Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A return to ASUW ...


It isn't just a dirty little secret, no - it is a nasty dirty little secret that everyone knows about.

We have almost no Anti-Surface Warfare capability. Take away our ASUW capable TACAIR (they are too busy buddy-tanking on the way to support ground forces for a 30-min overhead time) and submarines (they're too busy looking for other submarines, remember there natch) - and most of our potential adversaries have us both in number and quality of ASUW weapons. We can barely shoot back. In ASUW, Joint is a joke BTW, so stuff that answer.

Few people love the Harpoon more than I do - but she is slow, dated, we have so very few - and we have sold the best version to our allies. Yes, the secondary anti-surface mode of the SM-2 is fun, but ......

We ignored ASUW because we had that "luxury." Well, not anymore.

Among other potential adversaries that might need sinking one day, the Chinese fleet isn't getting any smaller and isn't going to stay home anytime soon - at least the Japanese are taking it
seriously,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is developing the (X)ASM-3 high-speed anti-ship missile as a successor to Japan's Type 93 (ASM-2). The new missile has an integrated solid propellant/ramjet motor and a range of 200 km, or more. It reportedly includes a dual-mode imaging IR and active radar terminal seeker. The missile incorporates several 'stealthy' features including a low radar cross-section design and the use of low-reflectivity composite materials.
USN in ASUW, better late than never.
Lockheed Martin Corp is to develop within 2 1/2 years a new long-range anti-ship missile, the Defense Department said on Wednesday.

The work falls under a $157.7 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which has been responsible for some of the Pentagon's biggest technology breakthroughs, including the Internet's precursor.

The goal is to develop rapidly and demonstrate a ship-launched weapon that can knock out other ships "at significant stand-off ranges," an item in the Pentagon's daily contract digest said, without elaborating.

The work is expected to be completed by April 2013 in a joint effort between DARPA and the Office of Naval Research, the announcement said.
Let's hope that everyone takes a deep breath and looks at what has worked in the past in developing weapons - and what has not. We also need to keep in mind that the next few years will not be kind to programs that overspend and underperform.

As such, everyone needs to chant:
Evolutionary not Revolutionary; don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
A successful program will:
- Fit in a MK-41 VLS.
- Have as much commonality with the SM-2/3 as possible.
- Will leverage the Japanese program's experience.
- Multiple guidance options/warheads.
- Easily used in air, surface, and subsurface platforms.

An unsuccessful program will:
- Be called Transformational.
- Rely on GPS or any satellite system exclusively for initial, midcourse, or terminal guidance. GPS should be secondary at best.
- Tries to jam too many new ideas into one package.
- Be managed. No more program management - this needs leadership.

We are late, but that may be in our favor. If we started this 10 years ago, it would have been contaminated by the habits of the Lost Decade that gave us LCS, DDG-1000, and LPD-17.

This is a great opportunity for Navy to get its groove back and develop a weapon system that will make us proud. Go to it 100# heads --- and make sure you have some grumpy Bull-CAPT with you slathered with salt and operational experience.

Hat tip David.
As a side-bar to the discussion, little birdies sent me something for you to chew on; your lawfare meal of the day.

The
National Defense Industrial Association has spent 30 years providing free analysis to the Navy.

This year, a Navy lawyer convinced N8 that he can no longer accept any studies from NDIA because they haven't been competitively procured. One study that N86 had requested - essentially an industry view on what performance was needed / feasible for a new ASUW weapon - is sitting, unaccepted, while the lawyers read entrails.

Heh.