On Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:06:22 -0700, Fred J. McCall
wrote:

"dott.Piergiorgio" wrote:

:Fred J. McCall ha scritto:
:
: Why? What does it get you? The missile is already 20x faster than
: what you're shooting it at.
:
: Capability isn't free. If you want a supersonic anti-ship missile, it
: has to be bigger (which means you can carry fewer of them), fly higher
: (to escape reflections of its own shockwave from the surface), etc.
:
:
:As I understand, very high speed in ASuW missiles is conceived as
:counter-measure against CIWS systems, on the basis of reducing the
:available reaction time.
:

I know it's viewed that way, but does it really buy you anything? You
pick it up farther away (because it has to fly higher and is larger)
and you have many fewer missiles to use to try to overload a defensive
sector (again, because the missiles must be much larger).

And, of course, a larger, hotter missile is also easier to hit once
you detect it...

Aren't the small, modified AA missles supersonic, small and about
as long-ranged as harpoon? They've a much smaller punch -
nothing's free, as you say, but they'd be likely to hit against
current defenses.


Peter Skelton