Artist's impression of the Advanced Gun System aboard a DD(X) Destroyer

The Advanced Gun System is a naval gun system under development by British company BAE Systems Armaments Systems Division (formerly United Defense) for the United States Navy as part of the DD(X) destroyer program. Image File history File links DD(X)_Advanced_Gun_System. ... Image File history File links DD(X)_Advanced_Gun_System. ... USS Iowa (BB-61) fires a full broadside of nine 16/50 and six 5/38 guns during a target exercise near Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, 1 July 1984. ... BAE Systems Land & Armaments was created on June 24, 2005, following the completition of BAE Systems acquisition of United Defense and its merger with BAE Systems Land Systems. ... United Defense Industries was a United States defense contractor which is now part of BAE Systems Land and Armaments. ... USN redirects here. ... The DD(X) with planned features. ... USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). ...

Originally designed for mounting as a vertical gun, this 155 mm caliber gun has since been slated for mounting within a more conventional turret arrangement. The AGS is designed to offer a weapon system capable of delivering precision munitions at a high rate of fire and at over-the-horizon ranges. As a vertical gun system it would only have been capable of firing guided munitions, although the turret mounting will allow the use of unguided munitions as well.

Description

The AGS uses the same 155 mm caliber as most American field artillery forces, although it does not share the ability to fire the same ammunition. Instead, a new range of ammunition is under development for this weapon. The gun barrel is 62 calibers long, and is able to fire eight round bursts with an average rate of fire of ten rounds per minute. The AGS is to be mounted in a turret specifically designed for the DD(X) 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 within the turret housing when not firing. The Rate of fire is the speed at which a specific firearm or artillery piece can operate. ... It has been suggested that Firearm brass and Casing (ammunition) be merged into this article or section. ... A minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour and to 60 seconds. ...

Ammunition

The development of new ammunition for the AGS under the name Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) is one of the major advances offered by the AGS program. The munitions are to be highly accurate, with a circular error probable of 50 m or less. Lockheed-Martin conducted a flight test of the munition in July 2005, reporting a flight distance of 59 nautical miles (109 km). In the military science of ballistics, Circular Error Probability or circular error probable (CEP) is a simple measure of a weapon systems precision. ... Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A nautical mile is a unit of length. ...

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 inches (223 cm), amounting to about 14 calibers. A projectile is any object sent through space by the application of a force. ... A propellant is a material that is used to move an object by applying a motive force. ...

Operation

A primary advantage of the AGS over the existing Mark 45 5" gun which equips most major surface combatants of the US Navy is its increased capability for supporting ground forces and striking land targets. With a 10 round per minute capacity, it offers the ability to deliver firepower close to that of a battery of six 155 mm howitzers. This will increase the utility of vessels equipped with the weapon, especially in areas in which the US Navy exercises absolute sea supremacy. The 5 Inch/54-caliber (Mk 45) lightweight gun is a modern naval artillery gun mount consisting of a 5-inch L54 Mark 19 gun on the Mark 45 mount. ... Loading a WW1 British 15 in (381 mm) howitzer A howitzer or hauwitzer is a type of field artillery. ...

Usage

The AGS is currently only slated for inclusion on the DD(X), although it could also be included in other future ship designs. No plans have been revealed to retrofit it to current ship designs. The shortening of DD(X)procurement to six or fewer ships increases the likelihood that BAE will attempt to market AGS to other programs.

Criticisms

As pointed out by the author, journalist and former Royal Navy officer, Lewis Page in his book Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs, which describes the farce of British military procurement policy of recent decades, the whole concept of naval gunfire is quite probably irrelevant. At maximum range a ship's gun is unlikely to hit anything inland with any degree of accuracy. To have any hope of hitting even a static land target it would have to get so close to shore that it would expose itself to, far more mobile, land-based systems. This could be anything from simple artillery to relatively short range missiles. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

This was proven categorically in the Falklands War of 1982 when HMS Glamorgan was severely damaged while moving from one shore bombardment location to another, by an Exocet missile . The missile was fired from the back of a truck by the Argentine Air Froce. Indeed the Exocet in question had been designed to be fired from an aircraft but the small group of Argentine Air Force personnel on the island were able to, literally, solder the firing circuits on the missile so it could be fired from the back of a truck. Such is the proven vulnerability of a large ship, exposed in open water close to land, while engaged in shore bombardment, even a generation ago. Combatants United Kingdom Argentina Casualties 258 killed [1] 777 wounded 59 taken prisoner 649 killed 1,068 wounded 11,313 taken prisoner The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South... HMS Glamorgan (D19) was a County-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. ... In older English literature there are some uses of exocet to mean flying fish. There is also a typeface known as Exocet. ...

In addition, the comparison to having the power of a battery of land-based artillery is also misleading. Ships carry relatively few rounds of artillery ammunition and are much harder to reload. In practice land-based artillery has far greater power than any single naval gun.

And even then, the role of land-based artillery itself is under quetion. It requires huge support and is very inaccurate against moble forces. It carried out a minor role in the 2003 Iraqi Freedom operation. As Lewis Page pointed out in the same book, the US Marines effectively left their artillery at home, preferring the accuracy of air support and missiles. The 2003 Invasion of Iraq was the first military act of the Iraq War, and was launched by the United States and the United Kingdom on March 20, 2003, with support from some other governments, making up what was described as the coalition of the willing. After about three weeks... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the second smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. ...

As Mr Page points out, the main reason naval ships continue to have such weapons is because big guns are what still define a major ship to lots of navies. Naval officers like them and civilian leaders are easily convinced of their importance. The supremacy of aircraft over big guns was defined by Pearl harbor. Naval gunfire appears to have no practical benefit in modern warfare. Satellite image of Pearl Harbor. ...

The "amphibious invasion" of Afghanistan in 2001, a nation with no seacoast and outside the range of even the LRLAP further supports the notion that naval fire support has no great relevance in modern war