The United States Navy in the Cold War Era: What ifs.

[dragoon500ly]

The Sea Vulcan is an adaptation of the GAU-12/U Gatling gun fitted to the AV-8B Harrier II. Intended for small combatants, it was mounted in the Navy’s SES-200 in 1987 for shipboard evaluation.

Produced by General Electric, the five-barrel CUWS uses a linkless ammunition feed system. The magazine holds 500 rounds. The Sea Vulcan can be used with a variety of fire control systems.

The gun System has been proposed with four Stinger MANPADs as the Blazer 25 for the USARMY to mount on the M-2 Bradley combat vehicle. This is to be the principal gun mount candidate for the trouble-plagued Sea Viking special operations support craft.

[dragoon500ly]

Intended to replace the AIM-54 Phoenix in the mid-1990s. The USN awarded contracts to two teams in 1987 for technology demonstration and validation of the AAAM concept.

The AAAM will be designed primarily to counter the Soviet Backfire and Blackjack strike aircraft armed with long-range, stand-off missiles. The AAAM is also intended to counter anti-ship cruise missiles. Missile speed will be faster than the Phoenix on the order of Mach 3+ with a range of 100+nm.

Tentative planning calls for the F-14D to carry up to eight AAAMs, with the F/A-18C to carry at least four.

[dragoon500ly]

The proposed LRDMM (Long-Range Dual-Mode Missile) was envisioned as a long-range (100+nm) missile from Aegis ships. The missile would have been used against incoming anti-ship missiles launched at long ranges, attack bomber aircraft, and electronic jamming aircraft. At one point, it was also envisioned that the airframe could be used for the ASW Stand-Off Weapon (SOW).

The project would be ended due to technical difficulties and uncertainty over how to conduct the outer air battle to defend battle groups against attacking Soviet cruise missile aircraft.

[dragoon500ly]

Formerly the ASW Stand-Off Weapon (SOW), the Sea Lance is a submarine-launched weapon that provides a rocket booster for a Mark 50 ASW torpedo. Although often labeled a successor to SUBROC, the Sea Lance would initially have only a conventional (torpedo) warhead, whereas the SUBROC carries only a nuclear depth bomb. The Sea Lance warhead may thus inhibit its use at longer ranges because of the limited target localization capability of the Mark 50. Plans to provide a nuclear warhead for Sea Lance have been delayed indefinitely.

The Sea Lance is designed for attacks out to the third sonar Convergence Zone (CZ), i.e., approximately 90-100nm. However, when fitted with the Mark 50 torpedo, the effective range will probably by only the first CZ, i.e., some 30-35nm. The weapon is stowed in and launched from a standard 21-inch torpedo tube in a canister, much like the Harpoon anti-ship missile and the CAPTOR encapsulated mine. When the capsule reaches the surface, the missile booster ignites, in effect launching the missile on a ballistic trajectory toward the target area. At a designated point the torpedo separates from the booster, is slowed to re-enter the water and seeks out the hostile submarine.
During the concept stage, the Navy envisioned a common ASW stand-off weapons for surface ships and submarines. The technical and program difficulties proved too great, however, and the surface-launched system became the Vertical0Launch ASROC (VLA).

The Sea Lance is currently one-year behind scheduled, primarily due to the decision in 1986 to emphasize the conventional torpedo as a warhead rather than the nuclear depth bomb.

Weight: 3,100lbs Length: 20 ½ft (6.25m) Diameter: 21 inch (533mm) Range: 100+nm Guidance: ballistic, terminal acoustic homing w/Mk 50 torp Warhead: Mark 50 torpedo

[dragoon500ly]

This remote mount can be fitted with a Mark 19 AGL, a .50-caliber M-2, a 5.56mm M-249 SAW or other automatic weapons. The first two EX-45 mounts provided to the fleet (fitted with .50-caliber machine guns) were installed in the high-speed vessel SWIFT (HSV-2) and a Coast Guard cutter.

Developed by the Office of Naval Research, this mount is a three-axis, gyro-stabilized weapon mount coupled with a laser rangefinder and closed-circuit television. It can be fitted in ships and land vehicles, as well as in small combat craft, including the Marine Corps Small Unit Riverine Craft (SURC).

Afloat testing was conducted in 2004.

[dragoon500ly]

The U.S. Army, Navy, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have ongoing EMG or rail gun programs. The Fiscal Year 2004 defense authorization required that the Secretary of Defense establish a collaborative program among those organizations for the evaluation and demonstration of EMG technologies and concepts.

The Navy’s program is currently oriented toward providing a long-range EMG as a fire support weapon. It will be possible to install the weapon in the planned DD(X) and CG(X) programs due to these ships are planned to have electric-drive propulsion.

The propelling charge of the EMG has an electrical energy output from 60 to 300 megajoules (MJ), and the projectile acceleration rate is 30,000-45,000Gs. In contrast, the current 5in/54-caliber gun has a muzzle energy of 10MJ and with a rocket-assisted projectile increases this to about 18MJ; the planned 6.1in AGS will have a muzzle velocity in access of 33MJ. The EMG would require a power supply of 15-30 megawatts, and approximately 6 gallons (22.7 liters) of the ship’s fuel would be required to fire each round.
In operational use, the EMG would fire in bursts of ten rounds, using command-guided projectiles or conventional ammunition.

The EMG would fire an inert round, which would use kinetic energy to damage its target. A multiple warhead is possible. The round would have no propellant, as it will be propelled entirely by the electromagnetic process. GPS guidance is projected.

The EMG is also being considered for a shipboard terminal self-defense system against attacking cruise missiles.

There is little publicly available, but these are accepted estimates:
Muzzle Velocity: Mach 6+ Rate of fire: 6-12 rounds per minute Maximum Range: 200+nm

[dragoon500ly]

This weapon was a proposal for the DD 21 land-attack destroyers. Twin 6.1-inch (155mm guns) with a range of about 100nm (185km) and their magazines were to be fitted in a modular mounting that could replace Vertical Launching System (VLS) missile modules.

The gun system was to be fully automated with 1,400 rounds per module (i.e., for two guns). Projectiles up to 6 ½ ft (1.9m) long and weighing 300lbs (136kg) could be handled by VGAS. The sustained rate of fire was to be 15 rounds per minute, per barrel.

In any event, the Navy made the decision not to pursue the development of VGAS.