Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: spetznaz

Neither the Russian or Chinese missiles match the SM-6 for range and speed.


40 posted on 02/12/2016 7:08:52 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18 - Be The Leaderless Resistance)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies ]


To: Mariner
Neither the Russian or Chinese missiles match the SM-6 for range and speed

Are you sure about that? The Standard SM6 version has a range of 200 nautical miles (230 miles or 370 km), goes at Mach 3.5 and carries a warhead that's just 125 pounds.

The main Russian missile, the Oniks, has a range of 370 miles (600 km), and carries a 250KG warhead at mach 3. While the SM6 is faster (3.5m vs 3.0m), the Oniks is still fast enough to spoof virtually any defense system and operational procedure is to ripple launch them. Moreover, the Oniks has a significantly longer range and carries a vastly larger warhead.

Anyway, the purpose of my first post was not really a , erm, stick measuring contest. I'm very glad the USN has a supersonic ASM that can enable it to reach out quickly and disable enemy surface combatants, and enable slower missiles like the ASM version of the Tomahawk or the Harpoon to successfully hard kill that which has already been soft killed. Also, as you mentioned before, a fast missile hitting the aluminum superstructure of a ship would result in a bad day for the ship's crew.

However, the USN will still need to come up with a heavy supersonic/hypersonic ASM that is a real ship killer, and the enhancement of the SM6 shows that thinking has started to shift that way (there is some good info on the failed DARPA supersonic missile project, which apparently seems to have been resurrected. A true HYPERSONIC ASM to put to shame anything from Russia).

42 posted on 02/12/2016 7:45:33 AM PST by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson