American fleet. In high tech glamor
... three billion dollars! ”- the speaker finished his speech.
Ooh! - an excited drone rolled through the hall. Military officials, industrialists and members of the public began to actively discuss something among themselves.
- Mister Rear Admiral! - there was a cry from somewhere in the gallery - let me introduce myself, Johnny Cabot, Idaho-press. Tell me, is it true that our naval sailors shamelessly rob the budget, thereby condemning millions of Americans to a painful death from starvation?
An eyebrow twitched on the speaker's face, her face was covered with perspiration - there was no desire to engage in a deliberately losing discussion with the impudent reporter. Then the press will turn his name into a mockery, and, goodbye, a successful career. Fortunately, there was no need to respond to the provocation - under the indignant roar of the public, his comrades zashchik on the reporter.
“Dear colleague, an elderly admiral suddenly rose, flashing gold epaulets, and what about our beautiful Orly Burk squadron destroyers, are they… what?
- Admiral Davis, to date, the 62 ships of this type are in the ranks of the US Navy - the speaker has cheerfully reported.
Ooh! - the audience roared in delight.
“At the moment, we have an order for the Orly Burk IIA destroyers of the IIA modification for 9, the construction of ships continues in the shipyards of our company ahead of schedule,” said the representative of the Bath Iron Works shipyards.
“Khe, forgive me,” the old admiral Davis grunted - and how can all these guns, radars, be installed somehow, electronics be installed in the hull of the destroyer “Orly Burke”?
“Of course you can, Admiral Davis,” the industrialist answered joyfully, “any whim for your money!” Our company has always taken on any, even the most complex projects for our fleet. We especially respect sailors! In the case of the excellent destroyer "Burk" - I believe such a modernization is possible, the overall dimensions of the new systems are within reason, and the modernization potential of the "Berk" is far from exhausted. "We can create a ship with the capabilities of Zamvolta at a much lower price!"
At this time, sitting away, the head of one of the technical departments opened his notebook and quickly drew ...
"Zamvolt" and "Orly Burke"
The hysteria around the promising American destroyer Zamvolt has always seemed to me largely unfounded. And indeed, upon closer inspection, the new ship does not have any super-abilities, compared with proven destroyers of the Oblie Berk type (of course, this does not mean that Zamvolt is a useless destroyer — at the time of entry into service it will be the best ship in its class, along with the later modifications of “Berkov”).
Another thing is that there is nothing behind the fantastic appearance of the Zamvolt that could truly surprise the demanding public, no electromagnetic guns or hypersonic rockets. All the “innovations” of the super-destroyer are just a revival of old traditions and a deep modernization of current projects. At one time, the appearance of the Ticondeur rocket cruisers with the Aegis system and the Mk.41 universal launchers could have attracted much more attention from anyone who was not indifferent to the Navy’s theme, the Ticonderog was a truly “breakthrough” ship with unique control systems weapons.
The first advantage of Zamvolta is his AN / SPY-3 multifunctional radar. For the first time, a radar with active phased array — six flat phased arrays will be installed on an American warship, providing a three-dimensional view of the air and surface situation in the azimuth range 360 ° around the destroyer.
In addition to the functions of review, tracking and target recognition, AN / SPY-3 active phased arrays are designed for direct control of the ship’s weapons: programming autopilot rocket systems, target illumination for semi-active homing heads of Standard-2 and ESSM anti-aircraft missiles, artillery fire control.
A small radio-electronic miracle is also capable of performing the functions of a navigation radar, automatically scanning the sea surface in search of floating mines and periscopes of submarines, conducting counter-battery combat and electronic reconnaissance.
One multipurpose radar AN / SPY-3 will be able to replace several types of radars used today on US Navy ships, including:
- Aids air system AN / SPY-1 radar,
- Radar target illumination AN / SPG-62,
- navigation radar AN / SPS-67,
- Radar control artillery firing AN / SPQ-9.
But what is behind all this demagogy? What is the main advantage of an active phased array?
Most modern air defense systems (C-300, C-400, Patriot, ship "Standard") are equipped with semi-active homing missiles. Simply put, the aerial target is not enough to detect; it must be taken on accompaniment and constantly “highlighted” by a special radar. Only in this case, the homing head of the rocket will catch the “ray of light” reflected from the target and will precisely lead the rocket to the target.
It all comes down to number of radar lights: A warship can detect hundreds of airborne targets, but is capable of firing at the same time only a few of them - no more than the number of radar lights on board. This is a sore point.
How many “radar lights” is usually installed on warships? - you ask. It happens differently: the 1164 rocket cruiser (Atlant code) carries only one radar to control the C-300F complex, the Orly Burk destroyer - three AN / SPG-62 radar, the Ticonderoga missile cruiser - four similar radars.
Missile cruiser "Varyag" firing at the air target. Above the helicopter hangar is visible the radar of the “Wave” illumination (naval nickname “female breast”)
American Aegis helps the American sailors: in addition to monitoring the air situation, it automatically controls the number of anti-aircraft missiles launched so that at any time there are no more than three (four) missiles in the final trajectory - by the number of illumination radar on the Orly Burke or Tikonderoge.
Returning to the super-radar of the Zamvolt destroyer: its active phased arrays consist of thousands of radiating elements grouped into several hundred receiving and transmitting modules. Each such module allows you to form a narrow beam to explore a specific quadrant of space.
Simply put, the cruiser Atlant has one radar for target illumination, the destroyer Orly Burk has three, the Zamvolta has hundreds. The new destroyer will be able to “beat off” anti-aircraft missiles at dozens of aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles within reach of their weapons “like a machine gun” - the capabilities of Zamvolt’s electronics many times exceed possible needs.
Test instance AN / SPY-3, installed on the old destroyer "Paul F. Foster" (DD-964)
Of the other advantages of a multifunctional radar with active PAR, reliability is: if an enemy fragment “knocks out” a dozen emitters from the array, the radar will remain operational. The main and only disadvantage of AN / SPY-3? Its cost.
Incredible opportunities to control the surrounding space, more than a thousand radars target illumination, versatility and reliability - you see, it sounds impressive. Alas, here I am compelled to voice a few “uncomfortable” facts, after which the brilliance and attractiveness of Zamvolt will fade considerably.
First, all this has already happened. Such radars have long been used on warships - for example, the British destroyers "Type 45" (the series is built with 2003) are equipped with two radars with active phased arrays. In particular, the SAMPSON multi-function radar is the best ship radar to date for monitoring the air situation. Coupled with the good location of the radar itself (on a high foremast), it all turns the destroyers "Type 45" into an ideal anti-aircraft ship.
The second important point is that British scientists (without any irony!) Once again beat the whole world by creating an Aster anti-aircraft missile with an active homing head: from now on, the rocket doesn’t require external illumination radar at all, the radio horizon problem is partially solved. Zamvolta simply does not have anything like this (the American Standard-6 anti-aircraft missile with an active GOS has not been tested for many years).
Note. The exact number of radiating elements in phased antenna arrays AN / SPY-3 is still classified. In his assumptions, the author proceeded from the data on the British radar SAMPSON: 2560 elements in each of its AFAR, grouped in 640 receiving-transmitting modules.
A super hero needs a super weapon - two automated AGS caliber 155 mm artillery systems.
Shot! Shot! ... it takes six seconds to reload each gun ... Shot! - in the automated cellars of the Zamvolta 600 shells, another 320 ammunition is stored in an additional packing. Moving along the enemy coast, invisible on the enemy’s radar “Zamvolt” will shoot port facilities, coastal cities and naval bases with impunity. The firing range of corrected ballistic projectiles or LRLAP active-reactive ammunition (literally - a long-range projectile for strikes against ground targets) in practice reaches 150 km. If we take into account that 70% of the population of the Earth live no further than 500 km from the sea coast, the prospects for the Zamvolt missile-artillery destroyer look more than solid ...
Thanks to the automatic loading and water cooling of the barrels, the two AGS naval artillery mounts are equivalent in terms of firepower to a ground howitzer 12 battery. To increase the stability of the ship when firing, it is possible that some compartments below the waterline may be flooded. The sinister appearance is enhanced by the fantastic covers of destroyer guns, made with regard to the stealth technology.
In addition to the “main” caliber, “Zamvolta” carry “universal”: two automatic guns Mk.110 (the licensed version of the Swedish installation “Bofors”): caliber 57 mm, rate of fire 240 rds / min. There are no official comments on these systems (after all, the attention is riveted on powerful AGS!), Because the appointment of "Bofors" on a modern warship remains unclear: a clearly insufficient rate of fire to combat supersonic aircraft and cruise missiles, at the same time, a modest range of fire and the low power of 57 mm ammunition does not effectively hit targets on the surface. Although it is quite possible "surprises" in the form of radar anti-aircraft projectiles, etc. "know-how" in the field of artillery.
The effective scattering area of the Zamvolta, when irradiated with radar, corresponds to the EPR fishing boat. The creators have worked great on the look of a large 180-meter ship:
- exceptionally smooth deck without extra equipment,
- pyramidal superstructure of composite materials,
- parallelism of all faces and hull lines,
- an amazing nose- “breakwater”, typical for the destroyers of the Russian-Japanese war 1905. The design allows the “Zamvolt” not to be understood on the crests of the waves - the destroyer according to the developers, on the contrary, should hide from enemy radars in the sea foam in the middle of endless wave ridges the ocean.
- The final touch: littered "inside" the board. As a result, the radio waves are reflected in the sky, and not on the water surface, which, under normal conditions, gives a complex interference pattern, unmasking the ship.
- the specific contours of the ship contribute to the reduction of foam trail, which, in turn, complicates the visual detection of a ship with a low near-earth orbit.
All this, according to the designers, made the Zamvolt virtually indistinguishable at the border of two environments. In principle, there is nothing original here - such “tricks” are well known to engineers for more than half a century, and appear regularly in various combinations on warships and airplanes (the famous F-117 and SR-71, Lafayette-type frigates, warships of the coastal zone LCS, etc.). The achievements of the creators of Zamvolt were that they managed to harmoniously combine all the "stealth" elements in the construction of one ship. What will be the result - practice will show.
Of the other notable features of Zamvolta: developed aviation group - two anti-submarine helicopters SH-60 + a number of unmanned rotary-wing aircraft MQ-8 Fire Scout (the composition is formed depending on the tasks), coupled with a spacious hangar and a huge helipad, which occupies the entire aft part of the deck of the ship.
Progress in the field of electronics and automation has reduced the crew of the ship to 142 people (for comparison, the crew of "Orly Burke" consists of more than 300 sailors)!
Lord of the ocean - there is no use arguing here. "Zamvolt" really cool, powerful and modern ship. But the price for all the advantages turned out to be huge: the Zamvolt displacement increased by 50% compared to the Orly Burk destroyer (Orly Burk IIA sub-series - 9500 tons, Zamvolt - more than 14 thousand tons of full displacement).
By itself, the constant increase in the size of destroyers is a normal process throughout the twentieth century, it is enough to recall the tiny destroyers during the Russo-Japanese War (the total displacement is 400-500 tons). The patrol ship "Petrel" (1970-s) was twice the size of the Soviet destroyers of the Second World War. And this is normal - along with the increase in displacement, the combat capabilities of ships increased many times: modern destroyers can destroy ground targets at a distance of 2500 km and bombard satellites in low near-earth orbit.
However, despite the increase in size, the Zamvolt suffered irreplaceable losses in rocket weapons: the number of launchers decreased to 80 units, compared to destroyers of the Orly Burk type (96 rocket mines). This unfortunate fact is due to several reasons:
- UVK Mk.57 is designed for heavier rocket containers weighing up to 4 tons,
- “Peripheral” launcher Mk.57 has an unusual design that facilitates its maintenance and increases the survivability of the ship. Now, any fire or missile crash will not be able to lead to the detonation of the entire ammunition - the missile shafts are dispersed around the perimeter of the deck, outside the destroyer's robust hull. Outside UVK Mk.57 covered with armor plates. The mass of each module has increased in 4 times in comparison with the previous MU.41 DCC.
Alas, all these explanations do not suit the American sailors a little - the loss of 16 rocket mines will have a sensitive effect on the combat capabilities of the ship, and those located on the perimeter of the CIP are even more vulnerable to enemy attacks. As they say, they wanted the best, but it turned out as always.
Resuscitation "Orly Burke"
... the modernization potential of "Burke" is far from being exhausted. We can create a ship with Zamvolt capabilities at a much lower price! ”
At this time, sitting a little away, the head of one of the technical departments opened his portable laptop and quickly drew a rough sketch of the new Orly Burke modification:
Estimated appearance of Arleigh Burke-class guided missle destroyer, Flt III
First of all, the Americans are trying to increase the number of universal launchers on the ship: on the “Burke” version III, their number is likely to increase to 128 (48 UVP in the bow and 80 UVP in the aft part) - 1,5 times more than on the destroyer “Zamvolt” !
The nose 127 mm destroyer gun may be replaced by ... correctly, the 155 mm AGS cannon mount, similar to the Zamvolt destroyer.
The famous AN / SPY-1 will be replaced by the promising AMDR radar, a dual-band radar for viewing surface and airborne conditions. Originally, this system was developed as part of the CG (X) missile defense project (the project was closed in 2010), because AMDR already initially specializes in controlling low near-earth orbits.
To detect point objects in outer space, exceptional antenna power characteristics are required, and as a result, AMDR radar is extremely voracious, power consumption is 10 MW (this is 300 times more than power consumption of the Fregat-M2 radar installed on the Peter the Great nuclear-powered cruiser ).
Installing the new AMDR radar will require upgrading the electric generators and the entire Orly Burk electrical network, in particular, increasing the voltage of the onboard network from 400 to 4000 B. There is no doubt that safety problems and other engineering difficulties will arise.
USS Spruance (DDG-112) - The 61 th Destroyer of its type
In the period up to 2016, the construction of 9 Orly Burk squadrons of the Ora Burk type IIA + sub-series was planned, combining some elements of the future III series destroyer. From 2016 to 2031, the inclusive 24 bookmark of the Burke sub-series III with a complete set of new equipment is scheduled. In the future, the development of "Burke" subseries IV.
However, the number of American destroyers will never reach hundreds of units. By the end of this decade, the first “Berks”, laid out at the beginning of the 90's, will become unusable and will have to be written off (sold to the allies). As for the super-destroyer Zamvolt, then "as an experiment," no more than three ships of this type will be built at a price of 3 billion dollars each.
Russian "Zamvolt" - 120 meter white beauty yacht "A" oligarch Andrey Melnichenko.
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