By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The USS Ford is known as the flagship carrier in a new-generation of power projection capability with a 33-percent higher sortie rate than Nimitz-class carriers, Electromagnetic Launch System, paradigm-changing levels of on-board electrical power, advanced computer automation and electrical elevators for high-speed, efficient re-arming and refueling of fighter jets. The ship recently completed a critical deployment to the Mediterranean in support of deterrence operations aimed at preventing escalation of conflict in the region.
However, a lesser-known yet equally vital element of the USS Ford is that the ship has been “hardened” for a new generation of maritime warfare with an upgraded suite of weapons and layered ship-defense systems. As part of Carrier Strike Groups, carriers often travel with the protection of destroyers, cruisers and support ships designed to fortify defenses for the ship, yet the ship itself is also engineered with advanced weapons and defenses designed for a modern threat environment. Therefore, while the USS Ford benefits from the protection of destroyer-launched interceptor missiles, deck-mounted guns, EW systems and even lasers, the ship itself is armed with its own defenses. These include the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, Rolling Airframe Missile and an “area” defense weapon called the Close-In-Weapons System which fires a Phalanx gun.
A better-defended carrier is critical in a more modern technological environment wherein longer-range sensing and multi-domain networking now enable new concepts of operation and more distributed or dispersed formations. This means a carrier might be further away from its destroyers and cruisers in its carrier strike group in more disaggregated formations, a circumstance wherein it would benefit from upgraded ship-defenses capable of countering incoming threats and enemy attacks.
Upgraded Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile
The USS Ford now deploys with the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Block 2, or ESSM, a weapon designed to track and destroy incoming enemy supersonic missiles and anti-ship missiles, among other threats.
The ESSM Block 2 is engineered with what’s called an active guidance system, meaning the missile itself can achieve improved flight or guidance to its target by both receiving and actively sending electromagnetic signals, Navy and industry ESSM developers have told Warrior Maven in previous interviews.
The current ESSM missiles use what’s called a semi-active guidance system, meaning the missile itself can receive electromagnetic signals bounced off the target by an illuminator; the ESSM Block 2’s “active” guidance includes illuminator technology built onto the missile itself such that it can both receive and send important electromagnetic signals, Navy and Raytheon officials have explained.
A shipboard illuminator is an RF signal that bounces off a target. The antenna in the nose in the guidance section [of the missile] sees the reflected energy and then corrects to intercept that reflective energy. The emerging missile has an “active” front end, meaning it can send an electromagnetic signal forward to track a maneuvering target, at times without needing a ship-based illuminator for guidance.
Also, the missile is able to intercept threats that are close to the surface by sea-skimming or diving into a target from a higher altitude, Navy officials explained.
Phalanx Close in Weapons System
The Phalanx Close in Weapons System, or CIWS, is an area weapon engineered to use a high rate of fire and ammunition to blanket a given area, destroying or knocking enemy fire out of the sky before it can reach a ship. The Phalanx CIWS, which can fire up to 4,500 rounds per minute, has been protecting ship platforms for decades.
CWIS firs a 20 mm Vulcan cannon mounted on a swiveling base. An essay in Naval Forces magazine called “CIWS – the Last Ditch Defense,” further specifics that the weapon fires “armor piercing tungsten penetrater rounds with discarding sabots.” CIWS fires a M61A1 Gatling gun out to ranges of 3 km.
Navy officials say the latest CIWS Block IB, which has now been implemented for years, provides ships the additional capability for defense against asymmetric threats such as small, high speed, maneuvering surface craft, slow-flying fixed and rotary-winged aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
A CIWS overhaul in recent years has consisted of numerous upgrades to the weapon itself, converting the existing systems into what’s called the Phalanx 1B configuration. At the same time, the CIWS overhaul also includes the development and ongoing integration of a new, next-generation radar for the system called the CIWS Phalanx Block IB Baseline 2, Navy officials explained.
The Phalanx Block IB configuration incorporates a stabilized Forward-Looking Infra-Red sensor, an automatic acquisition video tracker, optimized gun barrels (OBG) and the Enhanced Lethality Cartridges (ELC),
The FLIR also improves performance against anti-ship cruise missiles by providing more accurate angle tracking information to the fire control computer.
The OGB/ELC combine to provide tighter dispersion and increased first hit range, a Navy official added. The Phalanx 1B fires Mk 244 ammunition, using the Enhanced Lethality Cartridge specifically designed to penetrate anti-ship cruise missiles.
The Mk 244 ammunition is engineered with a 48 percent heavier tungsten penetrator and an aluminum nose piece, according to information from General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems.
The Phalanx Block IB Baseline 2 radar upgrade is a new digital radar that provides improved detection performance, increased reliability and reduction in sailor man-hours for system maintenance, developers said.
The Baseline 2 upgrade mitigates obsolete components inherent in the existing analog radar by introducing COTS-based (commercial off-the-shelf) signal processing coupled with a new signal source and mixer.
CIWS uses “Ku-band radar featuring closed-loop spotting technology capable of autonomously performing its own search, detect, evaluation, track, engage and kill assessment functions,” the Naval Forces essay writes.
