SM6 firing

[rritchie71]

It appears that while everyone was watching the new NSM on Sydney, what went under the radar is that Sydney also successfully fired the first SM6 for the RAN, which will be integrated into the fleet. The Hobart class DDG SPY1/Aegis can detect a ballistic missile, now the RAN has a weapon that can intercept it, it is also good for long range Anti air and anti ship. Depending on the selected trajectory, the missile has up to a 500km range. Outside of the US, Japan and Korea are the only other countries with this missile.

Robert

[MikeJames]

Double post, sorry.

[MikeJames]

Just logged on to post this, thanks Rob.

The three Hobart class have the Strike length Mk 41 VLS system, which is the longest of the Mk 41 variants and is the only length capable of fitting the SM-6, which has a massive booster underneath the SM-2 sized missile, propelling to quasi-hypersonic velocities and giving the SM-6 its long range.

A Quick Mk-41 primer

The Mk 41 VLS system comes in three lengths.

The Self Defence length was sized to support the vertical launch Evolved Sea Sparrow missile, usually quad-packed, with 4 missiles per cell. This is what's fitted to the Anzacs and they carry 8 cells quad-packed, so 32 ESSM missiles.

The Tactical length cells are designed to carry, in addition to the ESSM, the SM-1 and SM-2 SAMs and the Vertical Launch ASROC anti-submarine rockets. They could also fire Harpoon, but this is very rarely done, as it takes up cells that can be fitted with something more useful. They cells are long enough to handle these as none have an additional booster fitted to the back of the missile.

The Strike length cells are very long and require large ships to accommodate the length. Basically it can take all the above missiles, but also missiles like the SM-3 and SM-6 missiles, which have a stonking great booster on the back, which almost doubles the missile's length, to give it great range, acceleration and speed. The Strike length got its name from the fact it was designed to allow Navy's ships to use the Tomahawk cruise missile, a very long missile, which can be used in either anti-ship or land attack variants (and was also used to carry nuclear warheads). This means that Hobart, Brisbane and Sydney will also carry the Tomahawk when the RANs first missiles arrive in country late this year.

The first three Hunters, given their huge size, will be fitted with Strike length, so they too can carry the SM-6 and Tomahawk. The second three of a modified design, should also have Strike length (if they ever get built, which is still an open question).

Two things to note. The US military has done some work on being able to fire the US Army's PAC 3 missile (normally fired from a land-based Patriot launcher) from a strike length VLS, and the US Navy has done work on fitting SM-6 and Tomahawk onto truck mounted launchers, with the semi-sized vehicle capable of pulling up, and the Mk-41 cell elevates and the missile fires vertically. There has been some thought about whether Australia should look at this to provide anti-aircraft, anti-missile and anti-ballistic missile coverage to our northern air bases.

Finally, the US Navy just unveiled (at the RIMPAC just ended) that they have modified the SM-6 missile, without the booster, to be fired from the Navy's Super Hornets. At a stroke establishing the world's longest ranged air to air missile, with a range over twice that of the legendary 100 nautical mile Phoenix missile carried by the F-14 Tomcat. The SM-6 is designed to accept course guidance from range of sources, so a SM-6 could be fired at a Chinese tanker or AWACS aircraft, outside the Hornet's radar range, and be guided to the target by a friendly ship, AWACS, F-35, or even, possibly satellites.

A massive game changer, but it means the supply of SM-6 missiles will be even more limited, as the US can only produce a few hundred each year for their use and their allies.

Mike