The Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) is an anti-missile system that was designed and manufactured by the General Dynamics Corporation, Pomona Division. Anti-ship missiles are a Missile designed for use against Ships Most anti-ship missiles are of the Sea-skimming type and use a combination of General Dynamics Corporation ( is a defense conglomerate formed by Mergers and Divestitures and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest Defense contractor Pomona is the 5th largest city in Los Angeles County (after Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, and Santa Clarita) It is now manufactured by the Raytheon Company. Raytheon Company ( is a major American Defense contractor and industrial corporation with core Manufacturing concentrations in Defense systems It is used by the United States Navy on every class of surface combat ship in its fleet and is used by navies of twenty-three allied nations. Because of their distinctive barrel-shaped radome and their automated nature of operation, Phalanx CIWS units are sometimes nicknamed R2-D2s, after the famous droid from Star Wars. A radome (the word is a contraction of Radar and Dome) is a structural weatherproof enclosure that protects a Radar antenna R2-D2 (called R2, or " Artoo " for short is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, an Astromech droid This is the concept of the "droid" in Science fiction. Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded [1] The land based C-RAM has been recently deployed in a short range ballistic missile defense role to shoot down incoming rockets and artillery fire.
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Overview
Developed as the final line of defense (terminal defense or point defense) against anti-ship missiles (AShMs), including high-g and maneuvering sea-skimmers, the first system was offered to the U. Point-defence (or point-defense; see spelling differences) is the defence of a single object or a limited area e Anti-ship missiles are a Missile designed for use against Ships Most anti-ship missiles are of the Sea-skimming type and use a combination of S. Navy for evaluation on USS King in 1973. History King was laid down by the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton in Washington on 1 March 1957, launched on It was accepted and production started in 1978, the first ship fully fitted out was USS Coral Sea in 1980. Early Milestones The ship promptly began a series of career milestones when on 27 April 1948, two P2V-2 Neptunes piloted by Commander Thomas D The Navy began placing CIWS systems on noncombatant vessels in 1984.
The basis of the system is a 20 mm M61 Vulcan Gatling-type rotary cannon linked to a radar system for acquiring and tracking targets. The M61 Vulcan is a 20 mm Hydraulically or Pneumatically driven six- barreled air-cooled The minigun is a multi-barrel Machine gun with a high rate of fire (several thousand Rounds per minute) employing Gatling -style rotating barrels and an The gun fires at a variable 3000/4500 rounds per minute depending on the Block, or version of the system. It is mounted in a self-contained turret along with an automated fire control system. Note the term " fire control " may also refer to means of stopping a fire such as sprinkler systems A fire-control system The system automatically searches, detects, tracks, engages and confirms kills using its computer-controlled radar system. Because it is self-contained, Phalanx is ideal for support ships which lack integrated targeting systems and generally have limited sensors. The entire unit weighs between 5500 kg and 6100 kg (12,400 to 13,500 lb).
Phalanx has been developed through a number of different configurations. The basic style is the Block 0. The Block 1 (1988) offers various improvements in radar, ammunition, rate of fire, increasing engagement elevation to +70 degrees, and computing. These improvements were intended to increase the system's capability against emerging Soviet supersonic anti-ship missiles. Block 1A introduced a new computer system to counter more maneuverable targets. The Block 1B PSuM (Phalanx Surface Mode, 1999) adds a forward looking infrared (FLIR) sensor to allow the weapon to be used against surface targets. A forward looking infrared (FLIR is an imaging device that senses infrared radiation This addition was developed to provide ship defense against small vessel threats and other "floaters" in littoral waters and to improve the weapon's performance against slower low-flying aircraft. Littoral refers to the coast of an ocean or sea or to the banks of a river lake or estuary The FLIR's capability is also of use against low-observability missiles and can be linked with the Rolling Airframe Missile system to increase RAM engagement range and accuracy. The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM is a small lightweight Infrared homing Surface-to-air missile in use by the United States Navy, Turkish The Block 1B also allows for an operator to identify and target threats.
The U. S. and Canada are in the process of upgrading all their Phalanx systems to the Block 1B configuration. The Block 1B is also used by other navies such as Japan, Egypt, Bahrain and the Royal Navy[2]
Operation
The CIWS is designed to be the last line of defense against anti-ship missiles. The, or JSDF, are the military forces in Japan that were established after the end of the post- World War II American occupation of Japan The Egyptian Army See also Egyptian Army The armed forces inventory includes equipment from the United States, France, Brazil, the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF Bahrain Royal Medical Services|Royal Bahraini Army|Royal Bahraini Air Force|Royal Bahraini Navy The Military of Bahrain (well known as The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) Due to its design criteria its effective range is very short relative to the range of modern ASMs, from 1 to 5 nautical miles (9 km). The gun mount moves at a very high speed and with great precision. The system takes minimal inputs from the ship making it capable of functioning despite potential damage to the ship. The only inputs required for operation are 440 V AC at 60 Hz and water for electronics cooling. The volt (symbol V) is the SI derived unit of electric Potential difference or Electromotive force. An alternating current ( AC) is an Electric current whose direction reverses cyclically as opposed to Direct current, whose direction remains constant The hertz (symbol Hz) is a measure of Frequency, informally defined as the number of events occurring per Second. For full operation including some non-essential functions, it also has inputs for true compass ships heading and 115 V AC for the PASS and tape drive subsystems.
Radar subsystems
The CIWS has two radars that work together to engage targets. The first radar is the search radar, located inside the radome on the weapon control group (top of the white painted portion). The search subsystem provides bearing, range, velocity, heading, and altitude information of potential targets to the CIWS computer. This information is analyzed to determine whether the detected object should be engaged by the CIWS system. Once the computer identifies a valid target (see details below), the mount moves to face the target and then hands the target over to the track radar. The track radar is an "orange peel"-style radar that is more precise, but can only view a much smaller area. The track radar observes the target until the computer determines that the probability of a successful hit is maximized and then, depending on the operator conditions, the system will either fire automatically or will recommend fire to the operator. While firing, the system tracks outgoing rounds and 'walks' them onto the target.
Gun and ammunition handling system
The Block 0 CIWS mounts (hydraulic driven) fired at a rate of 3,000 rounds per minute and they could only hold 989 rounds in the magazine drum. The Block 1 CIWS mounts (hydraulic) also fired at 3,000 rounds per minute with an extended magazine drum holding 1550 rounds. The Block 1A and newer (pneumatic driven) CIWS mounts fire at a variable rate of 3,000/4,500 rounds per minute and also had the larger 1550 round magazine. The velocity of the rounds once fired is approximately 3,600 feet per second (1,100 m/s). The rounds are armor piercing tungsten penetrator rounds with discarding sabots. A sabot (ˈseɪboʊ "saybow" or /ˈsæboʊ/ "sabbow" is a device used in a Firearm or Cannon to fire a Projectile, such as a The kinetic projectiles are designed to pierce and explode an incoming missile's warhead. Use of otherwise more effective high explosive shells would risk destroying the missile airframe while allowing the warhead to continue a ballistic trajectory into the ship. The ammo handling system uses 2 conveyor belt systems. One of the systems takes the rounds out of the magazine drum and takes them to the gun. The second conveyor system takes either the empty shells or non-fired rounds and routes them back to the opposite end of the drum.
CIWS contact target identification
The CIWS does not recognize identification friend or foe, also known as IFF. In Telecommunications, identification friend or foe (IFF is a Cryptographic identification System designed for command and control The CIWS has only the data it collects in real time from the radars to decide if the target is a threat and to engage it. A contact has to meet multiple criteria for it to be considered a target; some of the criteria are listed below.
1) Is the range of the target increasing or decreasing in relation to the ship? The CIWS search radar will see contacts that are out-bound and discard them. The CIWS will only engage a target if it is approaching the ship.
2) Is the contact capable of making a maneuver to hit the ship? If a contact is not heading directly at the ship, the CIWS looks at its heading in relation to the ship and its velocity. It then decides if the contact can perform a maneuver to still hit the ship.
3) Is the contact traveling between the minimum and maximum velocities? The CIWS has the ability to engage targets that travel in a wide range of speeds; however it is not an infinitely wide range. The system has a target maximum velocity limit; if a target exceeds this velocity, the CIWS will not engage it. It also has a minimum target velocity, meaning any contact going below that velocity will not be engaged by the CIWS. The operator also has the option to adjust the minimum and maximum limits within the limits of the system.
What is described above are the basics of how the CIWS works. There are many other subsystems that run in the background to ensure proper operation, such as environmental control, transmitter, mount movement control, power control and distribution and so on. It takes 6 to 8 months to train a technician to maintain, operate, and repair the CIWS.
Phalanx in combat
The Phalanx system has never been credited with shooting down any enemy missiles or aircraft.
On February 25, 1991, during the first Gulf War, the Phalanx-equipped USS Jarrett was a few miles from the USS Missouri and the British destroyer HMS Gloucester. Events 138 - The Emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Operation Desert Storm During Desert Storm in 1991 Jarrett was involved in a friendly fire incident with the. Construction See also Iowa class battleship, Armament of the Iowa class battleship Missouri was one of the ''Iowa''-class " Affiliations The Rifles City of Gloucester Worshipful Company of Grocers Gloucester R A Sea Dart missile launched from Gloucester destroyed an Iraqi Silkworm missile (often referred to as the 'Seersucker'), at which Missouri also fired its SRBOC chaff. Sea Dart or Guided Weapon System (GWS 30 is a British Surface-to-air missile system designed by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and built by For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. The HY-2 Haiying ( known in Western media as the Silkworm missile, is an anti-ship Cruise missile made by the People's Republic of China and The BAE Systems Mark 36 Super Rapid Blooming Offboard Chaff (abbreviated as SRBOC or "Super-arboc" is a short-range mortar intended to launch chaff Chaff, originally called Window by the British, and Düppel by the World War II era German Luftwaffe, is a The Phalanx system on Jarrett, operating in the automatic target-acquisition mode, fixed upon Missouri's chaff and fired a burst of rounds. From this burst, four rounds hit Missouri which was two to three miles (about 5 km) from Jarrett at the time. There were no injuries. [3] Incidentally, this is the first validated, successful engagement of a missile by a missile, during combat at sea.
June 4, 1996, a Japanese Phalanx accidentally shot down a US A-6 Intruder. Events 781 BC - The first historic Solar eclipse is recorded in China. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The US plane was towing a radar target during gunnery exercises. A Phalanx aboard the Asagiri class destroyer Yūgiri locked onto the Intruder instead of the target. Ships in the class Both pilots ejected safely. [4] A post accident investigation concluded that the Yūgiri's gunnery officer gave the order to fire before the A-6 was out of the CIWS engagement envelope. [5]
Phalanx is considered inadequate against some modern threats and is being gradually supplemented and replaced by the Rolling Airframe Missile, which has greater range and higher hit probability. The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM is a small lightweight Infrared homing Surface-to-air missile in use by the United States Navy, Turkish The RAM system uses an automated and self-sufficient radar fire control similar to that of Phalanx.
Land based version
The U. S. Army's version of the Navy's CIWS Phalanx anti-missile system is called the C-RAM, part of the US Army's Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar initiative. Counter Rocket Artillery and Mortar (C-RAM or Counter-RAM is a system used to destroyincoming Artillery, rockets and mortar rounds in the air before The land-based Phalanx was deployed in Iraq in the summer of 2005. It protects the forward operating bases and other high-value sites in and around Baghdad and is deployed by the British in the south of the country. Israel is considering buying the system to counter rocket attacks and defending point military installations. Each system uses a 20 mm M61A1 Gatling gun firing 3,000 or 4,500 M-246 or M-940 rounds per minute. [6][7]
Whereas naval Phalanx systems fire tungsten armor-piercing rounds, the C-RAM uses the HEIT-SD (High-Explosive Incendiary Tracer, Self-Destruct) ammunition originally developed for the M163 Vulcan air-defense system. The M163 Vulcan Air Defense System ( VADS) is a Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG that was used by the United States Army. These rounds explode on impact with the target, or upon tracer burnout.
Similar systems
- AK-630, Russian CIWS
- Kashtan, Russian CIWS
- Goalkeeper CIWS, Dutch CIWS
- Meroka CIWS, Spanish navy
- SeaRAM, U. The AK-630 is a Russian fully automatic naval six-barreled 30 mm Gatling gun. The Kashtan (Каштан (Chestnut Close-in weapon system (CIWS is a modern naval air defence weapon deployed by the Russian Navy Goalkeeper is a Dutch Close-in weapon system, which defends Ships against incoming Missiles and ballistic shells The Meroka CIWS is a Spanish Navy 12 barrelled 20 mm CIWS, using twelve Oerlikon 20 mm/120 guns mounted in 2 rows of 6 guns each The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM is a small lightweight Infrared homing Surface-to-air missile in use by the United States Navy, Turkish S. missile-based CIWS
- Type 730 CIWS, Chinese CIWS
Notes
- ^ Spacewar.com
- ^ Raytheon Awarded Phalanx 1B Upgrade Order for Royal Navy
- ^ Tab-H Friendly-fire Incidents
- ^ Cable News Network. The Type 730 is a Chinese seven-barrelled 30 mm Gatling gun CIWS. Cable News Network, usually referred to by its Initialism CNN, is a major English language Television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner Japan apologizes for gunning down U.S. plane. June 4, 1996. Events 781 BC - The first historic Solar eclipse is recorded in China. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar)
- ^ The Virginian-Pilot. Human Error Cited In Downing Of Navy Plane By Japanese. October 24, 1996. Events 69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus the commander of the Danube armies loyal to Vespasian, defeat Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar)
- ^ http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/003558.html Murdoc online March 20, 2006 CIWS now does surface targets, too]
- ^ "Israel may buy rapid-fire cannon" Jerusalem Post Dec 20, 2007
External links
- Official United States Navy Warfighters Encyclopedia CIWS page
- GlobalSecurity.org fact file
- Raytheon Company Phalanx CIWS product page.
- Ground based Phalanx in action (video).
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