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Signaal, of the Netherlands, have produced an effective anti-missile, antiaircraft close-in weapons system in their Goalkeeper. Basically Goalkeeper is similar to the General Dynamics Phalanx except that it uses the slower fire rate but higher projectile force 30 mm Hughes chain gun from the Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft. Like Phalanx, Goalkeeper is fully self-contained and can literally be 'bolted' onto the clear deck space of almost any ship above patrol boat size. (Jim Thorn)
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Antishipping Weapons and Naval Air Defence
Part 2 – Defensive Measures
Modern antishipping missiles, particularly sea skimmers, present a very serious threat to any surface vessels. Due to their small size, low signatures and particular flight profile, they can be very difficult to detect and even more difficult to track. Even quite sophisticated systems, such as the GWS-25 Seawolf, may have problems, finding it necessary to revert to optical tracking, under some conditions. Though it is often acknowledged that the best means of countering these weapons Is destroying the launch vehicle, only the US Navy has taken appropriate measures to that effect, while still sensibly fitting its vessels with point defence weapons.
The seriousness of the problem is aggravated by the arms supply policies of both the US and France, as high-performance weapons such as Harpoon have been supplied to Iran (one can question how long it will take for a carbon copy of Harpoonski to appear), and countries such as Saudi Arabia, which need not remain stable. The Aerospatiale Exocet has become one of France’s hottest-selling export items, since the 1982 Falklands war. Countering the various anti-shipping missiles in the inventory of the Voenno-Morskiy Flot, the Soviet Navy, the Aviatsia VoennoMorskovo Flota, Naval Aviation and finally the Dal’naya Aviatsia, the Long Range Aviation command of Soviet Military Aviation (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily-VVS), is enough of a task on its own, but Western naval forces will have to contend with their own weapons, aircraft and missiles, as was demonstrated in the South Atlantic.
The structure of naval air defence systems differs from service to service. The United States Navy has the world’s most effective air defence system in use, the system itself has gradually evolved since World War II and it reflects the great importance the United States places on the ability to deploy air power anywhere and any time. USN deployments are usually structured around a carrier battle group, generally comprised of one or two conventional carriers, one or more missile-equipped cruisers and an array of destroyers, tankers and supply vessels, the battle group will often operate in conjunction with nuclear attack subs. The key element in the air defence system is the Grumman E-2C Hawkeye AEW (Airborne Early Warning) aircraft. The E-2C cari detect targets up to 220 nm and track them at low levels. The first line of defence are the Grumman F-14A Tomcat fighters, which receive direct datalink information on the targets from the E-2C (for a detailed account see Carriers in the Indian, March 1982). The fleet usually has two to four Tomcats ori ForCAP (task force CAP); usually, a pair will engage targets at the limit of the defensive zone, with the 100 nm AIM-54 Phoenix or 50 nm AIM-7F Sparrow radar-guided missiles, head-on. Aircraft that penetrate this screen are then mopped i. Jp by Tomcats armed with Sparrow or AIM-9L Sidewinder IR missiles; in the future, this close-in role is to be assumed by the F-1BA. Given that an intruder escapes the fighters, it must tackle the CG-47 Aegis air defence cruiser, with its massive RCA SPY-1A phased array radar system. The cruiser wil fire the 60 nm range RIM-66C Standard 2 SAM. Assuming the enemy has eluded the Standard, it must face the RIM-7M Sea Sparrow SAM and the carrier’s last-ditch defence, the GD Vulcan Phalanx radar-directed gatling gun.
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