Raytheon's SeaRAM Anti-Ship Missile Defense System is a spiral development of key attributes of the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System & Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Guided Weapon System
Key Points
A US Navy DDG 51 destroyer based in Spain has conducted a first live-fire test of the Raytheon Mk 15 Mod 31 SeaRAM ship self-defence system
The raising of an Urgent Operational Needs Statement for this capability reflects the risk from the proliferation of anti-ship cruise missile threats in the eastern Mediterranean theatre
A US Navy (USN) DDG 51 Flight II Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer forward deployed to Rota, Spain, has conducted a first live-fire test of its newly installed Raytheon Mk 15 Mod 31 SeaRAM ship self-defence system.
USS Porter (DDG 78), one of four Aegis ballistic missile defence destroyers deployed to Europe in support of the Phased Adaptive Approach missile shield, conducted the test on 4 March off the coast of Huelva, Spain. The Combat Systems Ship Qualification Trial (CSSQT) was part of a co-operative effort between the US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and the Spanish El Arenosillo Test Range.
SeaRAM is an adaptation of Raytheon's Mk 15 Block 1B Phalanx close-in weapon system (CIWS) that swaps out the 20 mm M61A1 Gatling gun with an 11-round guide for the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM). SeaRAM can be integrated with the host ship's combat system, but is also capable of autonomously searching for, detecting, tracking, and engaging threats with RAM.
The SeaRAM installation on Porter - replacing the aft Phalanx Block 1B CIWS mounting - represents the first time the Mk 15 Mod 31 launcher has been integrated onto an Aegis ship. Follow-on fits are planned for USS Carney (DDG 64), USS Ross (DDG 71), and USS Donald Cook (DDG 75), the three other Rota-based DDG 51s.
In the CSSQT test Porter fired the latest RAM Block 2 missile. A NAVSEA statement indicated that the SeaRAM systems on all four ships will carry an outload of the enhanced capability RAM Block 2.