September 03, 2012 Credit: Credit: Boeing Bill Sweetman
Washington, Christina Mackenzie Paris and Andy Nativi Genoa
Maritime missiles are in a period of rapid evolution. Warships
and submarines are persistent platforms with deep magazines, for
long-range attacks on land targets and hostile ships. But more
warships now carry effective missile-defense gun and missile
systems and countermeasures, while sea traffic has continued to
grow rapidly worldwide—creating a major challenge in terms of
collateral damage. Some of the biggest decisions in the past
year involve the U.S. Navy, which is moving toward an arsenal of
“net-enabled” weapons—missiles that take advantage of other
sensors to find and hit targets, but can still function if
communications are down. Two quick-reaction missile programs
have been started recently, along with a large, expensive and
remarkably low-profile airborne radar to support them. The use
of a long-range, high-resolution airborne radar to help guide
net-enabled missiles to targets is an