This Bolt-On Launcher Can Give Nearly Any Ship The Same Weaponry As A U.S. Navy Destroyer
The launcher could allow everything from amphibious assault ships to logistics ships to carry the Navy's most potent surface-launched missiles.
The folks over at BAE Systems have come up with a fairly novel way to give any ship with some deck space Mark 41 vertical launch system (VLS)-like capability without having to make huge alterations to the guts of the ship, which in many cases wouldn't even be possible. Dubbed aptly the Adaptive Deck Launcher (ADL), the system provides four cells positioned at an angle that can accommodate the same all-up missile canisters used by standard Mark 41 vertical launch systems like those found on the U.S. Navy's cruisers and destroyers, as well as many allied surface combatants.
The system comes in tactical length, used for quad-packed RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles, anti-submarine rockets, and shorter-ranged anti-ship and land-attack missiles, as well as strike-length that can accommodate anything a full-spec Mark 41 VLS can, including Tomahawk cruise missiles and the latest SM-2, SM-3, and SM-6 surface-to-air and ballistic missile defense missiles.
Clearly, there are tradeoffs with a launch system like this. First off, it takes up substantial deck space for just four cells (each one can hold four ESSMs). They are also angled, and if fixed in place, the missile may have to burn some of its fuel and energy to get pointed in the right direction after launch. But even with these limitations, the ADL offers a tremendous amount of flexibility and potential to whatever surface platform it is bolted on to.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/2 ... -destroyer
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... -missiles/
Another simpler-than-MK41 VLS option might be to mount the U.S. Army’s Multi-Mission Launcher (MML), another compact 15-cell VLS box that doesn’t drill into the hull of the ship.
MML can sit on topside deck and fire the Longbow Hellfire, JAGM, AIM-9X Sidewinder (Sidewinder’s range is around 20+ miles/32km and it does have a dual Anti-Air and ground attack capability), and the Tamir/SkyHunter missile (better known as Israeli’s “Iron Dome”) with a 43mi/70km range. A few MMLs could provide LPD-17s with a competent VLS system.
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