Quote:
|
Originally Posted by B.Smitty
Copperhead's electronics were specifically designed to take the thousands of Gs needed for a gun-launch. SDB's are not. They're probably fairly rugged, but not on that order.
|
I see your point. I guess I was comparing apples and oranges, but not beyond the theoretical possibility that an apple could be an orange
Quote:
|
$50k each is the volume price that I saw. I'll try to find the link.
|
Thats ok, I will take that figure at face value.
Quote:
|
Yep, most of the guided rounds are also pricey.
|
At the risk of sounding flippant, missing can be priceless.
Quote:
|
This is certainly true if you have accurate targetting. But that's not always the case. There's still a need for relatively cheap, area fires - which is what a gun can give you.
|
True and certainly on all points.
However, I have been lead to believe that in practice, the flexibility and responsiveness of 16 inch gun strikes left a bit to be desired when compared to 5 inch and smaller gun strikes (the bigger gun's longer range and throw weight not withstanding). This could be an inaccurate assesment, but I have heard it from the mouths of more than one Marine from more than one conflict.
Too, I find nothing relatively cheap about 16 inch guns and their platforms in the scheme of things.
Quote:
|
Except that putting a pound in orbit costs ~$10k, and weaponizing space has serious political ramifications.
|
I have no hard figures OTTOMH, but I a have a suspicion that when we take into account all of the reindeer games required to deliver a piece of ordnance from the factory to the guys you want to get dead, getting said ordnance in and out of space and onto target is very likely going to be cost competitive and offer some added benefits to boot. Again, though, let me reiterate I have no figures, just a sneaky suspicion.
As to the political ramifications of weapons in space, it appears to be an almost foregone conclusion that the United States is going to have to move in this direction given the number of and value of military assets already in orbit around this planet. In for a penny, in for a pound so we might as well do it right though I am admittedly in the camp that says such activity is not with out risks of geostrategic and geopolitical destabilization.
Besides, the appropriate sheds in the system architecture could be pop up in nature and do not have to be based in orbit.
Probably the most serious political ramification of placing weapons in orbit is the number of military jobs that will become redundant and officers who will find themselves without a fiefdom. We all know how hard generals and admirals will fight to prevent the acquisition of an effective weapon for the country when their perogatives are threatened.
Quote:
Like what?
My ideal system would share a common engine, airframe and basic avionics for a disposable UAV, loitering attack munition, and mini-cruise missile variants. All of which could be packed four per VLS cell, or maybe even nine per PVLS.
If you could make the cruise missile variant have a similar warhead penetration and performance to the SDB, it could take over many of the TLAM's tasks.
A 24 hour endurance, disposable UAV could be used like an airborne sonobouy - just fire off a few when you need extra sensor coverage.
The loitering munition could be used to hunt down SAM sites, attack hidden armor, kill Scuds, Al Qaeda, you name it.
Heck, if you could get a high-subsonic cruise plus a short, supersonic burst out of the engine (ala MALI), you could even use it as a long-ranged, loitering SAM.
|
Even though I sometimes advocate it, my base position is to look unfavorably at proposals where large numbers of roles are speced for a single platform; chalk it up to a peculiarity in my pathology borne of English Protestantism. I can be convinced, however.
To name particulars, I am inclined to think that things like forward swept wings and supersonic capability might incur unneccessary inefficencies viz engineering difficulties and costs when applied to ground attack weapons that are essentially disposable. Might be good for my bottom line but not the contents of the Public's Granary.
I am pretty hip to proposals for maritime use of long loiter UAVs in the ASW role and even better yer the countermine role.
Countermine capability: now we are talking about something the Navy really needs more than most anything else that has been mentioned here. Lord knows that if I had Osama bin Laden's American Express card I would be dogging hard the World's most powerful Navy on the cheap with pre-World War I technology.