Navy Shoots Upgraded 5-Inch Guns in Pacific for Live-Fire War Prep

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

The Navy is firing off its upgraded 5-inch deck guns in the Pacific from its warships, demonstrating a longer-range, reduced signature, improved “propelling charge,” and expanded land-attack capability.

The USS Russell (DDG 59) destroyer is conducting live fire preparations with its Mk 45 Mod 4 5-inch guns. These famous weapons have a long and distinguished history, with some earlier variants spanning back to the WWII era. The Navy has in recent years been deeply immersed in various innovative high-tech efforts to improve the range and guidance technology of its time-honored 5-inch guns.

The Mk 45 Mod 4 incorporates a larger 62-caliber barrel, strengthened gun and what Navy and BAE Systems engineers refer to as “advanced control system.” The round is not guided, yet it has been modified with newer “Cargo” projectiles able to blanket an area with suppressive fire, defend well against attacking enemy boat swarms and attack wide-area targets by “dispensing its munitions over a wide area.”

“This round carries 49 Mark 2 submunitions, which are a variation of the Army’s M-80 DPICM. This round is designed to explode above the ground in order to dispense its munitions over a wide area. ….This round may also be used against surface targets, especially high-speed attack boats, where its wide dispersal pattern is considered to be very useful,” an interesting write up from warships.com states.

An interesting Navy essay on the Mk 45 Mod 4 explains it as a critical Anti-Surface and Anti-Air and land attack Naval Surface Fire Support weapon. The longer 62-caliber barrel improves the weapon’s land attack capacity, the Navy essay says. Another advantage of the improved propellant and barrel is that the Mod 4 has a range of 20 nautical miles, nearly double the 11-or-12-mile range of historically fired 5-inch guns.

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