USS Kitty Hawk gets upgrade with
Rolling Airframe Missile weapon system
By Doug Huddy, Stars and
Stripes
Stars and Stripes
The Yokosuka-based USS Kitty Hawk is replacing some of its aging missile defenses with the
multimillion-dollar Rolling Airframe Missile weapon system. |
The USS Kitty Hawk — the Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier
— is installing one of the fleet’s most advanced weapons systems.
The Yokosuka-based carrier is replacing some of its aging missile
defenses with the multimillion-dollar Rolling Airframe Missile weapon system, also known
as RAM.
The RAM system will replace some of the ship’s NATO Sea Sparrow
and Phalanx close-in weapons systems, which are used to defend the ship against incoming
missiles.
The installation is part of an overall upgrade to the ship, and the
system should last the rest of the carrier’s life through 2008, according to Senior
Chief Petty Officer Karl Maerz, the Kitty Hawk’s Combat System-7 Division leading
chief petty officer.
“The RAM system is a new system with quicker reaction than the
old ones,” Maerz said. “It also takes up a lot less equipment and space.
It’s a good deal for me and my techs.”
Another benefit of the RAM is it takes fewer sailors to operate it.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” said Petty Officer 2nd
Class Terry Guess, who recently completed training for the RAM system. “It’s
like a step up in the high-tech world.”
Another advantage is, once a missile is launched, it requires no
shipboard support. The older Sea Sparrow system required continuous tracking until impact.
The RAM system is being installed while the 40-year-old carrier is in
Ship Restricted Availability, which is used to maintain and preserve the vessel.
“The system will take three months to install … pretty much
the duration of the availability period,” said Colon Barco of the Naval Surface
Warfare Center, based out of Port Hueneme, Calif.
He said the older missile defense systems will be overhauled and sent
back to the fleet.
While the Kitty Hawk is the first carrier to receive the new
anti-missile system, it’s not the first ship in the 7th Fleet to be equipped with
RAM. The destroyer USS Cushing also is equipped with the new weapons system, Barco said.
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