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"anti-ship ballistic missiles" Interesting guidance problem.

by dboreham 3y ago

pclmulqdq 3y ago
[flagged]
- dibujaron 3y ago
  This may sound silly, but until this comment I, a non-gun-user, always vaguely thought that the AR in AR-15 stood for Assault Rifle. Apparently it's ArmaLite Rifle. Huh.
  - sbierwagen 3y ago
    A division of Fairchild Aircraft, which explains how they got all those contracts with the USAF. Sadly, their connections inside the Army were not nearly as strong, resulting in the well known political/procurement issues they had turning the AR-15 into the M16.
- carbocation 3y ago
  The United States Central Command referred to these as anti-ship ballistic missiles. https://x.com/centcom/status/1741259817602429357?s=46&t=AtAAe5CygVyrPs33NWR3hA https://x.com/centcom/status/1741259817602429357?s=46&t=AtAA...
- thunderbird120 3y ago
  The Houthis possess both true ASBMs and land attack ballistic missiles which have been shot at and hit ships in the past few weeks. The second can only ever work if the ship is totally stationary but these were identified as ASBMs by U.S. Central command which can presumably tell the difference based on whether or not the missiles actually maneuver to hit moving targets. The US navy shot a few more down immediately afterwards.
exabrial 3y ago
It went pointy end up I guess? Was scratching my head over the same thing.
29athrowaway 3y ago
It is possible if you have static vessels like the board game Battleship.
fsckboy 3y ago
as opposed to meaning "parabolic", ballistic means they don't have propulsion after the launch phase, they are in free-fall under the influence of gravity, but like a person in a parachute, they're still able to steer within the envelope of hurtling to the earth
wolverine876 3y ago
IIRC when China developed the first one, it was a game-changer in the western Pacific. Until then, US carriers and other ships could safely go where they wanted, including within range of Taiwan in case of a war. The US Navy had sufficient defenses against 'cruise' anti-ship missiles (that fly parallel to the ground, like planes). But ballistic missiles are much harder to intercept (and I think have much greater range) and China was able to put the carriers, then the core of US naval power, at risk. Submarines also help, and the US is now shifting away from dependence on its carriers. I'm surprised the Houthis have them, or even Iran. I thought it was still only a capability of a few countries.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  If I understand correctly, China has a much harder problem than the Houthis. Knowing where a carrier is that is 200 miles behind Taiwan, so 300 miles off the coast of China, knowing the location accurately enough to give targeting information to a missile... that's a hard problem. Knowing where a ship is in a straight that's 30 miles wide? That's a lot easier. So I suspect that the Houthis can't do what the Chinese can.

"anti-ship ballistic missiles" Interesting guidance problem.

pclmulqdq 3y ago

[flagged]

dibujaron 3y ago
This may sound silly, but until this comment I, a non-gun-user, always vaguely thought that the AR in AR-15 stood for Assault Rifle. Apparently it's ArmaLite Rifle. Huh.
- sbierwagen 3y ago
  A division of Fairchild Aircraft, which explains how they got all those contracts with the USAF. Sadly, their connections inside the Army were not nearly as strong, resulting in the well known political/procurement issues they had turning the AR-15 into the M16.
carbocation 3y ago
The United States Central Command referred to these as anti-ship ballistic missiles. https://x.com/centcom/status/1741259817602429357?s=46&t=AtAAe5CygVyrPs33NWR3hA https://x.com/centcom/status/1741259817602429357?s=46&t=AtAA...
thunderbird120 3y ago
The Houthis possess both true ASBMs and land attack ballistic missiles which have been shot at and hit ships in the past few weeks. The second can only ever work if the ship is totally stationary but these were identified as ASBMs by U.S. Central command which can presumably tell the difference based on whether or not the missiles actually maneuver to hit moving targets. The US navy shot a few more down immediately afterwards.

exabrial 3y ago

It went pointy end up I guess? Was scratching my head over the same thing.

29athrowaway 3y ago

It is possible if you have static vessels like the board game Battleship.

fsckboy 3y ago

as opposed to meaning "parabolic", ballistic means they don't have propulsion after the launch phase, they are in free-fall under the influence of gravity, but like a person in a parachute, they're still able to steer within the envelope of hurtling to the earth

wolverine876 3y ago

IIRC when China developed the first one, it was a game-changer in the western Pacific. Until then, US carriers and other ships could safely go where they wanted, including within range of Taiwan in case of a war. The US Navy had sufficient defenses against 'cruise' anti-ship missiles (that fly parallel to the ground, like planes). But ballistic missiles are much harder to intercept (and I think have much greater range) and China was able to put the carriers, then the core of US naval power, at risk. Submarines also help, and the US is now shifting away from dependence on its carriers. I'm surprised the Houthis have them, or even Iran. I thought it was still only a capability of a few countries.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
AnimalMuppet 3y ago
If I understand correctly, China has a much harder problem than the Houthis. Knowing where a carrier is that is 200 miles behind Taiwan, so 300 miles off the coast of China, knowing the location accurately enough to give targeting information to a missile... that's a hard problem. Knowing where a ship is in a straight that's 30 miles wide? That's a lot easier. So I suspect that the Houthis can't do what the Chinese can.