Foreign Powers Guide U.S. Defense Doctrine

Take a good look at the picture below:

You might think you’ve seen images of this carrier battle group or carrier groups like it before, but you probably haven’t.

Because there are none like it anywhere. What you’re looking at is the core of the Chinese navy, built around its only operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.

Like its American counterparts, the Chinese carrier group consists of a number of specialized vessels (only a few of which are visible here), including attack and support ships and even a nuclear submarine to provide subsurface defense and long-range strike capability.

Now, this doesn’t mean you need to get nervous that our biggest economic rival is now also going to challenge us on the high seas.

The U.S. has 11 carrier groups to China’s one, and its carriers (there’s a second one under construction now) are half the displacement of ours (about 50,000 tons versus 103,000 for the Nimitz and Gerald R. Ford class carriers) — meaning their ability to project air power isn’t in the same league.

The same goes for India’s carrier fleet — which consists of two foreign-built ships displacing 45,000 and 28,000 tons.

However, it’s clear that some of our major economic competitors are starting to take steps to protect their interests militarily — and doing so using techniques the U.S. uses to dominate the seas.

Playing Catch Up in a Game We Thought Was Over

This new trend will undoubtedly have far-reaching effects on American military doctrine in the years to come, but it’s already having an effect on some of the tools of our national defense.

Although we’re taught that no nation, and probably no three nations, could take on our mighty armed forces, the truth of the matter is that the U.S. does not lead in all arenas when it comes to weapons tech.

One such lacking area is anti-ship missiles… weapons that can be fired from small seagoing vessels or dropped from aircraft to skim over the water and hit surface ships many miles away.

And it makes sense that we’ve had a bit of a lazy approach to developing and improving our anti-ship missile arsenal because, well, since the collapse of the U.S.S.R., none of our prospective enemies can realistically challenge ours.

The mainstay of the U.S. anti-ship missile arsenal has been the McDonnell Douglas Harpoon.

Built since 1977, it weighs 1,500 lbs., carries a 490-lb. warhead, flies subsonically at around 600 mph, and is capable of attacking targets from 70 miles away.

It can be deployed from other ships, fired from submerged submarines, or dropped from a variety of aircraft.

Over 7,000 have been built, with modifications and improvement made over the years.

Our military rivals have also been building these missiles, but unlike us, they have our navy to view as a target, and the results of this design requirement show.

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

The Russians currently field the deadliest anti-ship missiles in the world… Next to our Harpoon, it’s hardly a comparison at all

Their P-800 Oniks system, for example, which has been in service since 2002, is four times heavier than the Harpoon, flies almost three times farther, and does so at five times the speed (about twice as fast as a rifle bullet) — making it almost impossible to evade or shoot down.

And then there’s the BrahMos, a Russian/Indian joint venture and a development of the Oniks, which extends the missile’s range even farther.

Also in the arsenal are the KH-15 Raduga (rainbow), P-900 Alpha, and P-1000 Vulkan — all supersonic, all possessing ranges between three and five times that of the Harpoon, all equipped with sea-skimming flight modes and capable of AI-controlled evasive maneuvers as they close on their targets, and all aircraft- or submarine-deployable.

Most of them can also be tipped with nuclear warheads — a feature developed solely for the purpose of destroying entire battle groups in one shot.

Topping things off, the Russians have export versions of all of these missiles. Slightly downgraded in speed and range and incapable of carrying anything but conventional warheads, they still far outperform the Harpoon.

Now, like I said, this didn’t really matter before… But today, those tables are starting to turn.

With India and China clearly harboring ambitions about regional naval dominance and making serious investments to make that happen, the U.S. has finally been spurred to update this vital subcategory of its national arsenal.

DARPA Gets Involved

In 2009, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) issued a challenge to find a solution to this problem, and today, the answer to that challenge is here.

As with most things DoD related, our new missile doesn’t have a cool-sounding name like Vulkan or Oniks (it’s called the LRASM — Long Range Anti-Ship Missile), but it does have some interesting characteristics.

For one thing, it’s stealthy — designed to evade long-range detection not just by flying low, but also by maintaining the smallest possible radar cross section.

It’s also fast. Official speed figures aren’t available, but it will be supersonic and perhaps even hypersonic (Mach 5 or higher), putting it in the same class as the Oniks missile.

It will also have a much longer range — as much as 500 nautical miles — either matching or exceeding its rivals.

And that’s all just on the surface. Speed and range are only important if the missile can be fielded quickly and efficiently and successfully guided to its target.

In the arena of artificial intelligence, the LRASM will be a match for any competing system.

It is heavily based on the already proven Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER) and features a multi-mode sensor, a weapon data link, and guides itself using an enhanced digital anti-jam GPS connection — which allows it to detect and destroy specific targets within a group of ships.

In 2011, the maker of the new weapon, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), received $218 million just for the demonstration phase of development.

As of November 2013, the LRASM was in its second major battery of live tests, conducted by the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed.

Below is an image of one being dropped from a USAF B-1B strategic bomber.

By 2018, it should be in service — perhaps just in time for the completion of that new Chinese aircraft carrier.

If history has been any indicator at all, once it’s fielded, this highly versatile, adaptable weapon system will be around for decades, providing Lockheed Martin with a viable product into the middle of the 21st century.

At a cost of $2.5 million per unit and a unit life of exactly one usage, it’ll be the kind of product a major defense contractor like Lockheed loves.

It’s expensive, it’s needed in large numbers, and it’s disposable.

To your wealth,

Brian Hicks