Naval Rockets Again

Reader Robert Buss most helpfully pointed out to me an article in Jane's IDR from 1995. The title of the article is "US Navy weighs missile alternatives" and it talks about various experiments in navalized rocketry. In the abstract, handily enough, which is available here, there is a most interesting quote describing Navy TACMS:

The US Navy also tested one such round at White Sands, followed by an at-sea launch from the amphibious assault ship USS Mount Vernon in February1995.The vessel, steaming at 10kt, fired the missile from a standard M270 tracked launcher chained to its helicopter deck (emphasis mine)... An operational variant of Navy TACMS could use either the Mk41 Vertical Launch System (for which United Defense has designed a suitable canister) or fixed deck launchers.The round's six-channel GPS receiver provided 13 position updates,using a total of eight Navstar satellites, during its 75nmi flight to the target area on San Clemente Island off the coast of California. The missile then dispensed some 800 inert grenades, achieving an accuracy of 71% of the weapon's nominal circular error probable.

In other words, there doesn't appear to be any problem firing from an M270 vehicle on board a moving ship so long as you have a guided round. - the launcher doesn't need stable-platform modification, and the fire control system appears to be up to it already.

I harp on this because although various folks have gone on about the pluses and minuses of mounting these launchers on ships, my point has a different emphasis. The fire support problem is one that has been hanging around for a while, and hasn't been solved (at least partially) due to the cost of new platforms. I am proposing a 'use what you have' solution to gain some capability for little additional RDT&E.; The bonus of using full-up launcher sets is, of course, that you can then use them at the far end - and take them off the ship easily when you don't need them. Plus, we already own a whole bunch of them.

There would obviously be issues with navalizing the launchers (or covering them) well enough to withstand deployment, but since they would only need to be available on station, covers would work and be easier to design/fabricate than modifying the launchers themselves for higher salt/water resistance. Heck, if you're using a platform with a hangar, park a couple in there. Or, if it's a big-deck ship, park more than a couple.