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They are to some extent? One issue of radar-directed machine guns in the context of the Red Sea is that machine gun range is limited, so they can only provide

They are to some extent? One issue of radar-directed machine guns in the context of the Red Sea is that machine gun range is limited, so they can only provide point defense. This means that a warship can only protect itself, and any commercial ships that are -very- nearby. Yes, you could probably figure out a way to rig up a lot of these onto smaller ships to escort individual ships/convoys through, but hey you go to war with the navy you have. Unironically, the LCS's might be useful in this role. More generally, you see stuff like the army's new M-SHORAD having missiles (Stinger+Hellfire) and 30mm + 7.62mm guns.

WalterBright 3y ago
I was thinking of the recent drone attack on a military base, where three soldiers were killed.
- icegreentea2 3y ago
  Oh. Yeah, I mean there's nothing preventing such a system - land based Phalanx is a thing. We also don't know what air defenses were even at the base (maybe they already had land based Phalanx...). Sounds like the base was caught by surprise.
  - swagasaurus-rex 3y ago
    There was a friendly drone returning to base, so their defensive systems were turned off.
- giantrobot 3y ago
  There is such a system, it's called C-RAM and is basically a Phallanx mounted on a trailer. You can find videos of them working at bases in Iraq recently. There's also smaller systems in development like M-SHORAD and MADIS (Army and Marines respectively if I remember right). Whether stuff like that is deployed to a particular base is a question of them being available and the particular location being well supplied enough to use them. The M-SHORAD and MADIS systems are designed to mount on light vehicles so they can be deployed more readily and to smaller forward positions.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  Isn't it the same problem - you need complete sensor and shooter coverage of the entire perimeter. Bases are pretty large - much larger than ships. Also, as Hamas did, an attacker can try to overwhelm one point of defense, which means your sensors, targeting computers, and shooters need lots of extra availability (extra equipment and soldiers) everywhere. I don't think you'd want the perimeter of a base covered with auto-targeting/firing guns. And also, on what does all that metal (bullets) land?
  - NavinF 3y ago
    > on what does all that metal (bullets) land? The Phalanx CIWS uses explosive incendiary tracer rounds on land. They self destruct after missing the target to avoid collateral damage
    - wolverine876 3y ago
      That's an interesting technology. Could it be used by everyone, in civilian guns? It might prevent a lot of bystander casualties from stray bullets, richochets, etc. OTOH, perhaps for bullets that hit, explosions occur on the target? That would not be good. (Tracers would be useful for bystanders and law enforcement. Self-detonating or not, maybe all ammunition should be tracers?)
      - Arrath 3y ago
        Careless recreational shooters[] regularly start fires when using tracer ammunition. There would definitely be downsides to mandating that all ammunition be tracer rounds. []Also routine training exercises on military ranges.
- jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
  In that specific attack there was a problem where it coincidentally happened at the same time a US drone was landing, so there was some confusion over the threat.
- numpad0 3y ago
  I suspect it has to do with western military industry shifting towards premium low volume products since the end of the last war, perhaps because making weapons of war had been weird to some people lately. They don't make hand portable or vehicle mountable 7.62mm or .50cal or 14.5mm mini-CIWS, only the multi-trailer ship-sized versions that are total overkill for drones.

WalterBright 3y ago

I was thinking of the recent drone attack on a military base, where three soldiers were killed.

icegreentea2 3y ago
Oh. Yeah, I mean there's nothing preventing such a system - land based Phalanx is a thing. We also don't know what air defenses were even at the base (maybe they already had land based Phalanx...). Sounds like the base was caught by surprise.
- swagasaurus-rex 3y ago
  There was a friendly drone returning to base, so their defensive systems were turned off.
giantrobot 3y ago
There is such a system, it's called C-RAM and is basically a Phallanx mounted on a trailer. You can find videos of them working at bases in Iraq recently. There's also smaller systems in development like M-SHORAD and MADIS (Army and Marines respectively if I remember right). Whether stuff like that is deployed to a particular base is a question of them being available and the particular location being well supplied enough to use them. The M-SHORAD and MADIS systems are designed to mount on light vehicles so they can be deployed more readily and to smaller forward positions.
wolverine876 3y ago
Isn't it the same problem - you need complete sensor and shooter coverage of the entire perimeter. Bases are pretty large - much larger than ships. Also, as Hamas did, an attacker can try to overwhelm one point of defense, which means your sensors, targeting computers, and shooters need lots of extra availability (extra equipment and soldiers) everywhere. I don't think you'd want the perimeter of a base covered with auto-targeting/firing guns. And also, on what does all that metal (bullets) land?
- NavinF 3y ago
  > on what does all that metal (bullets) land? The Phalanx CIWS uses explosive incendiary tracer rounds on land. They self destruct after missing the target to avoid collateral damage
  - wolverine876 3y ago
    That's an interesting technology. Could it be used by everyone, in civilian guns? It might prevent a lot of bystander casualties from stray bullets, richochets, etc. OTOH, perhaps for bullets that hit, explosions occur on the target? That would not be good. (Tracers would be useful for bystanders and law enforcement. Self-detonating or not, maybe all ammunition should be tracers?)
    - Arrath 3y ago
      Careless recreational shooters[] regularly start fires when using tracer ammunition. There would definitely be downsides to mandating that all ammunition be tracer rounds. []Also routine training exercises on military ranges.
jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
In that specific attack there was a problem where it coincidentally happened at the same time a US drone was landing, so there was some confusion over the threat.
numpad0 3y ago
I suspect it has to do with western military industry shifting towards premium low volume products since the end of the last war, perhaps because making weapons of war had been weird to some people lately. They don't make hand portable or vehicle mountable 7.62mm or .50cal or 14.5mm mini-CIWS, only the multi-trailer ship-sized versions that are total overkill for drones.