Defence Update

The first two Phalanx systems were to be fitted to the British aircraft carrier, HMS Invincible, which was to be acquired by Australia and renamed HMAS Australia. That deal fell through because of the Falklands war, and other carrier options finally were abandoned by the new Government in March 1983.

Since then, the RAN’s third FFG, HMAS Sydney, was fitted with Phalanx after her shake-down acceptance trials off Seattle late last year and came to Australia to enter service earlier this year. The fourth FFG, HMAS Darwin, is having Phalanx fitted while it is being built. It was commissioned on July 21 and is due in Australian waters about August 1985. HMAS Sydney carried out firing trials of the Phalanx weapons system against a target towed by an A-4 Skyhawk in US waters in January this year. The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral David Leach, said at the time that the trial firing was of special significance because it ushered in a new era for fully automatic computerised defence protection for RAN ships against current generation missiles. He said the Phalanx was designed as a self-defence weapon against anti-ship missiles such as those used against the Royal Navy Task Force in the Falklands with such devastating effect. The first firing of Phalanx in Australian waters was carried out off Jervis Bay, NSW, in June, again off HMAS Sydney.

The guided-missile destroyers (DDGs), HMAS Brisbane, Perth and Hobart also could be fitted, but this is not planned at present due to funding priorities. The two Australian frigates to be constructed at Williamstown dockyard, Vic. to FFG design will be fitted as they are built. The two Phalanx systems ordered from General Dynamics in 1982 will be delivered to Australia later this year. They will be fitted to HMAS Canberra in late 1984 and to HMAS Adelaide early in 1985 with work being undertaken at the Garden Island naval dockyard in Sydney. Both ships will have the system fully operational by mid 1984.

Phalanx is the back-to-the-wall last line of defence against anti-ship missiles. The US Navy recently conducted successful operational tests with a Mk 15 Phalanx CIWS against sea-skimming Exocet missiles, destroying three out of four during one test series, US officials said. These tests, at the Pacific missile test range off California, took place on May 7 and involved a British destroyer firing Exocets at a target being towed astern by an unmanned US destroyer, formerly the US Stoddard, which fired a remote-control Phalanx system. The British are reported to have fitted Phalanx on some 30 frigates and destroyers and the three aircraft carriers, HMS Invincible, HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal.

The Phalanx system is a single computerised, fully automatic unit, including search and fire control radars, and a six barrel 20 mm Vulcan gun. When a target enters the Phalanx search radar beam the return is analysed by the computer and if classified as a threat the gun slews around to the target bearing. As soon as the tracking radar locks on the target, the gun opens fire at a rate of about 3500 rounds per minute in bursts.

It is planned to produce ammunition for Phalanx in Australia, incorporating a locally developed tungsten alloy penetrator. The technology for the manufacture of a tungsten penetrator has been developed by Seco Titan Ltd with financial assistance from the Defence Department. Ammunition components will be made at the Munitions Filling Factory at St Marys, NSW, and the complete round is expected to provide additional work for the Ammunition Factory at Footscray, Vic. Local industry also is involved in making gun mount components for General Dynamics under the Australian Industry Participation (AID) scheme.

The CIWS alone is not expected to do the job of shooting down anti-ship missiles. There are a series of systems and they are all complementary for what is called AAW (Anti-Air Weapon) defence. If you had the equipment- and Australia doesn’t- the top-level cover would come from E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft combining with say F-14 Tomcat fighters from an aircraft carrier. In the next layer are the Standard missiles – SM2s and SM1s- which range out to 80 km. Then come shorter-range missiles like Sea Sparrow covering out to 15 km, Sea Wolf (out to about 8 km), then Stinger or something similar (to 5 km). Guns also provide AAW defence. The FFG uses its 76 mm out to about 5 km. Then comes the absolutely last-ditch CIWS out to 1500 yards.

The RAN argues that at least three layers of AAW defence are required. The FFG has a Standard missile, its 76 mm gun and the Phalanx. Of course the ultimate objective is to get the launch platform of the anti-ship missiles because that contains the major threat. If a single ship does not have three layers of AAW defence, It probably would operate closely with other ships so that such cover is theoretically available.

The RAN chose Phalanx because it obviously offered the best available CIWS based on operational experience and tests. So far General Dynamics have produced some 300 Phalanx mounts and are heading for 600. Competing systems are Seaguard and Goalkeeper. Whereas Phalanx uses 20 mm calibre ammunition, Seaguard uses 25 mm and Goalkeeper 30 mm.

There have been quite a lot of unsupported assertions about just what various CIWS systems can achieve. If an anti-ship missile like Exocet or Harpoon, or of Soviet derivation, got through the AAW screen to the final 1500 yards doing Mach 0. 85, the CIWS needs to explode the warhead in the missile quickly well away from the ship. If you just hit it without exploding it the kinetic energy would keep it coming for the ship. Defensive missiles cannot operate that close, so bullets are needed. The Americans – and the RAN- do not accept assertions that a 20 mm round is too small to explode the warhead. Trials have proved 20 mm bullets work through a series of hits. Phalanx has closed loop spotting which means the radars measure the distance between the target and the shells and keep closing it up. The Navy believes there is more chance of getting more than one hit with 20 mm shells because the tracking system is much better. In later models, the rate of fire of the Phalanx will be adjusted by the computer. The ammunition held on a Phalanx mount is enough to carry out several engagements. It programs itself to fire, and can be reloaded from ammunition clips held in ready-use lockers on the upper deck and using an auto-loader.

As mentioned earlier, the DDG destroyers are not presently programmed for CIWS mounts. The DDGS have Standard missiles and two 5 inch guns. The Destroyer Escorts (DES) will not be fitted with Phalanx. They are due out of service in the mid-1990s and in any case have a relatively close-in-weapons system in Sea Cat, successfully used in the Falklands against sub-sonic aircraft flying straight at ships. Sea Cat scored five or six kills there, and also is credited with deflecting an Exocet.

Phalanx is designed to explode an anti-ship missile well out so that it disintegrates. If it explodes only 200-300 yards out, it is likely to spray the ship with splinters. The Navy plans that for ships built sometime in the future a second-generation CIWS may be available, possibly with the penetrator of a different design. There is confidence that if anti-ship missiles are upgraded, so will the counters.

Experts believe the new generation of anti-ship missiles will permit supersonic manoeuvring. Thus another counter will have to be found. At present it is not possible to use missiles close for defence because they cannot manoeuvre or even arm themselves in time after launch.

Apart from other factors, the attractiveness of Phalanx is that unlike competitors, it can be installed without cutting through the deck. The phalanx is simply linked below deck with two small cabinets that enclose the computer and associated equipment. The RAN does not pretend that the occasional surface missile might not get through, especially if enough anti-ship missiles are fired. But they are not easily replenished. Much has been made of the vulnerability of RN ships in the Falklands, but it is not generally realised HMS Sheffield was something of a sitting duck, and had all her radars turned off for tactical reasons.

As for the current Persian Gulf attacks on shipping, it has been wrongly assumed most of the hits have come from Exocets. In the majority of cases, the damage has come from hits by rockets fired from the air. Even where Exocets have been fired the damage has not always been heavy. Thus the damage sustained by large unmanoeuvrable tankers in the Persian Gulf from air attack disproves the claim that modern weapons have removed the viability of surface ships.

The AAW layers earlier described are all part of the ‘hard kill’ efforts. On top of this come the ‘soft kill’ systems – such as the Australian-designed Winnin decoy project which is a hovering rocket carrying an electronic payload designed to lure away an approaching anti-shipping missile from its intended target. Electronic Support Measures (ESM), Electronic countermeasures (ECM) and Winnin all form part of the extra close in measures, including Super Rapid Blooming Offboard Chaff (SRBOC).

Navy is certainly looking at Winnin if it is proved an operational system as part of the whole defence of ships. But arguments that Winnie could provide the complete answer are rejected.