The SM-2 is no longer being procured, only refurbished to the latest standards. The only long ranged SAM being procured by the Navy is the SM-6, and only 125 are purchased every year at the cost of 800 million dollars. The US Navy in 2024 shot off 1.5 years of it’s long range surface to air missile procurement at the fucking Houthis.
The PLAN is laughing it’s ass off.
throwawaygoawaynz on
Wow this article is a gold mine for us mil enthusiasts.
A few highlights for me:
– They’re shooting down drones with 5” guns.
– SM-6 and SM-3 seem to be working well. 2 missiles per vampire seems pretty good.
– They’re really stress testing and learning a lot here for war with China, including rapid deployment of munitions.
– The data processing capabilities and lessons learned down from 40 days to 48 hours is impressive.
– Automated defence (faster reaction time) vs manual still remains an issue in a complex battle space, hence the shooting down of the F/A-18s. Just glad no one was hurt seriously or killed. Just image how messed up a complex situation with China would be with thousands of missiles flying around, training will be key.
savuporo on
> Top U.S. military leaders have also in recent months expressed concern that munitions fired in the Red Sea and elsewhere are “eating into” critical munitions stockpiles needed for a future Pacific fight with China
This statement is .. there’s layers here. If you are banking on _stockpiles_ for a shooting war with China, you have kind of already lost.
The production capacity is what you’d need to be concerned about.
3 Comments
The tally is
– 120 SM-2
– 80 SM-6
– 20 ESSM
The SM-2 is no longer being procured, only refurbished to the latest standards. The only long ranged SAM being procured by the Navy is the SM-6, and only 125 are purchased every year at the cost of 800 million dollars. The US Navy in 2024 shot off 1.5 years of it’s long range surface to air missile procurement at the fucking Houthis.
The PLAN is laughing it’s ass off.
Wow this article is a gold mine for us mil enthusiasts.
A few highlights for me:
– They’re shooting down drones with 5” guns.
– SM-6 and SM-3 seem to be working well. 2 missiles per vampire seems pretty good.
– They’re really stress testing and learning a lot here for war with China, including rapid deployment of munitions.
– The data processing capabilities and lessons learned down from 40 days to 48 hours is impressive.
– Automated defence (faster reaction time) vs manual still remains an issue in a complex battle space, hence the shooting down of the F/A-18s. Just glad no one was hurt seriously or killed. Just image how messed up a complex situation with China would be with thousands of missiles flying around, training will be key.
> Top U.S. military leaders have also in recent months expressed concern that munitions fired in the Red Sea and elsewhere are “eating into” critical munitions stockpiles needed for a future Pacific fight with China
This statement is .. there’s layers here. If you are banking on _stockpiles_ for a shooting war with China, you have kind of already lost.
The production capacity is what you’d need to be concerned about.