Atlantic Thunder Exercise 2022

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NickC
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Atlantic Thunder Exercise 2022

Post by NickC »

A write up by the WarZone of the recent Atlantic Thunder exercise off Scotland, a lot of interesting detail - some quotes

"Exercise Atlantic Thunder 22 took place from September 1-12, with the main exercise — including the SINKEX — taking place on September 7, in waters off the northwest coast of Scotland.

The ex-USS Boone, a decommissioned Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate get sent to the bottom by a combination of weapons, including others that were launched from British and American warships, U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets, U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft, and from U.K. Royal Navy Wildcat maritime helicopters.

A statement released by the U.K. Royal Navy today, the U.S.-led Atlantic Thunder was the first time in 18 years that the service had taken part in an exercise of this kind. The same release also provided details of the historic involvement of RAF Typhoons in a SINKEX

Three Typhoons from the RAF’s No. 41 Squadron — the test and evaluation unit — at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, took part, although it seems that only one of these delivered weapons onto the former USS Boone. This was the first time an RAF Typhoon had ever dropped live ordnance onto a decommissioned warship used as a maritime target. Typhoon’s 500-pound Paveway IV dual-mode bombs (the number of which were dropped was not disclosed) were guided onto the target by a British Wildcat HMA2 helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron, using its MX-15HDi electro-optical/infrared sensor turret. This was after the same Wildcat had already fired its own Martlet air-to-surface missiles. Again, this was the first time that the helicopter had fired this missile against a warship target at sea, rather than against purpose-built targets. [It did not fire the Sea Venom?]

Amid all this upheaval, the option to call upon RAF Typhoons to offer an additional anti-ship capability, including against larger warships, is a useful one. However, the applications for this method of attack in an actual war remain somewhat limited. A direct attack using laser guidance could be ideal for finishing off damaged warships, or otherwise attacking poorly or undefended vessels. But with no standoff ability, it would be unsuitable for an attack on a surface combatant with any meaningful anti-air capability. While the dual-mode Paveway IV does have GPS guidance, this is only for use against static targets. For the time being, the Typhoon still lacks any kind of dedicated anti-ship missile, although a variant of the FC/ASW is planned.

According to the Royal Navy’s account, it had first come under attack from Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Two Harpoons were launched from the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Westminster, along with one from a P-8 Poseidon assigned to the U.S. Navy’s Patrol Squadron 46 (VP-46). The three missiles were fired simultaneously and the result was close to 1,500 pounds of explosive detonating within the hull at about the same time.

The primary anti-ship weapon of the Royal Navy is the Harpoon missile, which was also intended to fill in after the retirement of the Sea Eagle. However, the submarine-launched Harpoon has been withdrawn entirely, while the number of these missiles fitted to surface combatants has been cut back. Meanwhile, the decision was made not to upgrade the existing RGM-84D Harpoon Block 1C missile before it’s removed from service entirely, planned for 2023.

Next, a plan to field an interim weapon to bridge the gap between the retirement of Harpoon and the introduction of the new Future Cruise Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) around 2028 was scrapped. The new FC/ASW weapon is initially intended to arm the new Type 26 City class frigates. In July this year, the U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that an interim weapon would, after all, be acquired to supersede Harpoon, with reports that the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), offered by Kongsberg and Raytheon, had already been selected for the requirement.

Further reinforcement of the U.K.’s ability to target larger warships is also coming in the shape of the Sea Venom missile, a high-subsonic sea-skimming missile that is also able to target shore-based installations such as missile batteries and radar stations. The Sea Venom will be carried by the Wildcat helicopter, with the option to carry a mix of Sea Venoms and Martlets to cater to different target sets.

Other weapons were utilized, too, although it’s unclear in exactly what sequence they were delivered. A multi-purpose SM-6 missile was fired from the destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51). Following the SM-6 strike, “several” Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) rained down on the Boone, after being dropped by F-15Es from the U.S. Air Force’s 494th Fighter Squadron, based at RAF Lakenheath in England.

This comparatively rare live test of different weapons against a [semi] realistic maritime target provides a good example of how tactics are changing, including the use of ‘non-traditional’ naval weapons like the Paveway IV and JDAM to target warships. It will equally be interesting to see how the RAF continues to develop anti-shipping tactics for the Typhoon, potentially reinstating a fast-jet anti-shipping strike capability absent from the service since the 1990s. [No mention made of Spear 3]

PS My italics, secondly it would appear Boone OHP took a lot of firepower to sink.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/b ... first-time

RunningStrong
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Re: Atlantic Thunder Exercise 2022

Post by RunningStrong »

Disappointing that we think Paveway is our only fast-jet launched anti-ship weapon, would have fancied Storm Shadow to have a crack...
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Cooper
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Re: Atlantic Thunder Exercise 2022

Post by Cooper »

RunningStrong wrote: 24 Sep 2022, 13:17 Disappointing that we think Paveway is our only fast-jet launched anti-ship weapon, would have fancied Storm Shadow to have a crack...
I don't think Paveway being used was because there's nothing else but rather it was a very rare chance to try new tactics...launching a Paveway from its outer edge glide path, laser guided to target by a Wildcat is now something that can go in the bank as a proven tactic for when/if its ever needed.


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