Advanced Gun System
Advanced Gun System | |
---|---|
BAE Systems Land & Armaments | |
Produced | 2010 |
No. built | 6 |
Specifications | |
Mass | 104 short tons (94 t; 93 long tons) |
Barrel length | 9.61 m (31.5 ft) |
Caliber | 155 mm (6.1 inch) |
Elevation | +70 / −5 degrees |
Rate of fire | 10 rounds per minute (rpm) |
Effective firing range | 83 nmi (150 km) with Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) |
The Advanced Gun System (AGS) is a
History
The Zumwalt-class and AGS were designed and developed in the context of the United States battleship retirement debate. Battleship proponents argued that the battleships should not be decommissioned until an alternative method of providing naval gunfire support could be deployed, while others argued that such support was no longer needed in the era of missiles and aircraft.
There has been research on extending the range of naval gunfire for many years. The 203 mm
Originally designed for mounting as a vertical gun adapted from the VGAS design, this 155 mm (6.1 in) AGS was then designed and produced for mounting within a more conventional turret arrangement. The AGS was designed to deliver precision munitions at a high rate of fire and at over-the-
AGS was developed and produced by
Description
The AGS uses the same 155 mm caliber as most American field artillery forces, although it is unable to fire the same ammunition due to differences in the size and shape of both projectile and firing charges.[11] The gun barrel is 62 calibers long, and is able to fire the entire magazine (300+ rounds) with an average rate of fire of ten rounds per minute using a water-cooled barrel. The AGS is mounted in a turret specifically designed for the Zumwalt-class destroyer with fully automated ammunition supply and operation. The turret itself is designed to be stealthy, allowing for the entire length of the barrel to be enclosed and hidden from radar when not firing.
A primary advantage of the AGS over the existing 127 mm
Ammunition
AGS cannot use ammunition designed for existing artillery, so each type of ammunition must be designed and manufactured for AGS. The only type to be designed as of 2018[update] was the LRLAP. LRLAP procurement, however, was canceled and there are no plans to replace it.[4] Other projectiles were examined to replace the LRLAP, but since it is the only munition designed to be fired from the AGS, the barrel, software, cooling system, and automated magazines would have to be modified to accommodate a different round.[13][8] It could cost up to $250 million in engineering costs to modify all six guns on the three ships to accept a new round.[14]
After some research had been abandoned into whether the M982 Excalibur guided munition could be adapted for use with the AGS, officials announced in January 2018 that there was now no plan for any replacement round for the AGS. Instead, Naval Sea Systems Command and the Chief of Naval Operations staff would "monitor new technologies" which might be used with the AGS system in the future.[11] In particular he noted that the BAE Hypervelocity Projectile testing, a cross-service 127 mm (5-inch) naval and 155 mm land, low-drag self-guided Mach 7-capable round originally intended for railguns, was achieving range close to the original LRLAP specification while having superior rate of fire and accuracy. As of 2018, The HVP rounds were estimated to cost around $25,000 for a surface-to-surface 127 mm (5-inch) or $86,000 for an anti-missile variant 155 mm round.[15]
LRLAP
The development of new ammunition for the AGS under the name Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) was one of the major advances offered by the AGS program. The munitions were highly precise, with a circular error probable (CEP) of 50 m (160 ft) or less. Lockheed Martin conducted a flight test of the munition in July 2005, reporting a flight distance of 59 nautical miles (109 km; 68 mi). The LRLAP ammunition features separate projectile and propellant portions. Total weight is 225 pounds (102 kg), including a bursting charge of 24 lb (11 kg). The maximum length of the combined munition is 88 in (220 cm), amounting to about 14 calibers.
In 2004, the manufacturer stated that the goal for the LRLAP per-round cost was $35,000.[16] Shortly after the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) was commissioned but prior to weapons system integration,[17] the U.S. Navy moved to cancel the LRLAP due to excessive cost. With the number of ships reduced from 32 to 3 examples, the per-unit cost of each LRLAP shot increased to $800,000–1 million. This made the system untenable even though there were no significant performance issues.[13]
References
- ^ a b 155 mm/62 (6.1") Mark 51 Advanced Gun System (AGS), NavWeaps.com, 26 February 2017
- ^ "Root Cause Analyses of Nunn-McCurdy Breaches -- Zumwalt-Class Destroyer, Joint Strike Fighter, Longbow Apache, and Wideband Global Satellite," Rand Corporation (2011); see Vol. 1, Ch. 3 via http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1171z1.html
- ^ a b c New Warship’s Big Guns Have No Bullets - Defensenews.com, November 6, 2016
- ^ a b c Navy has no plan to introduce new ammo for DDG-1000 Defense News, January 11, 2018
- ^ a b LaGrone, Sam (16 March 2022). "Latest Zumwalt Hypersonic Missile Installation Plan Calls For Removing Gun Mounts". USNI News. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
- ^ a b Van Dam, L. Bruce (4 June 1999). Does the Past Have a Place in the Future? The Utility of Battleships into the Twenty-First Century (PDF) (Thesis). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: US Army Command and General Staff College. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016 – via Defense Technical Information Center., citing a letter from Major Tracy Ralphs to Senator John Warner on February 25, 1999
- ^ a b Navy Planning on Not Buying More LRLAP Rounds for Zumwalt Class - News.USNI.org, November 7, 2016
- ^ What should become of the Zumwalt class? The US Navy has some big ideas. Navy Times. March 25, 2021.
- ^ "BAE Systems Delivers First Piece of Production Hardware for U.S. Navy's Advanced Gun System". BAE Systems. 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
- ^ a b LaGrone, Sam (11 January 2018). "No New Round Planned For Zumwalt Destroyer Gun System; Navy Monitoring Industry". USNI News. US Naval Institute. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
- ^ "Next-Gen Naval Gunfire Support: The USA's AGS & LRLAP". Defense Industry Daily. 23 February 2014.
- ^ a b Cavas, Christopher P. (6 November 2016). "New Warship's Big Guns Have No Bullets". DefenseNews.
- ^ Raytheon Excalibur Round Set to Replace LRLAP on Zumwalts - News.USNI.org, 13 December 2016
- ^ $86,000 + 5,600 MPH = Hyper Velocity Missile Defense Breaking Defense, January 26, 2018
- ^ "155 mm/62 (6.1") Mark 51 Advanced Gun System (AGS)". Navweps.
- ^ Burgess, Richard R. (28 April 2020). "Geurts: Third Zumwalt DDG Will Be Commissioned After Combat Systems Activation". Seapower Magazine. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
External links
- AGS employment in asymmetric warfare simulation scenario on YouTube
- AGS non-combatant evacuation simulation scenario on YouTube