Hip Pocket I & II

[A Tentative Fleet Plan]

From Norman Friedman's US Naval Weapons (1983) p161-162.

Hip Pocket I was authorized on the 30th of August, and evaluated from February-June 1972

The DDG-4 Lawrence was modernised with the following:

• Chapparel
• Redeye
• an IR Search and Track system
• a CW threat warning radar (sharing the SPS-10 aerial)
• IR shielding for her funnels
• a chaff mortar
• a flamethrower on her fantail (to act as an IR Decoy)

Also included was an ESM system with a computerised library for warning, providing an alarm automatically to the CIC, and a multiscan radar display, showing track history in a series of flashing lights.

Hip Pocket II was authorised in September 1972, and consisted of two separate ships:

DDG-13 Hoel (Pacific) and DLG-9 Coontz (Atlantic)

Hoel was fitted with the following improvements:

• The ALERT II ESM system (X-Ku Bands), sharing the antenna mount (which antenna is not made clear)
• a Passive Engagement System (PES), which automatically recognised threats and showed their direction in the CIC
• a Shipboard Infrared Surveillance System (SISS)
• a Dual-Spectrum Imaging Sensor (DSIS) for improved targeting detection and identification
• an IR Threat Acquisition and Verification System
• an active-passive range-gated TV camera (with a laser for ranging and dusk/night operation)
• A low-light-level antibloom television
• The SPG-53 (Mk 68 GFCS) was modified for better low-angle tracking.
• The SPS-10 was given an incoming target alarm and video clutter suppression and was to be able to react to threats closing at Mach 0.5-3.0.

The new weapon was a new Hybrid Missile System consisting of a modified Chaparral Launcher with a TV/laser tracker capable of firing Chapparel, dual-mode Redeye (passive radar homing added) and a third laser-guided missile called Hornet.

Passive defences included special low-emissivity paint, a "fire-room" shield spraying seawater against the ship's side to reduce IR emissions, rapid-bloom chaff (RBOC), an IR Decoy and a variety of laser designators.

Coontz was to test active gun defence, and was fitted Army Vulcan Air Defence Guns (VADS). Gun 1 was operator-controlled, with target range being supplied by sound-powered phone. It was also fitted with a stabilised lead-computing gunsight. Gun 2 however was controlled by a modified Mk-68 Gun Fire Control System. The ship was also fitted with an austere Link 11 NTDS receiver, and a 3-barreled XM-197 20mm gun on a Mk 10 pintle mount.

Of all the Hip Pocket II equipment, only the SPS-10 radar modifications were service approved.

 

[MJBurmaster]

Any idea of costs, given the DOD budget was stretched quite thin? Interesting pouring of new wine into an old bottle so to speak.

 

[A_Random_Guy]

dual-mode Redeye (passive radar homing added) and a third laser-guided missile called Hornet.

Sounds like a predecessor of RAM there.

Edit: Confirmed in this publication on the history of RAM development

https://secwww.jhuapl.edu/techdigest/content/techdigest/pdf/V22-N04/22-04-Elko.pdf

Hornet is probably a reference to the AGM-64 Hornet which was used for laser guided tests around that time.