Nimitz has been symbol of United State’s military might, and has been used to project
power far from its coastlines.
Ford class super-carriers are being built to replace some of the United States Navy's
existing Nimitz-class carriers from 2017.
The first ship of this class is Gerald R. Ford is commission ‎on 22 July this year.
It has many key improvements over Nimitz class like Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System
and much more onboard power.
Russia’s 3M22 Zircon hypersonic cruise missile is expected to enter into production in 2018.
The new weapon is capable of speeds of more than Mach 6 is currently in final stage of
testing.
The missile is specifically designed to take out high value targets like aircraft carriers
and destroyers.
In this video, Defense Updates checks out if USS GERALD R FORD is capable of defending
itself against ZIRCON MISSILE.
Lets get started.
Zircon missile weights 5 tons.
It is equipped with a scramjet engine type, which compresses air before it enters the
combustion chamber.
The scramjet is an innovation on the ramjet, in which the combustion chamber is specially
designed to operate with supersonic airflow.
Ramjet engine powers the Indo Russian Brahmos supersonic cruise missile that can travel
at speeds of 2.8 to 3 Mach.
Scramjet is simply an acronym for 'supersonic combustion' ramjet.
Scramjet powered Zircon has a speed of Mach 6.2 (6,500 km/h) at a cruising altitude of
30 km.
So it is much faster than a bullet fired from a sniper rifle, actually twice the speed of
a sniper’s bullet.
The kinetic energy alone will rip a ship apart like a tin can.
The range is around 400km (250 miles), though some sources say it could be up to 1000 km
(620 miles).
The Zircon has both radar target seeker and an optical-electronic complex, to trace and
detect targets.
The missile can be equipped with a High Explosive (HE) warhead or even a tactical nuclear warhead.
Ford class carriers like Nimitz class have a layered anti missile defense system.
1. The RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) is a development of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow
missile used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft.
ESSM is designed to counter supersonic maneuvering anti-ship missiles.
It also has the ability to be "quad-packed" in the Mark 41 Vertical Launch System, allowing
up to four ESSMs to be carried in a single cell.
It has speed of more than 4 Mach and has a range of 50 km.
2/ The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air
missile It is used primarily as a point-defense weapon against ant ship cruise missiles.
The missile has a speed in excess of 2 Mach and has an operational range of 9 km.
3. The Phalanx CIWS is a close-in weapon system for defense against anti-ship missiles.
It is intended to provide last-ditch defense when the primary two options have not successfully
intercepted the incoming missile.
It consists of a radar-guided 20 mm Vulcan cannon mounted on a swiveling base.
It has firing rate of 75 rounds/second, range of 3.5 km and muzzle velocity of 1,100 m/s
For years, military planners have grouped carriers with other ships armed with missile
defense systems, using their own radars and interceptor missiles to protect the massive
carriers from existing projectiles.
So at any time the Ford will have a net of destroyers and or frigates around it.
Also, US Navy carrier groups have Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) that fly
ahead to look for potential threats.
It is likely that the Zircon will be detected as soon as it is launched.
At a distance of 400 km the Carrier Group will have only about 3.5 minutes to react.
The problem with intercepting will come because none of the current 3 anti missile defense
system available are meant to destroy hypersonic missiles, these can work against supersonic
missile though the success rate even in that case will depend on many factors.
As per most analysts, a swarm attack with of 5 to 6 highly maneuvering supersonic Brahmos
missile is expected to saturate the defenses and 1-2 is likely to score a hit.
In case of Zircon, the chances of penetrating the defenses are much higher owing to the
massive speed.
Even if the missile is broken up or detonated by close-in weapons, the debris will have
so much kinetic energy that the ship may still be badly damaged.
There has not been any specific comment from American military about Zircon missile but
sources in Britain have ringed the alarm bell.
In March this year, one senior British Naval source said: “Hypersonic missiles are virtually unstoppable”.
The Royal Navy’s Sea Ceptor missile defense installed on the latest Queen Elizabeth class
carrier like the US counterpart is designed to shoot down missiles travelling at supersonic
speeds not hypersonic speed.
As discussed, the current defense system will be found wanting against Zircon.
But US military has already stepped up the game.
One of the most important upgrades in Ford class compared to Nimitz class is the available
power.
2 Bechtel A1B nuclear reactors are installed in Gerald R. Ford.
Each one these are capable of producing 300 MW of electricity, triple the 100 MW of each
Nimitz-class reactors.
These have been installed so that the Ford class can be equipped with Laser guns in coming
days.
The LaWS, an acronym for Laser Weapons System is currently in testing phase and it is expected
that in future its variants will be installed in US navy ships.
Laser weapons begin with an advantage no other weapon ever invented comes even close to matching.
It moves, by definition, at the speed of light.
For comparison, that is more than 50,000 times the speed of an incoming missile like Zircon.
LASER weapons will be the apt answer for defending against Zircon missile.
In current state, the Zircon missile is a mighty adversary to US Navy carrier groups
and will potentially make the US carriers stay out of its range.
In future, laser weapons will be able to level the playing field.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has recently published its report
on military spending of 2016.
US still dominate the space and on a grand scale, the report showed.
Total US military expenditure of $611 billion is over one-third of world military expenditure.
This is nearly 3 times the level of China’s spending, which is ranked second, and 9 times
the spending of Russia which is ranked 4th.
It is clear that Russia cannot match the US, platform to platform in military hardware,
for example it cannot build so many aircraft carriers to equal the US carrier fleet.
Hence, it is focusing on developing asymmetric warfare capabilities and Zircon is designed
keeping that in mind.
As of today, Zircon missile costing few million dollars is technically capable of taking out
a newly build 13 billion dollar carrier.