Canadian River Class Destroyer Megathread

[YZT580]

It's something to consider as well that RAM is one of the inner most defensive armaments of the RCD, so it should not be expected to take the brunt of strikes.

SM-2 IIIC has a listed range of 170km

ESSM Block II has a listed range of 50km+

The 5"/62 Mark 45 Mod 4 has a listed range of 40km~ with unguided ammunition, can be longer with specalist ammunition

RAM Block IIB has a listed range of 15km

30mm Mark 38 Mod 4 Autocannon has a listed range of 4km

As Underway says, you'd have to either let targets creep into your inner defensive layers or exhaust your outer layers to require RAM to be doing heavy lifting on its own.

All very well and good but, considering Ukrainian developments where is the space and power for the kinetic weapons? By the time the first river class is commissioned lasers should be coming into their own for close in defense.

 

[Lumber]

All very well and good but, considering Ukrainian developments where is the space and power for the kinetic weapons? By the time the first river class is commissioned lasers should be coming into their own for close in defense.

Pipe dream. The energy requirements for lasers is significant. In order to achieve a quick and reliable kill, you need multiple lasers hitting the target from different angle to avoid "blooming" (the laser beam heats the air changing the air's density and causing the laser beam to difuse). So you'd need two lasers per target and a ship with an extremely high power generation capability. For a single laser, a slow moving and unhardened drone, sure, but a supersonic missile that is designed to be semi Armour piercing? Good luck.

 

[Troopasaurus]

Lasers are being developed for the Type 26, If the Royal Navy can get them working then I imagine adding them to River Class would not be insurmountable. DragonFire directed energy weapon to be fitted to four Royal Navy warships by 2027 - Navy Lookout