American supercarriers are the face of the U.S Navy and have enabled powered projection
far off from the U.S homeland.
The U.S has 10 Nimitz class supercarrier and is in the process of deploying Ford class
supercarriers.
Each of these has a displacement of 100,000 tons, and an overall length of 332.8 m (1,092
feet).
To give viewers a perspective, it is about 3 football fields long.
These supercarriers are nuclear powered and hence have unlimited range.
The U.S is the only nation to operate so many supercarriers since they are very costly to
build and operate.
America’s main rivals Russia and China don’t have the budget or technical know-how to match
these supercarriers.
So, instead, they have focused on developing asymmetric capabilities to counter these supercarriers
which include developing sophisticated Anti-ship weapons.
One of these is the Chinese DF 21D.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes why SM 6 is the American answer to Chinese DF
21D carrier-killer missile?
Let's get into the details.
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The Dong-Feng 21 is a two-stage, solid-fuel rocket, single-warhead medium-range ballistic
missile (MRBM) in the Dong Feng series developed by China Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics
Technology Academy.
The missile is designed to be fired from land-based mobile launchers.
The U.S. Department of Defense in 2008 estimated that China had 60-80 missiles and 60 launchers
and approximately 10-11 missiles can be built annually.
Originally developed as a strategic weapon, the DF-21's later variants were designed for
both nuclear and conventional missions.
It is thought able to carry a high explosive and submunition warheads, as well as a nuclear
warhead of 300 kt.
The DF-21D is said to be the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM).
It is thought to employ a maneuverable reentry vehicle (MaRV) with a terminal guidance system.
This gives it the ability to hit a moving aircraft carrier strike group from long-range.
According to the U.S. National Air and Space Intelligence Center, the missile has a maximum
range of around 1,450 km or 900 mi.
The US Department of Defense stated in 2010 that China reached initial operating capability
(IOC) of the missile.
United States Naval Institute in 2009 stated that the warhead of DF-21D would be large
enough to destroy an aircraft carrier in one hit and that there was "currently ... no defense
against it" if it worked as theorized.
Nimitz, as well as Ford-class carriers, have powerful sensors for 360 coverage of the space
around them as well as have a host of defensive weapons to neutralize different types of threats.
This includes 16–24 RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles and 3-4 Phalanx Close-in Weapon System.
RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily
intended for defense against anti-ship missiles.
It has a range of 10 miles and speed of Mach 3.5
Phalanx Close-in Weapon System is deployed for last-ditch defense against anti-ship missile
and is capable of firing up to 50 rounds per second.
But these weapons are suitable for defending against cruise missiles but not against DF-21D
which follows a ballistic trajectory.
American carriers do not operate alone but are deployed as part of a "carrier strike
group”.
The carrier strike group consists of multiple Ticonderoga-class cruiser and Arleigh Burke
class destroyers.
Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer
are equipped with a diverse array of weapons for Anti Aircraft Warfare (AAW), Anti Submarine
Warfare (ASW), Anti Surface Warfare (ASuW) as well as have the ability to intercept ballistic
missiles through Aegis Ballistic missile defense system.
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is designed by the United States Department
of Defense, Missile Defense Agency to protect against short and intermediate-range ballistic
missiles.
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense is devised to intercept ballistic missiles post-boost
phase and prior to reentry.
It enables these warships to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles by expanding the Aegis
Combat System with the addition of the AN/SPY-1 radar and Standard missiles
Aegis BMD-equipped vessels can transmit their target detection information to other systems
and, if needed, engage potential threats using SM2, SM3 or SM6 missile
The heart of the AEGIS systems onboard these warships is the AN/SPY-1D RADAR.
It is an advanced, automatic detect and track, multifunctional phased-array radar.
This high-powered (4 MW) radar is able to perform search, track and missile guidance
functions simultaneously with a capability of over 100 targets.
The RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), or Standard Missile 6 (SM-6)
have been deployed by the US Navy to counter different kinds of threats.
It was designed for extended range anti-air warfare (ER-AAW) purposes providing capability
against fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-ship cruise missiles
in flight, both over sea and land, and terminal ballistic missile defense.
It can also be used as a high speed anti-ship missile.
The missile uses the airframe of the earlier SM-2ER Block IV (RIM-156A) missile and some
targeting elements from AIM-120C AMRAAM.
It can discriminate targets using its dual-mode seeker, with the semi-active seeker relying
on a ship-based illuminator to highlight the target, and the active seeker having the missile
itself sends out an electromagnetic signal.
SM 6 has max speed of Mach 3.5 and has a 140 lb (64 kg) blast fragmentation warhead.
The initial operating capability of the missile was planned for 2013 and was achieved on November
27, 2013.
On 30 September 2016, Raytheon announced the SM-6 had achieved the longest surface-to-air
intercept in naval history, breaking its previous long-range intercept record made in January
2016.
The missile’s capability enables it to shoot down a ballistic missile like DF 21D in its
terminal phase.
Nimitz & Ford class carriers are some of the biggest warships to roam the oceans.
But that doesn’t mean they are slow & lumbering, powered by their nuclear reactors they can
move at 35 miles or 56 km per hour.
Though these carriers are so big, in an open ocean a carrier is not easy to detect or track.
In 30 minutes after a sighting by an opponent, the area within which a carrier might be operating
will expand to 900 square miles and this will increase to around 4,000 square miles after
60 minutes.
Also, these supercarriers can pull off last minute high-speed evasive maneuvers to avoid
being hit by the reentry vehicle of DF 21D.
It is to be noted that unlike a cruise missile, the reentry vehicle will have limited ability
of course correction during the final plunge on the target.
But the most important aspect is that the Ticonderoga-class and Arleigh Burke-class
warships that are part of the carrier strike group will be firing multiple SM 6 missiles.
It is to be noted that SM 6 is designed to be launched from the Mk 41 Vertical Launch
System (VLS).
Ticonderoga-class has 122 and Arleigh Burke-class has 92 MK 41 cells.
So, a significant number of SM 6 will be at the disposable of a carrier strike group.
So, it can be said that with SM 6, the U.S Navy has an effective counter against Chinese
DF 21D carrier killer missile.