U.S. Navy says it can thwart Chinese ASBM threat. The Chinese missile is based on the DF-21 (CSS-5) medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and gives China the capability to attack large ships--including aircraft carriers--in the western Pacific Ocean, with a range exceeding 1,500 km, or 810 nm."The DF-21D is a theater-range ballistic missile equipped with a maneuverable reentry vehicle (Marv) designed to hit moving ships at sea," the Congressional Research Service (CRS) notes in a recent report.
The article talks about the Dual Band (S and X-band) Radar (DBR) initially developed for the DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyer. It is interesting that the current ground based ABM system uses a floating X-Band radar.
Rear Adm. Michael Manazir, the director of air warfare] acknowledges the Navy is reviewing whether it will continue using DBR for carriers after the Ford or use technological advances to develop a radar more appropriate for the ships.
The Ford's electric power distribution grid kicks up about 13,800 volts, compared to about 4,160 for Nimitz-class carriers. Of course the ship needs more juice to power its DBR, Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (Emals) and other systems, but the design allows for even greater capacity.
"If you go to a more electric-centric ship, you have to have big electrical potential," Manazir says. "The Ford was designed with a 60 percent increase in capacity."
For Nimitz-class ships, he says, any new technological improvements that require more electricity would mean power-supply redesigns to accommodate the upgrades.
"With Ford," he says, "it's already designed into the ship."
Rail guns and lasers need electricity. Hmmm.