LRASM Successfully Test Fired From Underway Naval Test Ship

Lockheed Martin has completed the third of three test shots to prove that their air-launched Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) can be fired from a surface ship on the move, company officials told USNI News on Wednesday.

The Monday test at the Navy’s Point Mugu Sea Range, California took the same weapon Lockheed developed for a DARPA program to be launched against ships from fighters and bombers and loaded it into the same launch system used on the service’s guided missile destroyers and cruisers.

“We’re doing it to demonstrate that LRASM can be integrated onto a ship with software changes only and it won’t be a huge bill to put LRASMs in the surface fleet,” Scott Callaway — LRASM Surface-Launch director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control — told USNI News.

Lockheed refurbished a Mk 41 Vertical Launch System cell for the test, combined the 500 nautical mile range LRASM with an additional booster and tied it to a Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control System (TTWCS) for guidance – all installed on Navy’s Self Defense Test Ship, the former USS Paul Foster.

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Scuffle in the South China Sea #36

The HQ-9 antiship missile emplacements by the Chinese are upping the ante in the South China Sea's tensions.  Pictures and video are here.  China has defended its placement of the missiles now.

The clashes of China and Indonesia are looked at here.

The positions of Australia and China with regards to the South China Sea are explored here.

The US has stated the air strips made by the Chinese on their reclaimed islands are definitely intended for military aircraft.

The Philippines is considering purchasing submarines due to the tensions in the South China Sea.

Vietnam has expressed interest in the Su-35s and also S-3 Vikings from the US.

Russian Navy Upgrading Akula Class Attack Subs to use Kalibr (Sizzler) Antiship missiles

The upgrade of Russia's Project 971 Bars ('Akula')-class nuclear-powered attack submarines will arm them with Kalibr 3M-54 (SS-N-27A 'Sizzler') anti-ship missiles, Viktor Kochemazov, chief of the Russian Navy Training Department, told the RSN radio channel on 21 March. "Now, the upgrade of the Project 971 submarines provides for equipping them with the Kalibr system," he said.

The weapon "proved itself" during trials, according to Kochemazov. "Its use by the Rostov-on-Don diesel-electric submarine showed that the system is facing bright vistas in terms of further development," he said.

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Russia Claims to Have Tested a Hypersonic Cruise Missile, the Mach 6 Zircon

First trials of a sea-based Zircon hypersonic cruise missile have begun, a top defense industry source told RIA Novosti. The secretive missile is said to be capable of flying five to six times the speed of sound. It is launched from a 5G submarine.

“Zircon hypersonic missiles are already there, and testing from a ground-based launching site has begun,” a senior defense industry source told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

The new, highly secretive missile would be able to fly five to six times faster than the speed of sound, the source added.

Zircon missiles would be mounted on the newest fifth-generation nuclear-powered Husky-class submarines.

Features of the new hypersonic missile are not found in public sources. Earlier in February, it was revealed that the Russian Navy’s nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great) would also be armed with hypersonic cruise missiles by 2022.

A military source told TASS the cruiser will be refitted with the brand new multirole 3S-14 vertical launch systems, which house three types of anti-ship missiles, including Zircon, Onyx and Kalibr.

Zircon will probably replace P-800 Onyx and Kalibr NK missiles. Both have supersonic anti-ship capabilities, while Kalibr can cover long-range distances of up to 4,000 kilometers and carry a 500kg warhead. The combat-proven cruise missile was seen in action last year, when it was deployed against Islamic State’s (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) defenses in Syria.

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China Conducted Simulated Missile Attack by Submarine on US Aircraft Carrier

A Chinese attack submarine conducted a simulated cruise missile attack on the aircraft carrier USS Reagan during a close encounter several weeks ago, according to American defense officials.

The targeting incident near the Sea of Japan in October violated China’s 2014 commitment to the multinational Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, known as CUES, designed to reduce the risk of a shooting incident between naval vessels, said officials familiar with details of the encounter they described as “serious.”

A section of the non-binding 2014 agreement states that commanders at sea should avoid actions that could lead to accidents or mishaps. Among the actions to be avoided are “simulation of attacks by aiming guns, missiles, fire control radar, torpedo tubes or other weapons in the direction of vessels or aircraft encountered.”

Navy officials recently briefed congressional staff on the incident that took place during the weekend of Oct. 24—days before the Navy warship USS Lassens sailed within 12 miles of disputed Chinese islands in the South China Sea, triggering vocal criticism from Beijing.

The Obama administration has kept details of the submarine targeting incident secret to avoid upsetting military relations between the Pentagon and the People’s Liberation Army.

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China Conducted Hypersonic Boost Glide Weapon Test on November 23, 2015

A sixth test of China's hypersonic manoeuvring strike vehicle, the DF-ZF (previously designated the WU-14), took place on 23 November, according to US officials.

China had signalled that this test was imminent on 18 November when it issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) covering the same areas as its fifth test on 19 August 2015.

US officials said the latest test achieved a speed of "beyond Mach 5" and was called a "success", according to a 25 November 2015 report in the Washington Free Beacon .

Previous tests occurred on 7 June 2015, 2 December 2014, 7 August 2014, and 9 January 2014. Only the 7 August 2014 test was called a "failure" by US officials.

As with previous tests, this one was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in Shanxi Province, where China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) tests most of its long-range missiles.

The key advantages of a boosted hypersonic manoeuvring vehicle are that it can radically change its trajectory to avoid missile defences and has 'gliding' capabilities that give an extended range over that of a conventional ballistic missile warhead.

While a hypersonic manoeuvring strike vehicle could be nuclear armed, it is also likely that China plans such warheads to perform non-nuclear precision strike missions, such as arming a next-generation anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM).

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LRASM Flight Testing Started on F/A-18E

The US Navy (USN) has begun airworthiness testing of Lockheed Martin's Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrier-borne strike fighter.

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Littoral Combat Ships to Deploy With Harpoon and Kongsberg Strike Missiles

The US Navy’s push to increase the lethality of the littoral combat ship (LCS) is getting a major and somewhat unexpected boost with word that an over-the-horizon (OTH) surface-to-surface missile will be installed on-board the next LCSs to deploy.

Rear Adm. Pete Fanta, director of surface warfare at the Pentagon, issued a directive on Sept. 17 calling for the installation of an unspecified OTH missile aboard the Freedom and the Coronado, the next two LCSs scheduled for deployment. The Freedom is to deploy to the Western Pacific during the first quarter of calendar year 2016, while the Coronado is to follow in the second or third quarter.

“The objective is to install the OTH missile system aboard all in-service LCS deploying to forward operating stations starting in fiscal year 2016,” Fanta wrote in the directive, “as well as on all under-construction LCS prior to their commissioning ceremonies.”

The LCS has been without a surface-to-surface missile since the cancellation in 2010 of the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) missile, a program managed by the US Army that would have provided LCS with a significant weapon. Ever since, the service has been searching for a suitable replacement. A shipboard launch system for the Hellfire missile is being developed for smaller targets, but that weapon is unable to inflict significant damage on larger ships -- a role the OTH is meant to fill.

An OTH weapon is to be included in the LCS frigate variant now under development. The Navy has issued a request for information to industry for the frigate missile, and a request for proposals is expected later this year, but no missile has yet been chosen.

Fanta’s directive does not mention a specific missile, but it’s understood from sources that the missiles for the initial installations will be the Boeing Harpoon and Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM).

The idea, sources confirmed, is to try out both kinds of missile on both LCS variants, each ship deploying with only one model of missile installed.

The Harpoon is a tried-and-true weapon that has armed most US warships since the late 1970s. It is a normally mounted in launch canisters, usually grouped in a quad pack. Most ships carry two quad packs, for a total of eight weapons – the maximum number of weapons per ship specified in Fanta’s directive. Boeing has been at work to improve the weapon, in particular to give it longer range.

The Norwegian-built NSM, by contrast, is not a US program of record and is not in service with any US platforms, although it is in service with the Norwegian Navy. It is the only naval strike missile to be fired from an LCS, however. In a simple demonstration test, a single missile box launcher was loaded aboard the Coronado and fired on Sept. 23, 2014. The launcher sat on a rudimentary platform exhausting over the ship’s flight deck, and the missile was not integrated into the Coronado’s combat system.

Fanta’s directive, in fact, notes that “full integration with the LCS combat system is not required. A stand-alone console or computer terminal capable of consummating an engagement is sufficient for initial fielding.”

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US Navy Considering Adding Anti Ship Missiles Back to Submarine Force

The Navy is investigating adding an anti-ship missile to its submarine force — bringing it inline with the majority of the world naval submarines, the director of Naval Reactors said on Wednesday.

In response to a question from the audience at the 2015 Naval Submarine League Symposium, Adm. Frank Caldwell said the Navy was exploring adding the capability to the fleet.

“For this audience, I’ll tell you we are considering that and we are taking some some steps to delivering that kind of capability to our submarine force and I can’t really say anymore than that,” he said.

The U.S. submarine fleet did use the UGM-84A Harpoon anti-ship missile but that Harpoon variant was retired in 1997. The current primary attack submarines is the anti-ship weapon is Mk 48 heavy torpedo and is limited in its range relative to anti-ship missiles developed and deployed with foreign navies.

In particular, Russian and Chinese submarines field a variety of anti-ship missiles with ranges that far exceed the Mk-48s.

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Zhuhai Surprises: China may be not as far Behind in Military Technology as Thought

China seems to have developed an equivalent of the US JSOW.

They also seem to have bought from the Russians the CX-1 (aka Yakhont or as the Indians call it BrahMos).

OCTOBER SURPRISE! Revealed Chinese JF-17 Pictures Show With HYPERSONIC Anti Ship Missiles

Recent images of two China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) CM-400AKG high-speed air-to-surface missiles fitted to an airborne Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) FC-1/JF-17 fighter suggest that China continues to develop the missile.

[...]

Chinese sources indicate the CM-400AKG is derived from the SY-400 tactical ballistic missile. The CM-400AKG has been promoted as a 'hypersonic' anti-ship-capable missile since its unveiling at the November 2012 Zhuhai Airshow.

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Time to trot out the lasers, guys.

(arms race!  arms race!  arms race!)

Lockheed Awarded $202 Million DARPA Contract for Continued LRASM Development

Lockheed Martin has received a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract worth up to USD202 million for follow-on development and accelerated acquisition of the US Navy's (USN's) next-generation Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).

The 2 July award came a week after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ruled against a joint protest filed by Raytheon and Kongsberg contesting the sole-source LRASM follow-on contract.

LRASM is a joint DARPA/Office of Naval Research programme designed to prove the concept of an autonomous, precision-guided, anti-ship stand-off missile suitable for accelerated transition to production. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control - Strike Weapons was selected in June 2009 to demonstrate its air-launched concept, which leverages the basic design of the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile Extended Range, while introducing additional sensors and systems specific to the offensive anti-surface warfare mission.

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US Selling India Submarine Launched Harpoon Missiles

The US Defence Security Cooperation Agency notified the US Congress in late June of its decision to supply 22 Boeing Harpoon submarine-launched anti-ship missiles to the Indian Navy (IN) for USD200 million via the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route.

The notification followed the IN's 2012 request for Harpoons to provide missile-firing capability to its four German HDW Type 209/1500 SSK submarines following a mid-life upgrade.

The notification was for 12 UGM-84L Harpoon Block II Encapsulated missiles and 10 UGM-84L Encapsulated training missiles. The package also includes two Encapsulated Harpoon certification training vehicles, containers, and spares, IN personnel training and all-inclusive logistics support.

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Most US Navy LRASM Procured Will be Competitively Done

The U.S. Navy on Wednesday said it planned to launch an open competition around fiscal 2017 for a next-generation missile, seeking to reassure weapons makers they still have prospects after a separate deal with Lockheed Martin Corp for 90 air-launched missiles sparked a formal protest.

Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley told reporters the Lockheed program was limited in scope and the future, bigger missile development program would be open to all potential bidders.

"That will be competed. That is 100 percent competition," he said after a hearing held by the House Armed Services Committee's seapower and projection forces subcommittee.

Stackley defended the Pentagon's decision to order 90 long-range anti-ship missiles from Lockheed that were developed under a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He said the move was justified given the urgent needs of military commanders and said the initial DARPA research contract with Lockheed was awarded after a formal competition.

"The way to get it out there as quickly as possible is to take this system that DARPA has developed with Lockheed and build a limited number (of air-launched missiles) to get it out into the fleet's hands by the 2018 timeframe," he said.

Stackley said the decision required a special "justification and authorization" by the Pentagon's acquisition chief since it was a sole-source deal and that move had sparked a protest by a rival company.

He declined further comment, but said he wanted to make very clear that the larger procurement would be competitively bid.

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