Surface Forces: February 9, 2000

Archives

The US Navy, which was previously forced to delay the expected introduction of the ERGM (Extended Range Guided Munition) from 2001 to 2004, now says that recent test successes will allow this to be moved up to 2003. ERGM, which is to arm the DD21 Land Attack Destroyer and some existing warships, will have a range of 116km (62 miles) with an accuracy of 20m. Each shell will release 72 M80 submunitions, each of which will be able to penetrate 76mm of armor. That should be enough to penetrate the top armor of most vehicles, over the engine if not the turret itself. The recent tests have shown that the new tailfin design can stand the shock of firing from a 127mm cannon, while another test proved that the new rocket motor design will ignite when scheduled (at the height of its arc, not when the gun is fired).--Stephen V Cole


 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close