SDL wrote:IIRC, there wasn't enough time to install 3 while back in Rosyth... so i thought it was going to be installed in Pompy, but i guess they'll be installing it at some point after WestLant
I think it may be tied in to the availability of upgraded Phalanx mounts as well. With the upgrades of the Phalanx mounts underway at present, there may just be 2 ready to go for QE now from the upgrade pipeline, with others in the current pipeline allocated to ships that could potentially go in harms way getting the others as and when they're ready. With a small overall number in the RN as a whole, and only a small number going through the process at an time there probably isn't 3 available right now. Given how long they actually take to fit I don't think that was a reason to not install the third. Installing 2 will enable testing of systems and procedures to be undertaken with the extant mounts, the third when installed will be very straightforward as a result.
abc123 wrote:Another thing, during shooting on red cube on sea, not quite accurate shooting, and that's pretty big and relatively still target... I wonder how would they show against real missiles?
The killer tomatoes are designed not to collapse as they're hit, so there may be rounds going through the target that are unseen.
When engaging missiles the gun fires in bursts with the MMW radar adjusting the next burst after it tracks the progress of the previous batch. If just one burst is fired that adjustment won't be observed.
It's fair to say that Phalanx hasn't had too much of an opportunity to engage real targets in its service life. It's reputation in its early days wasn't great for reliability. Successive improvements have addressed that, but at the same time the threat has improved as well to the point at which gun based CIWS are marginal at best.