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From: malloy@nprdc.navy.mil (Sean Malloy)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Anti-Balistic Missiles Now
Message-ID: <1990Dec14.002547.27160@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 14 Dec 90 00:25:47 GMT
References: <1990Dec7.011307.474@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec8.221641.27118@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec12.030935.9815@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego
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From: malloy@nprdc.navy.mil (Sean Malloy)

In article <1990Dec12.030935.9815@cbnews.att.com> swilliam@dtoa1.dt.navy.mil (Williams) writes:
>Aircraft carriers have various "lines of defense" against anti-shipping
>missiles:
>
>    First line of defense is about 300 miles from the aircraft carrier;
>       F-14 Tomcats shoot down bombers carrying missiles. Tomcats are 
>       directed to enemy bombers by early warning aircrafts and ships.
>
>    Second line of defense is about 100 miles from the aircraft carrier;
>       guided missile cruisers shoot down bombers carrying missiles.

Second line of defense is about 100 miles from the aircraft carrier,
where the SM2ER missiles launched from the CVBG can reach the missiles
that the bombers started launching at about the time when the F-14s
were intercepting them. Most of the ASMs that the Soviets would use
against a carrier have ranges in the 250-300 nm range.

[mod.note:  I take it that in this case, "CVBG" means Aircraft Carrier
Battle Group, not a new ship classification for "Large, Guided Missile-
Armed Aircraft Carrier." - Bill ]

The purpose of the F-14 screen at 300 miles is to a) shoot down
incoming bombers before they can launch their missiles, and b) make
the bombers launch before they can get in close enough to get a good
target fix. Faced with a fully deployed air screen, there's no way in
hell that the bomber pilots are going to go in another 200 miles
against F-14 opposition just so that they can get shot at by the
screening ships when their missiles will reach twice that far.

Air-launched missile attacks against a battle group require large
numbers of incoming missiles; because the BG knows they're coming,
they can be ready to shoot as soon as the missiles come over the radar
horizon (this is why the more modern an antiship missile is, the lower
it flies; the radar horizon is closer, giving the BG less time to
shoot at it). The principle is called 'rolling back defenses', and is
based on the premise that if you can throw missiles at a target faster
than it can launch missiles to knock them down, each successive
intercept will be closer to the target, until a missile can reach the
target before a SAM can be launched against it.

>    Third, and last, line of defense is the CIWS (Close-In-Weapon-Systems)
>       installed on aircraft carriers (and also other capital ships).
>       CIWSs utilize Gatling machine guns to shoot down oncoming missiles.

Which eat ammunition like popcorn, and will run out of ammunition long
before a _serious_ attempt to take out a carrier will run out of
missiles.


 Sean Malloy                                  | At any time, at any place, our
 Navy Personnel Research & Development Center | snipers can drop you.
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 malloy@nprdc.navy.mil                        |