- [Narrator] In late November,
this guided missile destroyer, the USS Carney,
shot down a drone launched
by Houthis-controlled territory in Yemen.
Just one month earlier, the ship intercepted several drones
and cruise missiles fired by the Houthis.
The Carney and other destroyers were sent to the Middle East
with carrier strike groups to deter the Houthis
and other militant group, like Hezbollah,
from getting involved in the Israel-Hamas war.
So how did the Carney spot and shoot down
the drones and missiles, and how else could the destroyer
and its numerous defensive systems
come into play in this conflict?
Destroyers like the USS Carney have a few purposes,
but experts say the main one is to protect
their carrier strike group, an aircraft carrier
and several ships that travel together.
To do this, they use an automated and fully integrated
combat system called AEGIS.
- The DDG destroyers really are defined
by the AEGIS combat system.
It's the brains that pulls all these elements together.
- [Narrator] AEGIS is a reference
to Zeus's protective shield in ancient Greek mythology.
It connects various weapon systems on board,
from the radar to the missile launch systems contributing
to both offensive and defensive operations.
To spot potential threats,
the ship employs the SPY-1D radar, the eyes of the system.
Four antennas on various sides of the ship provide
full 360 degree coverage of the destroyer's surroundings.
And the radar can detect a target
as small as a golf ball over 102 miles away,
and automatically track
more than 100 targets simultaneously.
- Should it pick something up,
it's going to deposit more energy on that
and develop a track and figure out, hey, what is this?
Classify it. Is it hostile?
- [Narrator] After the radar has detected
and identified a threat,
AEGIS works with the other systems to intercept it.
To do this, AEGIS communicates
with the MK41 Vertical Launch System,
a multi-cell module built into the hull of the ship
that can fire almost any kind of navy missile.
It has a rapid fire capability that enables the destroyer
to effectively handle numerous incoming missiles.
In the case of the October Houthis attack,
the vertical launch system deployed SM-2s
to intercept four missiles.
- Fundamentally, the SM-2s are an anti-air effector,
and so think going after cruise missiles
or going after enemy aircraft,
but also as well a handful of other things.
- [Narrator] SM-2s have a range of 90 nautical miles
and can reach an altitude of 65,000 feet.
The SPY-1 communicates with the missiles
to guide them mid-flight,
illuminating the target for the missile to hone in on.
These two systems combined are the first level of defense
for destroyers like the USS Carney,
but they're capable of handling many other scenarios.
- The principle of layered defense is fundamental,
I would say, to the AEGIS philosophy
and for other systems as well.
- [Narrator] One of those other systems is the CIWS,
the Close-in Weapon System.
- All those missiles that we talked about are gonna have
a much greater reach, whereas this is there
for getting what they or something else might've missed.
- [Narrator] The CIWS is defense
for both the carrier strike group and the ship itself.
- It's your last ditch effort to kill
whatever might be threatening the ship.
- [Narrator] There are two types that the USS Carney
may carry, the Phalanx and the SeaRAM.
They fire different ammunition,
but they essentially work the same way.
First, the search antenna provides information
about a potential target,
like its range, velocity and altitude.
Then it sends that information to the CIWS computer,
which determines whether to engage.
At that point, the mount moves to face the target
and the track antenna kicks in, which views a smaller area,
but is extremely precise.
The track antenna observes the target
until the computer finds the maximal chance
of a successful hit.
Then the system either fires automatically
(weapon whirring)
or recommends firing to the operator.
The phalanx is equipped with a short range 20 millimeter gun
that can fire between 3,000
to 4,500 cannon rounds per minute.
Experts estimate that the SeaRAM's range is six miles,
and instead of a Gatling gun, the SeaRAM has a launcher
that fires up to 11 rolling airframe missiles
that can reach supersonic speeds.
Experts say since these systems
are the ship's last line of defense,
they're given very little time to react.
The CIWS may only have a couple of seconds
and one chance to protect the ship from being hit.
That's why the system works best as one
of several layers of defense,
- It's always good to have different systems
with different effects so that you can begin
to thin the herd.
But you're not putting all your eggs in any one basket.
- [Narrator] Experts say the carrier strike group's
deployment to the Red Dea exemplifies the US strategy
to prevent the conflict from expanding
and to defend Israel without putting troops on the ground.
A different US destroyer shot down a drone
fired from Yemen in recent weeks.
The destroyers also possess a number
of offensive capabilities,
including a five inch, 54 caliber gun mounted on the ship,
and the ability to deploy both anti-ship harpoons
and tomahawk cruise missiles.
- If those sorts of offensive or strike missiles are used,
then that means that we've entered a different stage
of the conflict.
We would presumably be on the other side
of a shooting involvement as opposed to kind of an aiding
and assisting and serving as a defensive partner.
- [Narrator] Carrier strike groups
and the destroyers in them play many roles,
but projecting power is chief among them.
- The US is certainly sending a message.
Sometimes you communicate those messages
through actions with talking softly and sending a big ship,
and that's, you know, part of the overall message
of what's happening here.
(tense energetic music)