Advanced Guns and Cheaper Missiles: The Navy's Defense Against Drone Swarms
The Navy requires cost-effective, high-performing missiles and advanced gun technology to protect its ships and defeat adversaries. Currently, the Navy is overspending on missiles, a concern that has become more pressing with the rise of inexpensive drones that can cause significant damage to a ship. Even though these drones may not sink a destroyer, they can still damage or destroy critical communication systems and radars. A swarm of these drones poses a significant threat to any ship in the fleet.
High-Cost Missiles Versus Low-Cost Drones
The primary weapons currently available to defend against these affordable drones are costly missiles, ranging from $900,000 to over $4 million each. Even if these missiles are 100 percent effective, using them to defend against an opponent that can deploy hundreds or even thousands of drones over time is not sustainable.
The Tamir Missile: A Cost-Effective Solution
The Tamir missile, part of Israel's C-Dome system (a marine version of the famous Iron Dome air defense system), is a potential solution to this problem. Priced at only $50,000 each, Tamir missiles can effectively counter any drone and can also be used to destroy both cruise and ballistic missiles. With a range of 43 miles, they can eliminate drones and missiles that our ships in the Red Sea have had to destroy using multi-million-dollar missiles due to lack of less expensive alternatives.
Advanced Guns: An Additional Defense Against Drone Swarms
However, cost-effective missiles are just one part of what the Navy needs to combat the emerging threat of lethal drone swarms. Advanced guns that can destroy multiple incoming drones at a fraction of the cost of a missile are also crucial.
One such gun is Oto Melara's 76-mm Super Rapid. Its strength lies in its ability to fire both GPS-guided rounds and radar-guided rounds. Its semi-active radar-guided round, the DART, is designed to destroy both missiles and small boats and is highly capable of eliminating slower, more fragile drones. The Italian Navy has already been using these guns on its destroyers to shoot down Houthi drones threatening shipping in the Red Sea.
Cost-Effectiveness and Efficiency
The Super Rapid is cost-effective, with the entire system priced at an estimated $3 million, less than the cost of one $4.3 million SM-6 missile used in the Red Sea. While there is no published price for the DART ammunition, buying them in large quantities should enable volume pricing of less than a few thousand dollars per round. This could potentially allow a ship equipped with these guns to destroy cheap drones for less than the cost the enemy paid to acquire them.
Complementary Defense Strategies
In addition to hard-kill solutions like guns and missiles, the military should also be developing and deploying electronic warfare solutions to jam, disable, or even gain control over enemy drones. However, these soft-kill systems do not replace the need for guns and missiles capable of destroying drones; instead, they complement each other.
Investment and Payback
While integrating C-Domes and Super Rapid gun systems into our warships will be expensive, the high cost of the missiles currently used to destroy inexpensive drones means that the payback period for such an investment would be short. This would result in a Navy better equipped to defend itself and other ships for less money.
Bottom Line
The Navy's need for advanced guns and cheaper missiles to defend against drone swarms highlights the evolving nature of warfare and the importance of cost-effective defense solutions. What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you think the Navy should invest in these technologies? Share this article with your friends and let us know your thoughts. Don't forget to sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is delivered every day at 6pm.
