Lockheed Martin CIWS - The Millenium Gun

I work for Lockheed on the Aegis Weapon System and what is written there is almost all I know about it. I don't know what class of ships it will be deployed on, or if it even will be. A lot of projects like this get developed but the Navy either doesn't buy them or they lose to another manufacturer.

I know a lot of people at that Moorestown facility and I travel there on occasion. I'll see if I can get any more info on it, unclass info that is.

Damn that sound interest and impressive, if only we had that during WWII it would have destroyed the kamikaze. Anyway I hope they buy it seems effective.

It sounds like a Phallanx shotgun.

Sorry man all ready done, nice system though

What am I not getting here?
The cyclic rate of fire is only 1,000 rounds per minute and that's supposed to be a "wall of lead" around the vessel?

I don't understand what would make this any better than a Phalanx, which fires 20mm ammunition at either 3,000 or 4,500 rounds-per-minute with a burst length of continuous, 60, or 100 rounds... now THAT's a wall of lead.

Originally posted by bios
What am I not getting here?
The cyclic rate of fire is only 1,000 rounds per minute

It fires 1000 rnds per minute through the barrel. Each of these rounds then divides into 152 seperate projectiles in a cone shaped pattern.

1000 X 152 = 152,000 projectiles per minute versus 4500.

Not to mention the (presumed) lower chance of jaming and barrel overheating. Seems like a good line of development to me.

[edit on 4/17/2005 by Montana]

Phallanx fires at a rate of 3000 rounds per minute. It doesn't fire 3000 rounds per minute. It only holds 1500 rounds.

It fires bursts. It doesn't require 3000 rounds to destroy an incoming missile. All you have to do is hit it a few times to destroy it's aerodynamics and make it fly off course.

The longest Phallanx firing I've seen during a live exercise against incoming targets was about probably no more than five to ten seconds, and it killed the target, ripped it to shreds.

Originally posted by PeanutButterJellyTime
Phallanx fires at a rate of 3000 rounds per minute. It doesn't fire 3000 rounds per minute. It only holds 1500 rounds.

Hey, I'm just going by what the FAS web site has to say about it...
www.fas.org...
I suppose they could be wrong though

In WW2, the Japanese had a kind of shot load they'd use in their battleship's big main guns against allied aircraft. If memory serves it was hell on the guns, but devastating when it managed to score a hit.

This is an interesting idea, and I can see it being very effective if done right.

Originally posted by PeanutButterJellyTime
Phallanx fires at a rate of 3000 rounds per minute. It doesn't fire 3000 rounds per minute. It only holds 1500 rounds.

It fires bursts. It doesn't require 3000 rounds to destroy an incoming missile. All you have to do is hit it a few times to destroy it's aerodynamics and make it fly off course.

The longest Phallanx firing I've seen during a live exercise against incoming targets was about probably no more than five to ten seconds, and it killed the target, ripped it to shreds.

This is correct. I never heard or saw 'continuous bursts' from one either. The way the system works is fire-look-aim-fire, a series of short bursts.

rogue1,
This [linked below] might prove interesting to you?
U.S. Navy Completes Initial Testing Of Lockheed Martin Naval Gun



One of the targets from the recent test shows why the Millenium Gun is so effective


The pattern of the Millenium Gun's lethal cloud of metal




seekerof

Great link seekerof, thanks very much