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> Some US Navy ships have anti-ICBM capability, but that's only useful if a ship happens to be in the right position at the right time A lot of the interest in

> Some US Navy ships have anti-ICBM capability, but that's only useful if a ship happens to be in the right position at the right time A lot of the interest in surface ships shooting down ballistic missiles is because China and Russia have been developing hyper-sonic anti-ship missiles.

AtlasBarfed 5y ago
And the navy wants to pretend their surface fleet isn't sitting ducks against real state actors in an actual war with a real power. Allegedly the Navy has an actual usable point defense laser... but I strongly suspect all these high tech capital defenses are just the usual Navy boondoggles to enrich contractors and will be worthless against swarm drone attacks.
- Animats 5y ago
  Not yet. Laser defense systems keep getting better each year. Solid state 70KW lasers are in test. The consensus is that they start to get militarily useful above 100KW. Higher powered chemical lasers have been built, but were too bulky, fragile, and difficult to operate. The high point of this was MIRACL, a big fixed-installation megawatt chemical laser.[1] Israel tried a US-made chemical laser about a decade ago, and it worked against small rockets and artillery shells, but it took several semitrailers of support equipment. A newer one built in Israel is less bulky and solid state, and will probably go into service. These are all systems with ranges of tens of kilometers at maximum. ICBMs remain out of reach for now. The USAF is already testing lasers against drone swarms.[2] That's not as hard. 30KW can take out a drone, and the laser can be re-positioned fast. Truck-mounted versions of that will probably surround US air bases in hostile territory within a very few years. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIRACL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIRACL [2] https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a29727696/athena-laser-weapon/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a29727696...
  - AtlasBarfed 5y ago
    I get in, uh "discussions" with pro-navy people a lot about ICBMs. Admittedly I get most of my anti-surface navy bias from War Nerd and the Millenium Exercise...and Argentina sinking UK ships in the Falklands... but still. Is it true that the basic cruise supersonic missle that hugs the surface and then plops up and drops from above is basically undefendable by surface ships? It's guidance that is 1970s tech at best. Other Navy guys said their ships would start going into evasive maneuvers and no missle at hypersonic speeds could hit them. With JDAM tech that seems pretty specious.

AtlasBarfed 5y ago

And the navy wants to pretend their surface fleet isn't sitting ducks against real state actors in an actual war with a real power. Allegedly the Navy has an actual usable point defense laser... but I strongly suspect all these high tech capital defenses are just the usual Navy boondoggles to enrich contractors and will be worthless against swarm drone attacks.

Animats 5y ago
Not yet. Laser defense systems keep getting better each year. Solid state 70KW lasers are in test. The consensus is that they start to get militarily useful above 100KW. Higher powered chemical lasers have been built, but were too bulky, fragile, and difficult to operate. The high point of this was MIRACL, a big fixed-installation megawatt chemical laser.[1] Israel tried a US-made chemical laser about a decade ago, and it worked against small rockets and artillery shells, but it took several semitrailers of support equipment. A newer one built in Israel is less bulky and solid state, and will probably go into service. These are all systems with ranges of tens of kilometers at maximum. ICBMs remain out of reach for now. The USAF is already testing lasers against drone swarms.[2] That's not as hard. 30KW can take out a drone, and the laser can be re-positioned fast. Truck-mounted versions of that will probably surround US air bases in hostile territory within a very few years. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIRACL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIRACL [2] https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a29727696/athena-laser-weapon/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a29727696...
- AtlasBarfed 5y ago
  I get in, uh "discussions" with pro-navy people a lot about ICBMs. Admittedly I get most of my anti-surface navy bias from War Nerd and the Millenium Exercise...and Argentina sinking UK ships in the Falklands... but still. Is it true that the basic cruise supersonic missle that hugs the surface and then plops up and drops from above is basically undefendable by surface ships? It's guidance that is 1970s tech at best. Other Navy guys said their ships would start going into evasive maneuvers and no missle at hypersonic speeds could hit them. With JDAM tech that seems pretty specious.