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From: jtgorman@cs.arizona.edu (J. Taggart Gorman)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: VLS
Message-ID: <1991Mar6.043236.25965@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 6 Mar 91 04:32:36 GMT
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From: "J. Taggart Gorman" <jtgorman@cs.arizona.edu>
  In regards to the Mk 41 VLS being retro-fitted to other ships, it is
being refitted some _some_ Spruance class DDG's.                         
  I am just going from data I have gathered from some of my war games, 
but one games cites the Paul F. Foster as a member of the Imp. Spruance
class.                                                                
  I originally read that the ASROC launcher _and_ the Sea Sparrow laucher
were to both be removed from these ships, however, the computer wargame
_Harpoon_ cites the Imp. Spruance class as still retaining it's Sea        
Sparrow launcher, which makes sense.  VLS cells can only hold Tomahawk    
and Standards, and you need weapon directors, like the SPG-55 or 62, to
direct the missile, and Spruances do not carry these directors.         
  If vertically-launched ASROCs are available or become available (I assume
that they finally have been made since what ASW does a Spruance have other
than it's ASROC and helos), they will be placed in the VLS cells.   
Harpoon assumes a loadout of 24 VL ASROC, 31 TASM, and 4 TLAM.  That's a
mighty big puch for a DD.
  I believe that it has been proposed to place Standard SAM's in Imp.
Spruances and immediately after launch, transfer control to another ship
with directors.  The Ticonderoga class has the ability to "take-over" the 
control of the surface to air attcks of other ships in the vicinity, by use
of some nifty data links and use of the mainframe on the Aegis cruiser.
  On a side note, I heard that the prepping to fire of a Standard from a
VLS cells takes somewhere around 2-5 seconds, while the prepping of a 
Tomahawk takes a horid time, something like 10 minutes.

|     John Taggart Gorman Jr.    | "I'm a no rust build up man myself."
|                                |          -Christian Slater
| jtgorman@caslon.cs.arizona.edu |             in 'Heathers'