Arleigh Burke Flight IIA and III

Scott Kenny said:
And a JAGM isn't likely to even mission kill an 85+ meter long ship.
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Ages ago I've seen on Quora a pic of a warship with a fairly large hangar getting absolutely obliterated in the rear end topside, the blast gouged a hole out of the hangar and midship, plus everything mast in the close vicinity was ripped down. The poster revealed that the damage was caused by a Hellfire thermobaric variant if my memories doesn't fail me.

JAGM with a good blast-frag sleeve and incendiary agents should pose a substantial threat, especially after penetrating several feet of steel (or better, aluminum or composite).
 
Scott Kenny said:
I think the only ships getting into line-of-sight for Harpoons are likely to be FACs, but there may be a few oddities like the big Sa'ar-5 and -6 that would get within range. And a JAGM isn't likely to even mission kill an 85+ meter long ship.
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Where are you getting this LoS stuff from for harpoons? They have a range of like 75miles.
Not great but well beyond LoS unless you’re in an aircraft.

A mission kill is not hard to achieve…just damage the ship’s radar. Length and tonnage are pretty irrelevant if they have a conventional radar mounted on top of a mast.

Edit
BlockII harpoons have a 120nmi range
 
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yeetmahboi said:
Ages ago I've seen on Quora a pic of a warship with a fairly large hangar getting absolutely obliterated in the rear end topside, the blast gouged a hole out of the hangar and midship, plus everything mast in the close vicinity was ripped down. The poster revealed that the damage was caused by a Hellfire thermobaric variant if my memories doesn't fail me.

JAGM with a good blast-frag sleeve and incendiary agents should pose a substantial threat, especially after penetrating several feet of steel (or better, aluminum or composite).
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Are you thinking of the Turkish destroyer that got hit by a sea sparrow by accident?

Edit
Google has found some results. Helo launched hellfire into an OHP.
Had it hit amidships or the superstructure, that very likely would have been a mission kill. If not one, definitely with two.
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y53fxeC-u5k
 
One last thing for the night.
I’m still not particularly convinced we’ll be seeing long range missile engagements between surface combatants.

To date every combat missile launch from a surface vessel has occurred within mk7 gun range. I think only 1 combat ASM launch not from a shore battery has occurred outside of mk7 range, and that was from a jet during the falklands war, and was only a few miles outside of mk7 range by just a few miles.

The farther away you launch the more warning and heads up you give your target, giving them time to react and engage their defenses. The closer you get the more element of surprise you get.
 
Scott Kenny said:
I want Harpoons or NSMs so I don't waste SM2s or especially SM6s on ships, or Tomahawks on close targets.

Harpoons/NSMs are for the larger FACs, JAGMs for speedboats and USVs.
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If you have hostile surface ships(including FACs) in firing range - it isn't waste, it's surface action(may as well be general action).
It isn't a waste. Also, while purpose-designed ASCMs are generally better at finding and selecting targets - it isn't necessarily true for older missiles.

Overall, while i am very much positive for JAGMs, harpoons are a yet another unnecessary weapon system onboard - low added value for real additional spending.
 
johnpjones1775 said:
Where are you getting this LoS stuff from for harpoons? They have a range of like 75miles.
Not great but well beyond LoS unless you’re in an aircraft.
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Still need radar contact to tell the Harpoons where to go. And shipboard radars don't have more than about 50nmi range.

Yes, if they have a datalink you can take advantage of more range.
 
One would be excused for being more than a trifle skeptical about that assertion...
 
Scott Kenny said:
I think the only ships getting into line-of-sight for Harpoons are likely to be FACs, but there may be a few oddities like the big Sa'ar-5 and -6 that would get within range. And a JAGM isn't likely to even mission kill an 85+ meter long ship.
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How many times are you near a FAC that could not be handles numerous other ways? And how much of a magazine extension is 8 missiles? There’s no point in yanking the launchers but they are barely a tertiary armament. I’d certainly trade them for a JAGM battery. Far more useful. The USN is already talking about using them against UAVs and cruise missile. That would truly extend magazines in a meaningful way.
 
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Grey Havoc said:
One would be excused for being more than a trifle skeptical about that assertion...
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Well the biggest difference is that the USN actually *wants* the upgrades and to put the ships into service. I suspect one failure of the cruiser program is that the USN never considered it a priority; it was congressionally mandated and there was no choice in the matter. IMO, Congress should not force the services hand with such micro management.
 
Josh_TN said:
Well the biggest difference is that the USN actually *wants* the upgrades and to put the ships into service. I suspect one failure of the cruiser program is that the USN never considered it a priority; it was congressionally mandated and there was no choice in the matter. IMO, Congress should not force the services hand with such micro management.
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They do it because then they can tell constituents they saved/brought jobs to them.
 
johnpjones1775 said:
Eh, no bridge is necessary, just cross from one side to the other inside the ship.
The only real problem I could see from that placement is UNREP, the primary strike down hatch for food and many other goods is on the back of the forward super structure iirc.
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My memory was that the launchers sat on a bridge or platform because there wasn't enough space on the deck, but maybe also to ensure that there was direct access to the strike down hatch. But as I say, it's a 20+ year old memory. I used to have a copy of the plan but I haven't seen it in a while.
 

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