On May 17, 1987 two EXOCET missiles hit and crippled the frigate USS STARK. Thirty seven sailors lost their lives due to the inability of the ship to defend itself against a sea-skimming cruise missile attack. In 1991, as a result of this incident, Congress mandated the establishment of a Program Executive Office for Ship Self Defense. The purpose of the legislation was to preclude another incident by placing a high priority on the combat system engineering process used to design and field the anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) defense capability of surface ships. Over 35 countries now have sea-skimming ASCMs and this type of threat continues to proliferate. The use of IRST is a critical element of ship self defense, providing early and reliable detection of sea-skimming cruise missiles. This paper describes the contribution of IRST in providing self-defense and the current status of the United States Navy (USN) shipboard IRST development program.
USN shipboard infrared search and track (IRST) program
1997
7 Seiten
Conference paper
English
USN shipboard infrared search and track (IRST) program
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