DF-21D anti-carrier missile

[Mister Fork]

With a conventional warhead it will need to be pretty close at least, with a nuke, not so...

If the Chinese ever threw a nuke at a CV group in the pacific, I think whether or not it hits the carrier group is the least of our worries...

[Zimme83]

Agree, and it will not happen either. The point with this weapons is after all to not start a nuclear war

[PR3D4TOR]

The U.S. Army bought 21 Pershing II missiles in 1982 for $194 million. More than $9 million per missile, and that's only the missile itself. The total program cost of the Pershing II system was $10.9 billion, or $39 million per missile. And that's in 1980's Dollars...

[Zimme83]

A ballistic missile isnt that expensive, Its a tube with rocket fuel and a nozzle in the back. What cost in this case is the warhead/guidance system. Its requires satellites and/or over the horizon radar that can provide the warhead with guidance data during the Terminal phase.

[PR3D4TOR]

What use is a ballistic missile without a warhead and guidance system? Fireworks. And the word you're looking for is "terminal".

[Zimme83]

typo, sorry.

[Mister Fork]

The U.S. Army bought 21 Pershing II missiles in 1982 for $194 million. More than $9 million per missile, and that's only the missile itself. The total program cost of the Pershing II system was $10.9 billion, or $39 million per missile. And that's in 1980's Dollars...

Gebuz. You could of gotten 5-6 Nimitz class carriers for that. And at $39M per missile, that's $90M today. Almost the price of one F-35 fighter.

And the carrier groups are portable/mobile strike platforms compared to a missile that's an end-game solution.

[PR3D4TOR]

Plutonium costs around $4,000 per gram. Nuclear weapons are rich kids toys.

[PR3D4TOR]

I don't have exact figures but the missile itself was probably in the $4-5 million later in the production run. Add about $20 million for the warhead and another $5 million for mobile launchers, equipment and parts for a round $30 million per pop.

[Rich46yo]

Our super missile. http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1679499-missile-defense-agency-sm-6-breakthrough Even realistically tested.

[Rash]

I don't think the big players want to test each other capabilities in this area.

[Rich46yo]

I don't think the big players want to test each other capabilities in this area.

A good point. You start touching off IRBMs and other countries are going to get real twitchy fingers. China has no illusions of our capability in this area. Its a no winner for everyone, especially them. Another thing about any kind of super sonic missile, they leave IR signatures that are huge. Which is part of the reason we never deployed a sea skimmer one yet. Those sneaky subsonics are very difficult to detect which is why were developing a variant of LRASM based on the JASMM-ER. Its sneaky, and stealthy, and smart, and might have a range approaching 1,000 miles. Like the Tomahawk ASM.

And a single B1 Bomber can carry 2 dozen LRASMs. Fire and forget, the missiles themselves will decide what and how they will attack, talking to each other thru data link. And once they do they go silent and use passive sensors when they go terminal.

[PR3D4TOR]

The Tomahawk ASM was retired in the 1990s, and the terminal phase of a ballistic missile where it is in the atmosphere and is heated by it is measured in seconds.



https://youtu.be/1WagAKBuc_o

[Rich46yo]

https://news.usni.org/2016/02/18/west-u-s-navy-anti-ship-tomahawk-set-for-surface-ships-subs-starting-in-2021  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/02/18/report-u-s-ships-and-subs-to-receive-anti-ship-tomahawk-cruise-missiles/ No, its measured in minutes and starts when the satellite detects the launch. A ballistic missile is very easy to track, actually I was talking about any super sonic missile. Most of all the SSASMs.

The Tomahawk ASM was retired in the 1990s, and the terminal phase of a ballistic missile where it is in the atmosphere and is heated by it is measured in seconds.



https://youtu.be/1WagAKBuc_o

[Mister Fork]

Looks like the ICBM warheads may be entering at mach 8 but air friction looks like it's slowing them down.  I'm curious as to the speed it travels before PDA (programmed detonation altitude)?