surface to air

[XenonSurf]

Originally Posted by ETR3(SS)

688: $900 million

Ka-25: $9 million (?)

FIM-92 Stinger: $38,000

Risking a $900 million platform, to take down a $9 million aircraft, is a good way to lose your $900 million platform.

Air assets do need to be reworked. The Soviets apparently have psychic pilots in their helos and MPAs.

The US military was never terribly concerned about the costs when designing and putting alive an attack or defense system.
In your post you forget to compare risks for the sub if a plane is not shotdown and facing a lot of torpedos versus the chance for the sub to shoot down the plane and evade successfully.
The question is if such a mounted or VLT SAM system is efficient enough to have any good chance to accomplish its job, also the major concern is its total weight, any weight surplus is a no-go for a sub, having negative consequences for its max speed and manoeuver capability. Probably the weight aspect leads to dismiss such a solution.

But the reason why SAM systems on subs are futile is a very simple one: The days where subs act as lone wolfes near the surface are years past. The modern warfare tactics make subs act in a group of other surface vessels or carrier groups with far better SAM capability. And for SSBNs stealth is prime instead of stupidly attacking some overflying planes.

This 'Lone Wolf' tactics do very well fit in a game (see Microprose Stealth Fighter F-117 and other series) also because there is less work to do for the devs.

[Spartaner251]

Originally Posted by XenonSurf

The US military was never terribly concerned about the costs when designing and putting alive an attack or defense system.
In your post you forget to compare risks for the sub if a plane is not shotdown and facing a lot of torpedos versus the chance for the sub to shoot down the plane and evade successfully.
The question is if such a mounted or VLT SAM system is efficient enough to have any good chance to accomplish its job, also the major concern is its total weight, any weight surplus is a no-go for a sub, having negative consequences for its max speed and manoeuver capability. Probably the weight aspect leads to dismiss such a solution.

But the reason why SAM systems on subs are futile is a very simple one: The days where subs act as lone wolfes near the surface are years past. The modern warfare tactics make subs act in a group of other surface vessels or carrier groups with far better SAM capability. And for SSBNs stealth is prime instead of stupidly attacking some overflying planes.

This 'Lone Wolf' tactics do very well fit in a game (see Microprose Stealth Fighter F-117 and other series) also because there is less work to do for the devs.

don't tell russia, an S300 or S200 SAM system on a sub, just put somewhere on a coast of a nation you want to make a nonflying zone ...

[ETR3(SS)]

Originally Posted by Spartaner251

don't tell russia, an S300 or S200 SAM system on a sub, just put somewhere on a coast of a nation you want to make a nonflying zone ...

Good luck fitting that on a sub. Good luck keeping that sub alive for very long too.

[shipkiller1]

Originally Posted by XenonSurf

But the reason why SAM systems on subs are futile is a very simple one: The days where subs act as lone wolfes near the surface are years past. The modern warfare tactics make subs act in a group of other surface vessels or carrier groups with far better SAM capability. And for SSBNs stealth is prime instead of stupidly attacking some overflying planes.

The US Submarine force is still a 'lone wolf' force. We have just had to integrate our operations with the surface guys in the last 20 or so years. Mainly due to TLAM.

Still, better than 80% of all deployed US submarines are independent operators. It just depends on where they going to be operating.

[Capt.Hunt]

since ESSM and SM-2/3 are VLS launched, it seems like it could be theoretically possible to retrofit onto a VLS equipped boat, but you run into problems with the guidance, both of those missiles are designed to be used with AEGIS/SPY-1 radars, which are way more sophisticated than the little surface search radar mast.