AMR-June-July-2013
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N A V A L<br />
ANTI-SURFACE WARFARE<br />
One of the most popular long range gun systems<br />
is Oto Melara's 127mm (5 inch) mounting. Oto<br />
Melara are developing a range of extended<br />
range ammunition, Vulcano, for this mounting<br />
© Oto Melara<br />
Similar weapons are MBDA’s Otomat Mk 2<br />
used by Bangladesh and Malaysia, the<br />
Russian 3M24 Uran (Uranium) selected by<br />
India and Vietnam and China’s YJ-83 or<br />
CSS-N-6 ‘Saccade’ whose export version is<br />
designated C-802 with version used by<br />
Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Myanmar,<br />
Pakistan and Thailand. Asian-produced<br />
weapons are Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy<br />
Industries Type 90 (SSM-1B) and South<br />
Korea’s LIG Nex1 Haeseong (Sea Star) or<br />
SSM-700K as well as Taiwan’s Hsiung Feng<br />
II (Brave Wind II).<br />
There is a growing Asian interest in<br />
supersonic anti-ship missiles which have<br />
the advantage of reducing a target’s reaction<br />
times; indeed they can halve the<br />
effective range of close-in weapon systems.<br />
But their very velocity is the problem,<br />
and the reason they are not more<br />
widely used for they have less time for<br />
their radar processors to evaluate information<br />
from the sensor and allow the<br />
guidance system to react. Indeed it has<br />
been suggested they may be more vulnerable<br />
to electronic counter-measures than<br />
sub-sonic weapons which have sufficient<br />
fuel to re-acquire lost targets.<br />
India uses both the Russian<br />
3M80/3M82 Moskit (Mosquito) or SS-N-22<br />
‘Sunburn’ and the PJ-10 Brahmos, jointly<br />
developed with the Russians, while China<br />
also uses ‘Sunburn’ but only in Russianbuilt<br />
Sovremenny class destroyers.<br />
‘Sunburn’ is capable of Mach 3, has a range<br />
of 65 nautical miles (120 kilometres) and<br />
carries a 320 kilogramme warhead while<br />
Brahmos is a Mach 2.8 ramjet-powered<br />
These missiles also have a degree of<br />
intelligence approaching their target indirectly,<br />
turning at a predetermined way<br />
point or even way points, and at varying<br />
heights depending upon whether or not<br />
the mission requirement is for fuel efficiency,<br />
to achieve greater range or a<br />
covert approach, flying just above the<br />
waves to make them more difficult for the<br />
target’s radars to detect. Alternatively, the<br />
missiles can be pre-set to dive upon the<br />
target at a steep angle for greater lethality.<br />
Because they are designed to strike the<br />
most vulnerable part of a ship both<br />
Harpoon and Exocet have smaller warheads<br />
than ‘Styx’; 221 and 165 kilogrammes<br />
respectively. The turbo-jet powered<br />
Harpoon had the longer range, up to 130<br />
nautical miles (240 kilometres) compared<br />
with 38 nautical miles (70 kilometres) in the<br />
rocket-powered Exocet MM40 but Exocet<br />
Block 3 has a turbo-jet engine giving a<br />
range of 97 nautical miles (180 kilometres)<br />
with greater accuracy thanks to the incorporation<br />
of a Global Positions System (GPS)<br />
unit using satellite navigation inputs.<br />
The Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas)<br />
Harpoon anti-ship missile is used extensively by<br />
Asia's navies © Boeing<br />
l JUNE/JULY <strong>2013</strong> l 53