Peter Skelton wrote:

:On Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:43:58 -0700, Fred J. McCall
wrote:
:
:Peter Skelton wrote:
:
::On Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:53:26 -0700, Fred J. McCall
wrote:
::
::Peter Skelton wrote:
::
:::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.
:::
::
::I'm not sure what missiles you're talking about.
::
::The standard family for certain, I'm not sure how much other kit
::has been upgraded.
::
:
:I don't believe they are nearly as long-ranged as Harpoon when they
:are used in the anti-ship mode. One of the things you give up for
:supersonic speed is range (you burn the fuel grain much faster) unless
:you make them very, very large.
:
:They are longer ranged in anti-ship mode than in anti-air - it
:has to be that way, the height it has in AA mode at maximum range
:is available as energy to get out farther at the surface. SM2 ER
:should be good to 90 sea miles.
:

No, it doesn't have to be that way at all. Air resistance matters.
What altitude the rocket nozzle is optimized for matters. Flight
profile matters.

:
:That doesn't mean targeting and sensors work that way, the world
:being curved and all.
:
I'm not sure that these are usefully smaller than harpoon - the
:diameter of both is 13.5")
:

They're not. In fact they're pretty much the same size and weight.
The Standard Missile motor burns much hotter. Flight profile is very
different. Standard will launch from a Mk-41 VLS while Harpoon will
not.


--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw