D type PFAR radar. Operating in the decimeter S-band and having an average power of 58 kW, these radars are capable of detecting high-speed ballistic and aerodynamic high-altitude targets at significantly greater distances than the AN / SPY-3 radar system installed on the Zumwalt. Radar data are represented by a 3-sided active phased antenna array with a Y-shaped spatial orientation of the AFAR cloths. The advantage of the AN / SPY-3 is the ability to target multiple anti-aircraft missiles with semi-active RGSN type RIM-162 ESSM at air targets, which is achieved due to the centimeter X-band of operation (in the frequency range of 8 - 12 GHz). The second advantage of the X-band can be considered the absence of unwanted multiple reflections from the water surface when working on low-altitude anti-ship missiles and other air attack weapons (S-band radars of the AN / SPY-1 family are familiar with this problem). The main disadvantage of the AN / SPY-3 centimeter range is a high attenuation coefficient in the atmosphere, which, together with a smaller antenna array area, leads to a decrease in the detection range of distant aerospace objects.
Consequently, in terms of air defense and missile defense, Zamvolt-class destroyers can only boast of a high potential for self-defense against massive anti-ship attacks by the enemy. As for the possibilities of implementing a regional missile defense, here promising destroyers can act only as floating arsenals with 80 cells of the Mk 57 UVPU for SM-3/6 interceptor missiles, which will be guided by Arley Burkeys, Ticonderogs, AWACS aircraft as well as ground-based radar detectors. From this conclusion: to participate in the construction of powerful sea or ocean aerospace boundaries A2 / AD, destroyers of the "Zamvolt" type must either stay within the KUG / AUG order, or move away from it at a distance of no more than 150 km, because alone expensive destroyers will be negligible.
A similar picture can be seen when familiarizing with the Japanese Akizuki-class multipurpose URO-class destroyers and Hyuga-class helicopter carriers. The ships are equipped with centimeter dual-band FCS-3A type radar with four-sided antenna posts. Each side has a C-band radar detector (larger canvas) and an X-band illumination and guidance radar (smaller canvas). The latter provides stable multichannel illumination of air targets for missiles of the RIM-162B type, software and hardware not adapted for use in versions of the Aegis system. These ships are also not intended for operations in the upper line anti-missile defense systems, but they may well be used as floating ammunition sets due to the presence of the Mk 41 type UVPU (but only after the installation of the Mk 21 transport and launch containers, designed to use the RIM-174 ERAM and RIM-161A / B).
It is noteworthy that when performing anti-ship operations in the ocean / sea theater of operations, on which Rear Admiral Ron Boxale recently focused, Zamvolt-class destroyers have the ability to approach the enemy's AUG / KUG 3 times closer than a conventional air defense-missile defense destroyer Arley Burke. All this is possible due to a 40 times smaller effective scattering surface (ESR), which is achieved by the angular shapes of the sides and superstructure, the reverse blockage of the sides and stem, as well as the use of radio-absorbing coatings with a physical size of about 1 inch. For example, if the Novella-P-38 search and sighting complex detects an Arleigh Burke-type target at a distance of 270 - 300 km, then the Zumwalt will be detected from a distance of 90 - 120 km. And this is already enough to leave our or Chinese naval strike groups a minimum of time to repel a massive anti-ship attack. So, for example, promising stealthy anti-ship missiles AGM-158C LRASM, as well as "Tomahawks" in the RGM-109B TASM modification are able to cover this distance in just 9-10 minutes, and there can be about 50 such missiles, given that some of the Mk 57 is occupied by SAM RIM-162 "Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles". The high-speed anti-ship variants of the "Standards", which can also be used from the UVPU Mk 57, can deliver even more trouble to our fleet.
In early 2016, the then head of the US defense department Ashton Carter made an important announcement about the ongoing development program for a promising 4-speed anti-ship missile based on the RIM-174 ERAM (SM-6) ultra-long-range missile defense system. As you know, back on April 7, 1973, the US Navy conducted successful field tests of the anti-ship modification of the RIM-66F missile defense system with an active first-generation radar homing head. Unlike the previous modification RIM-66D SSM-ARM ("Surface-to-Surface Missile / Anti-Radiation Missile"), designed to destroy radio-emitting targets and equipped with a passive RGSN, the new product could hit all types of radio-contrast surface objects. Possessing a full-fledged quasi-ballistic trajectory with an upper point in the region of 22 km, the RIM-66F rocket could overcome about 50 - 60 km with an approach speed of about 1 - 1, 2M, while the RCS of 0, 15 m2 did not make it possible to effectively intercept it with existing shipborne SAM. But the missile was not destined to be embodied "in the serial hardware" of this missile, unlike the RIM-66D radar missile: the command of the US Navy gave preference to the RGM-84A subsonic anti-ship missile being developed, which was put into service in 1977. The RIM-66F project was closed in 1975.
41 years later, based on the experience of converting the first "Standard" into a short-range ballistic anti-ship missile, the project was restored, but on the basis of the SM-6. The increase in operational and tactical capabilities of this missile is simply enormous. In particular, thanks to the use of the Mk 72 solid-propellant booster stage (the mass of the solid-propellant charge is 468 kg) with an operating time of 6 s and a specific impulse of 265 s, the proto-ship SM-6 will rise to the upper layers of the stratosphere (to an altitude of 45 km), after which, gaining a speed of 4M, will move with slight ballistic braking and descent. In this case, the descending branch of the trajectory can stretch for a couple of hundred kilometers. As a result, together with the launch site, the flight range of such a high-speed anti-ship missile can reach 250 - 300 km. The approaching speed of a dive to a target can range from 1.5 to - 2.5M (depending on the preselected dive angle). The above angle can reach 85 - 90 degrees, which is why not all existing shipborne radars will be able to detect ballistic anti-ship missiles, since the elevation zones of the scanning beam of most of them do not exceed 75 - 80 degrees.
Approximately the same list of disadvantages and advantages is possessed by the class of stealth destroyers "Zumwalt" in the existing version. Despite the narrow specialization of the AN / SPY-3 shipborne radar system, as well as the lack of readiness of the 155-mm AGS artillery mounts to perform the assigned tasks, the seemingly defective modernized US monitor is an extremely dangerous enemy for the ships of the Russian Navy, as well as the Chinese Navy, which is achieved due to the use of stealth elements of the hull and superstructure, which reduce the image intensifier to the parameters of an "aluminum boat" with the simultaneous possibility of using the latest samples of anti-ship weapons, including supersonic ones. Successful detection, tracking and destruction of this class of stealthy destroyers can be carried out only by combining the actions of all components of the fleet, where radio-technical means of patrol aviation and sonar systems of multipurpose nuclear submarines will play a decisive role.
