Swiftships’ 35-meter CPB
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Swiftships Shipbuilders in Morgan City, LA received a $181 million fixed-price letter contract for the design and construction of 9 patrol boats and associated equipment and services for the Iraqi Navy.

The contract is for Swiftships 35-meter coastal patrol boats (CPBs) along with 6 30mm gun weapons systems, machine gun mounts and cradles, spare parts, and contractor engineering technical services.

Swiftships’ 35-meter patrol boat is a triple-waterjet diesel powered vessel…

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The concept
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Back in March 2006, BAE Systems received a contract for “design and production of the 32 MJ Laboratory Launcher for the U.S. Navy.” Some hint of what they are talking about can be gleaned from the name. The project is an electro-magnetic rail gun that accelerates a projectile to incredibly high speeds without using explosives.

The attraction of such systems is no mystery – they promise to fire their ammunition 10 or more times farther than conventional naval gun shells, while sharply reducing both the required size of each shell and the amount of explosive material carried on board ship. Progress is being made, but there are still major technical challenges to overcome before a working rail gun becomes a serious naval option. This DID FOCUS article looks at the key technical challenges, the programs, and the history of key contracts and events. Recent additions include another R&D contract to General Atomics…

• Rail Guns: Concept & Technology Developments
• Rail Guns: US Program Information
• Rail Guns: Key Contracts & Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Naval AS90
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Medium caliber naval guns confront naval planners with a divergence of opinions: mount large caliber, slower-firing 5”/127mm guns used mostly for naval fire support, or smaller caliber 100-57mm guns with far more rapid rates of fire that can be used against smaller boats, UAVs, missiles et. al. as well? In recent years, a 3rd option has entered the scene: 155mm guns adapted from Army platforms. Key advantages include potential commonality of ammunition stocks, greater destructive power, and better leveraging of R&D into long range and specialized variants with some land/sea commonality. Hence projects like the American AGS system for its Zumwalt Class destroyers, and Germany’s aborted MONARC that would have mounted a turret from their PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer on the new F125 expeditionary frigates.

AGS is rather large, however, which leaves the question of what to do with ships smaller than the DDG-1000 Zumwalt’s Graf Spee sized 14,500t. The Royal Navy has become the latest navy to jump into this fray, undertaking a relatively low cost research program that looks at the AS90 Braveheart howitzer’s potential for future warships, and for refits to the existing fleet.

They’ll have a number of significant challenges to overcome before they can declare success, but a recent release says the project is moving on to Phase 3 now…

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HMS Sutherland
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Brtiain’s Type 23 Duke Class frigates were originally envisioned as pure anti-submarine vessels, to the extent of being planned with no other armament. The 1982 Falklands War quickly put paid to that idea, however, and the Type 23s would end up being commissioned from 1989-2001 and fitted with a main gun, Sea Wolf short range anti-air missiles, and Harpoon anti-ship missiles to accompany her torpedoes, decoys, et. al. These changes turned the frigates from specialized sub-hunters into versatile multi-role combatants that play a key role in the British fleet. The Royal Navy is set to continue shrinking in size (see esp. diagram) due to rising ship costs, and even though key platforms like aircraft carriers and amphibious ships may be more capable, the mid-tier combat role filled by frigates is not slated for new construction any time soon. As such, upgrading the Navy’s 13 remaining Type 23s to keep them in service is vitally important to Britain’s future force.

As part of those operational upgrade efforts, the Type 23 frigates will receive: Sonar 2087 towed sonars, the Royal Navy’s latest and most sophisticated submarine hunting system (Thales UK, GBP 166 million for machines that go ‘ping!’); Upgraded vertical-launch Sea Wolf Block 2 air defense missiles to help counter supersonic anti-ship missiles (BAE Systems Insyte with MBDA, GBP 300 million); an improved 114mm Vickers Mk 8 Mod 1 main gun, capable of firing long-range ammunition; and a reshaped stern to cut fuel use. Upgrades are also being performed during maintenance periods, some of which are significant to the ship’s overall capabilities.

The latest news is HMS St Albans completion of her refit, alongside the handover of the last Type 23 frigate to Chile…

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LCS diorama
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The Navy announces that it is moving forward with development of the Littoral Combat Ship’s Surface Warfare (SUW) Mission Package, which it describes as “designed to combat small, fast boat terrorist threats to the fleet.” The Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren division is the technical direction agent for the SUW mission package, with NSWC Port Hueneme division providing integrated logistics and testing support. US NAVSEA’s release lists the components as:

”...electro-optical/infrared sensors mounted on a vertical take off unmanned air vehicle [the MQ-8B Fire Scout] to provide over-the-horizon detection; 30mm guns to kill close-in targets; four [4] non-line-of-sight launching system [NLOS-LS/ “NetFires”]... container launch units, with each system containing 15 offensive missiles; and the MH-60R armed helicopter for surveillance and attack missions. The SUW mission package has software that interfaces with the LCS command and control system to maintain and share situational awareness and tactical control in a coordinated SUW environment…. The first two [2] SUW mission packages assembled for developmental and operational testing use the Mark 46 30mm gun made by General Dynamics Amphibious Systems.”

The $400-500 million question is, will this be enough?...

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Mk 45 firing
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BAE Systems has announced a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) from the U.S. Navy for up to $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems, and provide support services over the next 5 years. Potential orders received under this BOA are expected later this year and will be carried out by BAE Systems’ facilities in Minneapolis, MN and Louisville, KY.

The BOA covers a wide range of BAE Systems’ programs including the transition of production of the Mk 110 57mm naval gun system from low-rate to full; the overhaul, manufacture and upgrade of the Mk 45 5-inch (127mm) naval gun for the CG-47 Cruiser Modernization program, the Mk 75 76mm gun mount, the Mk 42 extended range guided missile handling mechanism, the Mk 32 surface vessel torpedo tubes (SVTT), and the Mk 36/53 decoy launcher systems (DLS); the manufacture of gun barrels; the overhaul of turbine pump ejection systems (TPES); and work associated with minor caliber guns. BAE Systems release.

F100 AEGIS Frigate
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On Aug 3/07, the US DSCA announced Spain’s formal request [PDF format] for 2 MK 7 AEGIS Weapons Systems. The heart of the AEGIS weapon system is Lockheed Martin’s AN/SPY-1D Radar System, a 3-dimensional, air/surface search and tracking radar; there is also a software combat system component. Spain also asked for 2 MK 41 Baseline VII Vertical Launch Systems, and 2 MK 45 MOD 2 5” Gun Mounts. These sets would equip 2 of that country’s F100 Alvaro de Bazan Class AEGIS frigates, which will also serve as the basis for Australia’s Hobart Class ships.

Non-MDE items include: AN/SLQ-25A Torpedo Countermeasure System; UHF SATCOM Terminal; AN/WSN-7, Ring Laser Gyro; AN/ARR-75, Radio Receiving Set; Aviation Support System; MK III Shipboard System Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS); AN/BQN-7A, Bathythermograph Set; AN/WSN-8A, Digital Electromagnetic Log; Common Data Link Management System (CDLMS)/Command and Control Processor (C2P); Multifunctional Information Distribution System on Ships; MK 162 MOD 1 Shipboard Gridlock System; Navigation Sensor System Interface (NAVSSI)/Global Positioning System; AN/SLA-10B, and Video Blanking Equipment. System integration and testing, communications and support equipment, computer programs and maintenance support, ship integration, spare and repair parts, supply support, publications and technical data, training, U.S. Government and contractor technical assistance, and other related elements of logistics support.

The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $780 million. Offset agreements associated with this proposed sale are expected, but are undetermined at this time, and will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and contractor. The principal contractors will be:

• Lockheed-Martin Maritime System and Sensors in Moorestown, NJ
• Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors, Eagan, MN
• General Dynamics Armament Systems in Burlington, VT
• Raytheon Company, Equipment Division in Andover, MA

AGS, firing
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BAE Systems – Armament Systems Division in Minneapolis, MN received a $108.9 million cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-05-C-5117) for completion of design, development and integration of the Advanced Gun System (AGS), in support of the DDG 1000 Zumwalt Class program. Work will be performed in Minneapolis, MN (76%); Burlington, VT (19%); and Baltimore, MD (5%), and is expected to be complete by September 2009. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC issued the contract.

The Advanced Gun System is intended to be the 14,500 ton DDG-1000 “destroyer’s” primary naval gunfire support weapon, fitting into a stealth-enhancing turret and emerging to fire 155mm GPs-guided “Long Range Land Attack Projectile” guided shells up to 100 miles inshore. DID covered the AGS, and the program’s previous $376 million RDT&E contract, in May of 2005.

MONARC, FGS Hamburg
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The difficulty with placing 155mm howitzer-class guns on ships is the level of recoil, which can play havoc with a smaller ship’s stability. The Germans have experimented with KMW/HDW’s ‘MONARC,’ which uses a self-sufficient PzH-2000 mobile howitzer turret mounted on a 6,160 ton F124 Sachsen Class frigate. While an intricate elastic mounting system handled the recoil, adapting all of the PzH-2000’s systems for the corrosive naval environment proved more difficult than expected and MONARC appears to have been removed from plans for the new F125 Class frigates; Oto Melara’s 127mm lightweight naval gun will be used instead.

In the absence of a 155mm gun, the use of long-range, guided rounds like Oto Melara’s Vulcano can certainly extend the range of existing naval guns, and their move toward similar naval and 155mm versions of this ammunition family is also likely to be a harbinger of trends to come.

127/54 LW, firing
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Finmeccanica subsidiary OTO Melara recently announced [PDF format] a EUR 80 million (currently about $108 million) pair of orders for naval gun systems to be mounted on Germany’s F125 frigates, where they will be integrated with EADS FuWES command & fire control systems. The final contracts are expected to be signed in the third quarter of the year, subject to the approval of the F125 program by the German parliament.

The first contract worth EUR 70 million is for the supply of five 127/54 LW (Light Weight) gun systems: 4 for the ARGE F125 consortium’s F125 frigates, and one (1) for training. Note the difference between this gun and the 57mm weapon that will arm the frigate-sized US Littoral Combat Ship. See Naval Armament: The MCG Problem for an examination of the different conceptions at work here. The Germans had originally looked at mounting their MONARC 155mm howitzer on the F125s, but this order appears to mark the definitive end of those plans.

12.7mm Hitrole NT
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Germany has also selected the remote-controlled Hitrole® 12.7mm remote-control turret in the new Naval Tilting (NT) version. OTO Melara will provide a total of 25 12.7mm Hitrole NT systems under the ER 10 million contract: 5 on board each of the 4 frigates (TL = 20) and 5 on land for training purposes. The Hitrole RWS is currently serving with the Italian finance police and the UAE and Mexican navies, among others.

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Mk 110 MOD 0 concept
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April 2/07: BAE Systems in Minneapolis, MN announces its second contract from General Dynamics to supply a 57-mm Mk 110 naval gun system as the main gun fitted to the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship [LCS 4]. The contract is worth $7.2 million, and includes options such as spare parts and training. The gun is scheduled to be delivered in 2008.

The gun’s Mk 295 ammunition allows the system to perform against aerial, surface or ground threats, with a firing rate of up to 220 rounds/minute. The Mk 110 is designed to have minimal deck penetration, and can be operated directly or by remote control. BAE Systems has now received 3 contracts from the LCS program contenders, for a total of 4 gun systems…

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