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Phalanx CIWS for PN warships; How effective is it??
Topic Started: Jul 19 2006, 09:46 AM (4,740 Views)
gemini1
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Do we need to install the Phalanx CIWS to our existing naval assets? Just how effective is this weapons system anyway?

The Israeli Saar corvette was armed by this Phalanx weapons system yet 4 of its crews were killed when a C-802 silkworm missile hit the rear of this ship and damaged the helicopter pad and started a fire that took hours to extinguished.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htweap/ar...s/20060718.aspx

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> Chinese Anti-Ship Missiles in Lebanon </span>
July 18, 2006: Chinese C-802 ("Silkworm") anti-ship missiles were fired at an Israeli Saar class corvette off the Lebanese coast recently. Four of the crew were killed after the 20 foot long, 360mm, 1,500 pound missile hit the rear of the ship, destroying the helicopter pad, and starting a fire that took hours to extinguish. The C-802 has a 360 pound warhead, which must have been defective or detonated prematurely. That's because the Saars displace only 1,100 tons, are 281 feet long and have a crew of 61. The Saar carries dozens of missiles, and lots of fuel for its turbine engine, so it is unlikely that the S-802 scored a direct hit. This would have destroyed a ship the size of a Saar 5.

The Saar 5s carry a 20mm Phalanx auto cannon for knocking down anti-ship missiles, and, in this case, the Phalanx may have only been partially successful. A second C-802, fired at the same time, locked onto a near by Egyptian freighter, and sank it. Both ships were about 60 kilometers off the coast. The C-820 has a max range of 120 kilometers, and moves along at about 250 meters a second. Phalanx is supposed to be turned on whenever the ship is likely to have an anti-ship missile fired at it. The radar can spot incoming missiles out to about 5,000 meters, and the 20mm cannon is effective out to about 2,000 meters. With incoming missiles moving a 250 meters a second, you can see why Phalanx is set to automatic. There's not much time for human intervention. The Israelis are not releasing any information about how their defenses (including the electronic ones) handled the incoming C-802s.

Iran bought 150 C-802s from China in the early 1990s, but shipments were halted in 1995 because of diplomatic pressure from the United States. Iran is believed to be building its own version of the C-802, which is 30 year old technology. Several years ago, it was reported that C-802s had been shipped to Hizbollah. The C-802 needs a radar to spot the target at long distance, and guide the C-802 to the general vicinity of the target. In this case, the Lebanese government coastal radar apparently was used. As a result, Israel destroyed the Lebanese coastal radars after the use of these two C-802 missiles.


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MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS)

The MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS - pronounced "sea-whiz") is a fast-reaction, rapid-fire 20-millimeter gun system that provides US Navy ships with a terminal defense against anti-ship missiles that have penetrated other fleet defenses. Designed to engage anti-ship cruise missiles and fixed-wing aircraft at short range, Phalanx automatically engages functions usually performed by separate, independent systems such as search, detection, threat evaluation, acquisition, track, firing, target destruction, kill assessment and cease fire. Phalanx underwent operational tests and evaluation onboard USS Bigelow in 1977, and exceeded maintenance and reliability specifications. Phalanx production started in 1978 with orders for 23 USN and 14 Foreign Military Sales (FMS) systems.
Phalanx is a point-defense, total-weapon system consisting of two 20mm gun mounts that provide a terminal defense against incoming air targets. CIWS, without assistance from other shipboard systems, will automatically engage incoming anti-ship missiles and high-speed, low-level aircraft that have penetrated the ship primary defense envelope. As a unitized system, CIWS automatically performs search, detecting, tracking, threat evaluation, firing, and kill assessments of targets while providing for manual override. Each gun mount houses a fire control assembly and a gun subsystem. The fire control assembly is composed of a search radar for surveillance and detection of hostile targets and a track radar for aiming the gun while tracking a target. The unique closed-loop fire control system that tracks both the incoming target and the stream of outgoing projectiles gives CIWS the capability to correct its aim to hit fast-moving targets, including ASMs.

The gun subsystem employs a gatling gun consisting of a rotating cluster of six barrels. The gatling gun fires a 20mm subcaliber sabot projectile using a heavy-metal (either tungsten or depleted uranium) 15mm penetrator surrounded by a plastic sabot and a light-weight metal pusher. The gatling gun fires 20mm ammunition at either 3,000 or 4,500 rounds-per-minute with a burst length of continuous, 60, or 100 rounds.

CIWS has been a mainstay self defense system aboard nearly every class of ship since the late 70’s. It was originally designed to defeat low altitude antiship cruise missiles (ASCMs) and was called the block 0. As antiship cruise missiles became more complex in maneuvers and ability to be detected, and warfare areas moved from open ocean to littoral environments, CIWS has evolved to meet the threat.

Block 1 incorporated a new search antenna to detect high altitude missiles, improved search sensitivity, increased the ammunition available for firing by 50 percent, a pneumatic gun drive which increased the firing rate to 4500 rounds per minute, and started using tungsten ammunition as well as depleted uranium. Block I improvements provide increased elevation coverage, larger magazine space for increased round capacity, a variable and higher gun fire rate, and improved radar and processing capabilities.

Block 1A incorporated a new High Order Language Computer (HOLC) to provide more processing power over the obsolete general purpose digital computer, improved fire control algorithms to counter maneuvering targets, search multiple weapons coordination to better manage engagements, and an end-to-end testing function to better determine system functionality.

Block 1B Phalanx Surface Mode (PSUM) incorporates a side mounted Forward Looking Infrared Radar (FLIR) which enables CIWS to engage low slow or hovering aircraft and surface craft. Additionally, the FLIR assists the radar in engaging some ASCM’s bringing a greater chance of ship survivability. Block 1B uses a thermal imager Automatic Acquisition Video Tracker (AAVT) and stablilization system that provide surface mode and electro-optic (EO) angle track. These Block 1B enhancements will allow day/night detection capability and enable the CIWS to engage small surface targets, slow-moving air targets, and helicopters.
Baseline 2C improvements provide an integrated multi-weapon operations capability. During integrated operations, the command system controls CIWS sensors, target reports, mode employment, and doctrine. The sensors are utilized to provide 360 degree search and track coverage, while providing track data to, and receiving designations from, the Command system. This CIWS installation includes a conversion kit for each weapon group to facilitate ease and safety of maintenance; the "maintenance enclosure" kit installs the below-deck equipment for a gun mount in a prefabricated enclosure with the mount located above it.




Specifications
Primary Function Anti-ship missile defense
Contractor Raytheon Systems Company
(formerly Hughes Missile Systems Company and purchased from General Dynamics Pomona Division in 1992)
Weight 12,500 pounds (5,625 kg)
Later models 13,600 pounds (6,120 kg)
Range Classified
Gun Type M-61A1 Gatling
Type of Fire 3,000 rounds per minute
- Later models 4,500 rounds/min
(starting 1988 production, Pneumatic Gun Drive)
Magazine Capacity 989 rounds
Later models 1,550 rounds
Caliber 20mm
Ammunition Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS),
Depleted Uranium or Tungsten sub-caliber penetrator.
Sensors Self-contained search and track radar
Search Radar Ku-band; digital MTI
Track Radar Ku-band; pulse Doppler monopulse
E/O Sensor FLIR Imaging System with Automatic ACQ Tracker
Fire Control Director with closed-loop spotting
Gun Drive Pneumatic
Mount Drive Electric

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/weaps/mk-15.htm

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GKB02
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it clearly did its job, it probably hit the missile several meters away, a direct hit would have completely sunk the SAAR 5...
but i think the RAM(rolling airframe missile) will be replacing the PHALANX CIWS..

http://www.navysite.de/launcher/ram.htm
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al'Lan Mandragoran
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No weapon system will be 100% accurate, there will always be that likelihood of something and anything punching through any defense system, no matter how sophisticated.

"In wars, boy, fools kill other fools for foolish causes."

"Run when you have to, fight when you must, rest when you can."

- Robert Jordan; The Wheel of Time
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possible
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Apparently, this incident wasn't the fault of the boat's hardware per se, but rather the people feeding information to its operators.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Navy probe: Faulty intelligence behind missile ship hit

The Israeli warship's crew had only twenty seconds in which to identify the threat and respond.

The investigation found that at around 8 pm the Iranian-made missile was fired at the missile ship and exploded above it. The explosion and shock wave caused a fire and a hole in the vessel. Four crew were at first reported missing; they were later found dead.

According to the results of the investigation, in the absence of intelligence about anti-ship missiles, no such threat was defined in advance, and the missile ships' systems were deployed in standby mode and not in ready-to-fire mode.

Although the ship's defense systems spotted the incoming Iranian missile, the problem was cognitive. Because of the missile's speed and the short distance of the ship from shore (16 kilometers), and because the crew was unprepared for this kind of threat, the radar and electronic warfare systems operators had only 20 seconds to realize that they were under attack by an enemy missile.

The probe also found that a greater disaster was only narrowly avoided. Hizbullah fired two missiles at the ship. One missile hit and destroyed a Cambodian vessel with an Egyptian crew sailing a few dozen kilometers from the Israeli missile ship. The second missile hit the Israeli warship. Luckily, for unknown reasons, Hizbullah did not fire a third missile. The assessment is that a third missile could have sunk the Israeli ship.

http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/Doc...114951&fid=1725

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Quote:
 
According the the Israeli Navy, the ship's sophisticated automatic missile defense system was intentionally disabled. This was done for two reasons, one, there were many Israeli Air Force aircraft conducting operations in the vicinity of the ship and it was feared that the system may accidently be triggered by a friendly aircraft, potentially shooting it down. Second, there was no intelligence pointing to the fact that such a sophisticated missile, roughly equivalent to the American Harpoon, was deployed in Lebanon by Hezbollah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Hanit

But neither Jerusalem nor Washington had any idea that Hezbollah had such a missile in its arsenal, the officials said, adding that the Israeli ship had not even activated its missile defense system because intelligence assessments had not identified a threat from such a radar-guided cruise missile.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/world/mi.../19missile.html

The ship also had a Barak antimissile defense system which was unfortunately turned-off at the time of the attack.

Ultimately, operational effectiveness is a measure of the performance of all personnel involved, including the procurement staff choosing the equipment, the brass deciding how to deploy it, the people telling its operators what to watch-out for, and the shooter at the end of the chain.


War. What is it good for?--James Brown

What's love got to do with it?--Tina Turner

Only the intelligent are brave.
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gemini1
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So, a top of the line weapons system rendered inutile because of poor inteligence data?! and the fear of shooting down friendly force? I wonder if this could have been avoided if the Air force and the Navy had coordinated with each other like maybe ordering the air force planes to fly in a different direction or away from the Saar5 radar range? :dunno:
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seWer Rat
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amateur sewer cleaner

is the Silkworm a smaller missile than the Exocet?

during the Falklands War, a single Exocet missile hit and sunk a UK destroyer, the Saar 5 is smaller than a destroyer but why was it not sunk by the single missile hit?
To avoid criticism, write nothing, say nothing, do nothing, BE NOTHING.
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gemini1
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Quote:
 
is the Silkworm a smaller missile than the Exocet?

Specifications
It is based on the Russian SS-N-2 Styx missile, and has a maximum range of 95 km, with a 513 kilogram payload. Silkworm missiles are 7.36 metres long, and weigh 2988 kg. They can be launched from semi-mobile (towed) launchers or from ships.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silkworm_missile

General characteristics of exocet
Engine solid propellant engine
Launch mass 670 kg
Length 4.7 m
Diameter
Wingspan 1.1 m
Speed 315 m/s
Range 70 km
Flying altitude 2 m
Warhead 165 kg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exocet

With regards to the UK Destroyer sunk by an exocet missile;

An Exocet missile weighs a tonne and approaches its target at mach 3. That is about 3,500 kph. Even if it doesn't explode the impact of that weight at that speed is equivalent to a fully laden freight train at 80 kph. In tests during development, unexploded Exocet missiles passed completely through target ships. In the Falklands war one British Ship - HMS Sheffield - was penetrated by an Exocet missile which did not explode. However the missile's jet engine exhaust actually burned the light aluminium metal alloy used in the ship's construction triggering a fire which destroyed the ship.

www.watermagazine.com/rocket.htm - 19k

So maybe the silkworm missile that hit the Israeli Saar5 did not hit the ship in its most vulnerable part unlike the UK Destroyer? :dunno:
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GKB02
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my guess is that the phalanx hit the missile a few meters away explaining the minimal damage suffered by the ship...
we have a WW2 book and on the war on the pacific volume i remember a jap attack on a carrier were its bomb prematurely exploded on mid-air but still causing damage to the ship...
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FrustratedAFP
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Saan ilalagay ang CIWS? sa BRP Rizal???



:wow:
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eagle1
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"during the Falklands War, a single Exocet missile hit and sunk a UK destroyer, the Saar 5 is smaller than a destroyer but why was it not sunk by the single missile hit?"

maraming natutunan ang usn doon sa paggamit nang exocet nang argentina. naalala ko pa na kahit sa gitna nang dagat, nililipad ang mga "briefer" dala yoong penetrator nang exocet. maraming binago sa pagresponde sa damage control. i wont go into figures but i think any competent engineer could figure out the numbers. medyo maliit ang effective range nang ciws (kaya close in weapon or "last chance"). ang pinakamalayo ay kung hangang saan aabot ang bala at ang pinakamapit ay kung saan nababasa o nai-interpret nang computer ang radar return. there comes a point were this distance is just too short and the ciws may simply reset itself. my guess is the phalanx did not start firing until the missile was almost out of the window. if there was a hit, it wasnt enough to bring the missile down.
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