The U.S has by far the largest defense budget in the world.
It has been at the forefront of many grounds breaking technology when it comes to military
weapons like 5th generation fighter, stealth bombers, etc.
US Navy is the most well-equipped navy in the world.
It operates around 10 nuclear-powered supercarriers which are more than all the other nations
combined.
But there is one area where the U.S seems to have lagged far behind -Anti Ship Missiles.
But things are changing as the US Navy has pushed into production the Long Range Anti-Ship
Missile or LRASM.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how the US plans to destroy Russian & Chinese
warships with Long Range Anti-Ship Missile?
Let’s get into the details.
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The U.S has been fighting with adversaries that have no or very small navy like Iraq
or Afghanistan.
The inadequacy in Anti Ship capability crept in mainly due to a lack of credible opponents.
America was focusing on military assets that were more in line with these battles like
the development of drones.
This lead to a lull in the development of advance Anti-ship missiles.
But things have changed in the last decade as Russia & China have developed a range of
anti-ship missiles that challenge the supremacy of U.S surface warfare capability.
Both of these countries have strong navies and are actively pursuing ways to counter
the U.S Navy by developing a wide variety of Anti-ship missiles that can target U.S
warships from long ranges.
Now the U.S is responding to the emerging threat.
The U.S currently uses Harpoon missile as the main Anti Ship weapon.
Initially developed in the 1970s, it has seen many upgraded over the year but is essentially
a 5-decade old design.
It is an over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by Boeing.
Harpoon ER (Extended Range) can reach targets at a maximum distance of 80 miles or 130 KM.
It has a speed of Mach 0.7, which means it has high subsonic speed but not supersonic.
U.S do have SM1, SM 2 & SM6 supersonic missiles which have a primary role of air defense with
a secondary Anti Ship role, but their small warheads are not capable of crippling a large
warship.
The only credible anti-ship weapon is the NSM
The Naval Strike Missiles or NSM is the upgrade of Kongsberg’s Penguin short-to-medium range
anti-ship guided missile.
The missile has a range of 100 miles or 185 km.
NSM is capable of high subsonic speeds.
It has sea skim mode by which it travels very close to the surface, making it hard to detect
and intercept.
It is also designed to maneuver to avoid enemy defenses.
It is equipped with a 276 pounds or 125 kg multi-purpose blast/fragmentation warhead.
NSM features an imaging IR-seeker which is complimented by inertial/GPS navigation.
The missile also has a built-in database of representative ship types to distinguish between
intended targets and other objects.
But even NSM is constrained by its range.
For example, the Indo Russian Brahmos missile can fly at supersonic speed and have a range
of 185 miles or 300 km.
Its range is being upgraded.
The Russian ramjet-powered P-800 Oniks is capable of streaking at naval targets up to
370 miles or 600 km away at speeds of Mach 2.5
The Chinese YJ-12 has a speed of around Mach 2, if launched from low altitude and up to
Mach 3.2, if launched from high altitude.
It has a maximum range of around 235 miles or 380 km depending on launch altitude.
The 3M22 Zircon developed by Russia is said to have the capability to reach speed up to
Mach 8 and has a max range of 600 miles or around 1000 km depending on launch trajectory.
These missiles outrange American once and because of their supersonic speed will be
hard to intercept especially when a barrage of these is fired.
The AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile is a stealthy and highly precise surface-skimming
cruise missile with a range of 230 miles or 620 for the Extended Range AGM-158B.
Viewers may note that a shorter range variant was used in combat on April 4, 2018, when
two B-1B bombers launched nineteen of the stealth missiles at a Syrian research center
in Barzeh.
Lockheed Martin worked on the missile further and AGM-158C is developed which is an antiship
variant and is named LRSM by the U.S Navy.
The missile is subsonic and but since it is LO (Low Observable), the enemy warship will
not see it coming till it is very close.
This strategy is a stark contrast to Russian and Chinese missile which depend on speed
to defeat the ship’s defense.
It is powered by an F107 turbofan engine and has a 1,000 lb (450 kg) blast-fragmentation
penetrator.
The warhead is potent enough to cripple a large warship.
LRASM will cost around $3 million apiece which makes it twice as costly asHarpoon missiles.US
Navy plans to acquire 467 LRASMs with an initial order of 23.
LRASM deploys multiple sensors & techniques to home in on the targets.
The details are here:
1. It has an inertial and jam-resistant GPS navigation system.
This is mainly used for navigating the initial phase of the journey.
2. A two-way data link is present, which allows the launching warship to send course corrections
data.
It will be used for mid-course guidance during which missile flies at medium altitude.
3. It has a guidance algorithm that can acquire & target enemy ships when external guidance
is disrupted.
It is mainly used in the mid to final phase.
The algorithm is smart enough to differentiate civilian ships and low priority enemy warships
from the actual target.
4. It has a Radio-frequency sensor which is activated in the terminal phase.
The system homes in on an adversary’s radar signals—the very radar which is used by
the enemy warships to track the missile.
5. In the terminal phase, the Infra Red sensor is also engaged.
It is used to make the last-ditch adjustment so that the missile can hit specific points
of an enemy warship to maximize damage.
In this phase, the missile skims close to the surface which makes it hard to target.
It is important to note that LRASMs can be deployed in swarm mode which will enable it
to saturate enemy defenses.
LRASM also deploys electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) to overcome the enemy’s countermeasures.
The U.S Navy’s carrier-based FA-18E or F Super Hornet jets will start deploying LRASM
this year.
This will be followed up with them being deployed from the cells of the Mark 41 Vertical Launch
System.
The surface-to-surface LRASM variant will be fitted with Mark 114 rocket boosters which
are jettisoned after launch.
Viewers may note that US Navy’s Arleigh Burke class Destroyers have 96 Mark 41 cells
whereas Ticonderoga class Cruisers have 122 of these.
So, the 65+ Arleigh Burke class Destroyers and 22 Ticonderoga class Cruisers will be
able to deploy the LRASM seamlessly.
A submarine-launched variant is also expected to be developed.
The multiple launch platform makes LRASM fit perfectly in the US Navy’s “Distributed
Lethality” doctrine according to which firepower is spread across multiple platforms.
LRASM will add much-needed punch to the U.S Navy’s surface-warfare capabilities.