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Description: The Mk 57 NATO
Sea Sparrow Missile System (NSSMS) is deployed on more than 50 U.S. Navy ships and numerous NATO ships as their primary surface-to-air ship self-defense missile system. Modifications to the
Sea Sparrow continue, including re-architecture (REARCH), which reduces maintenance and manpower requirements, increases firepower, integrates the Evolved
Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), and reduces cost of ownership through the use of COTS parts.
ESSM is the next generation of
Sea Sparrow missiles, selected for the
Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) Flight IIA
Aegis destroyer self-defense system as well as for aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. ESSM is a kinematic upgrade to the improved RIM-7P missile; the existing rocket motor and control section are replaced with a larger-diameter rocket motor, a tail control section for increased responsiveness, and an integrated thrust vector control for vertical launch applications. ESSM will also have an upgraded warhead and a quick-start electronic upgrade. Enhanced ESSM kinematic performance and warhead lethality will leverage the robust RIM-7P guidance capability to provide increased operational effectiveness against high-speed maneuvering anti-ship cruise missiles at greater intercept ranges than is now possible with the RIM-7P. ESSM will be incorporated into the Aegis Weapon System for short- to medium-range missile defense. ESSM development is being pursued as an international cooperative initiative involving ten countries in the NATO
Sea Sparrow Consortium.
Program Status: In-service support of NATO
Sea Sparrow systems is continuing, and fleet introduction of the vertical-launched
Sea Sparrow in three partner navies is complete. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in June 1995, ten nations signed a Production MOU for the ESSM in December 1997, and an ESSM Cooperative In-Service Support MOU is awaiting final signature. A Milestone III decision is expected in FY 2003 for Full-Rate Production and IOC in FY 2003, with fleet introduction on an
Arleigh Burke Flight IIA
Aegis destroyer.
RIM-66C SM-2
Standard Missile-2 Blocks III/IIIA/IIIB Description: The Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) is the Navy's primary surface-to-air theater air warfare weapon. Deployed SM-2 Block III/IIIA/IIIB configurations are all-weather, ship-launched, medium-range surface-to-air missiles in service with the U.S. Navy and several allies. A robust area air defense missile is a prerequisite for maintaining forward naval presence, operating in the littorals, and projecting and sustaining U.S. forces in distant anti-access or area-denial environments.
Each of the blocks is progressively more capable against more challenging threats and in more difficult electronic countermeasures (ECM) environments. The SM-2 is launched from the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) found on CG 52 and above and all DDGs. It employs inertial mid-course guidance with command updates from the shipboard fire control system and an ECM-resistant monopulse receiver for semi-active radar terminal homing.
The SM-2 continues to evolve to counter expanding threat capabilities; improvements in very high and very low-altitude intercepts and in particularly stressing ECM environments are being implemented through modular changes. Block II is overage and no longer fully threat capable, and has been withdrawn from service. Block III features improved performance against low altitude threats and more fully utilizes the trajectory shaping resident within command guidance from the
AEGIS weapons system. Block III comprises more than half of the active SM-2 inventory, but missile rocket motors will expire by the end of the decade.
Block IIIA features significantly enhanced performance and lethality against sea-skimming threats due to a new warhead and fuze design in addition to additional trajectory-shaping functionality. Block IIIB builds on the Block IIIA improvements by adding an infrared (IR) guidance mode capability developed in the Missile Homing Improvement Program (MHIP) to improve performance in a stressing electronic countermeasures environment. The IIIB MHIP dual-mode RF/IR guidance capability is being incorporated to counter a specific fielded and proliferating electronic warfare system in existing aircraft and cruise missile threats. Blocks IIIA/IIIB will be the heart of the SM inventory for the next fifteen years; additional improvements are under consideration to enhance IIIA/IIIB performance against the latest threats, but these improvements are of low cost and magnitude not requiring a block upgrade.
Program Status: SM-2 Block III/IIIA/IIIB missiles are currently deployed. Block IIIB is the only variant in production for the U.S. Navy, although Block IIIA is still produced for Foreign Military Sales. Block IIIBs are being produced as new All-up rounds, and as upgrades from older Block II and III missiles. Fiscal Year 1995 was the first year of production for the SM-2 Block IIIB). The SM-2 Block IIIB achieved IOC in FY 1998. The resource-constrained procurement plan is limited to 1,500 Block IIIB AUR and 1,100 upgrades, and procurement is scheduled to end in FY 2013.
Developer/Manufacturer: Raytheon, Tucson, Arizona
.
Designation | Aircraft Launched: AIM-7 Ship Launched: RIM-7 |
Ship Class Used On | Many |
Date In Service | 1976 (Model M) |
Weight | 2,980 lbs. (1,341 kg) |
Dimensions | 12 feet (3.64 meters) long x 8 inches (20.3 cm) diameter Wing Span: AIM: 40.6 in (103 cm) RIM: 25 in (63.5 cm) |
Payload | 86 lbs. (39 kg) WAU-17/B blast fragmentation |
Range | Classified, but more than 30 nm (55 km) in current versions |
Speed | More than 2,660 mph (4,260 kph) |
Propulsion | Hercules MK-58 solid-propellant rocket motor |
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