Navy ship defense weapon upgraded to destroy small boats
http://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/navy-ship-defense-weapon-upgraded-to-destroy-small-boats
April 19, 2016
The U.S. Navy is pursuing a massive, fleet-wide upgrade of a shipboard defensive weapon designed to intercept and destroy approaching or nearby threats such as enemy small boats, cruise missiles and even low-flying drones and aircraft, service officials said.
The Phalanx Close in Weapons System, or CIWS, is an area weapon engineered to use a high rate of fire and ammunition to blanket a given area, destroying or knocking enemy fire out of the sky before it can reach a ship. The Phalanx CIWS, which can fire up to 4,500 rounds per minute, has been protecting ship platforms for decades.
The weapon is designed to counter incoming enemy attacks from missiles, small arms fire, drones, enemy aircraft and small boats, among other things. It functions as part of an integrated, layered defense system in order to intercept closest-in threats, service officials explained.
"Phalanx provides a 'last ditch' gun-based, close-in defense to the Navy's concept of layered defense," Navy spokesman Dale Eng told Scout Warrior.
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