VLS Underway Replenishment: When will the Navy get serious? from defensetech.org

[KrazyHamburglar]

I am obviously missing the replenishment portion for VLS here....

That makes two of us...
The Arsenal ship is kind of cool though

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

That makes two of us...
The Arsenal ship is kind of cool though

Agreed...imagine one of those going to CFAD to ammo though? It would take over a week!

 

[Kirkhill]

Sorry .... should have been more explicit.  Comes from trying to post at lunch time.

This is an alternative to UNREPs.  Take VLS Mk41 with multiple cells.  Surround with cigar shaped tank with stabilizers and engine.  Pump spaces full of Diesel #2.  Attach robot to play follow-the-leader with nearest available FFH.  Use FFH to supply radar and C4I and launch signals.  Keep on-board VLS for close defense of FFH.

Two delivery systems for the Robolaunchers

- a mini version launchable from a RoRo sized mothership (possible stability issues due to small size of platform
OR
- the larger long range self-propelled unit similar in size to those shown as arsenal ships.

These are basically motorized barges designed with the same type of PLC based system that allows Robo LAVs to follow each other.  I believe that the algorithm for sea duty would be simpler than for off road convoys  - especially if they stick to blue water deployments.

 

[aesop081]

Otherwise, on a single ship basis, even a carrier is at very high risk from a single diesel boat, a risk that would then rate as greater than not being able to UNREP your VLS.

Even within a full CBG, a CVN is at high risk from a single diesel boat.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Even within a full CBG, a CVN is at high risk from a single diesel boat.

Well, they are big juicy targets . But I think you get the point: We mitigate the risk because it would not occur to anyone to let a carrier go in action without its Battle Group. I only suggested the same for the provision of realistic scenarios: A group made up of only a few Canadian IRO and FFH's would not take on the PLAAF on their own.

This is an alternative to UNREPs. 

An interesting concept that you propose, for sure. But its not really an alternative to UNREP, which in theory could keep ships at sea and fighting forever (lest they need refit). Your just proposing the next level of "lets build a bigger ship and put more missiles on her". You carry more ammunition, but you can still run out - and then what?

Don't get me wrong: I love the idea of taking a few hundred more missiles with me for the ride. I wonder if it an be done technically as easily as you suggest from the LAV example. I can see the self propelled barge you propose bouncing around in sea state 5 and having a hard time keeping up with a frigate doing a speed run (can your slave LAV's keep up with mother when off-roading at full speed?). And who would maintain and keep the engines of the barge running at sea or do any required maintenance on the launching systems? 

Seems to me a better alternative, but for war only, would be to take a small container ship, modify the superstructure so it can be sealed from fumes and stick 20 to 25 "61 cells VLS". Its a cheaper way of doing an arsenal ship so long as the "mother" destroyer/frigate is fully equipped to control those extra bullets.

But you could still run out in theory. So it gets back again to evaluating the air threat you face, calculating the expected rate of ammo use to face it and defeat it, add a fudge factor and derive the number of "bullets" you need to carryout the mission. Then you assign a sufficiently large number of ships to the mission that carry that load. This is up to the maths wiz in operational research.

 

[Kirkhill]

OGBD:

Your points are well taken,  especially the one about keeping up on a speed run (well, also the one about the ease with which it might be done - NLOS hasn't exactly been a signal success and the robo-LAVs aren't in service yet).

However I don't fully accept that this is just about building another bigger ship so that it takes longer to run out of shots, although that is true for every fire based system (need to stick a bayonet on the prow, just in case  ;D).  Part of the exercise for the NLOS system was to make it possible to launch the missiles in a box from more points along the supply chain,  ultimately launching them directly from pre-positioned caches, meaning you didn't have to drive a gun crew up to the cache and start loading and shooting.

I believe the navy has at  least part of the puzzle in hand with the CEC (the Co-Operative Engagement Capability), which the Army lacks.

I really like your Budget Arsenal Ship though.  Instead of a RoRo start from a Container platform (there are half a dozen 30 knot units currently mothballed due to lack of trade)