SHIP SELF-DEFENSE SYSTEM (SSDS)

SHIP SELF-DEFENSE SYSTEM (SSDS) The principal air threat to US naval surface ships is a variety of highly capable anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs)(figure 2-17). These include subsonic (Mach 0.9) and supersonic (Mach 2+), and low altitude ASCMs. Detection, tracking, assessment, and engagement decisions must be made rapidly to defend against these threats, since the time from when an ASCM is initially detected until it is engaged is less than a minute. SSDS is designed to accomplish these defensive actions. SSDS, consisting of software and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware, integrates and coordinates all of the existing sensors and weapons systems aboard a non-AEGIS ship to provide Quick Reaction Combat Capability (QRCC). (It will eventually be installed on board most classes of non-AEGIS ships.) SSDS (fig. 2-18), by providing a Local Area Network (LAN), LAN access units (LAUs), special computer programs, and operator stations, automates the defense process, from the detect sequence through the engage sequence. This provides a quick response, multi-target engagement capability against anti-ship cruise missiles. The entire combat system, including the sensors and weapons, is referred to as Quick Reaction Combat Capability (QRCC), with SSDS as the integrating element. Although SSDS broadens the ship’s defensive capability, it is not intended to improve the performance of any sensor or weapon beyond its stand-alone performance. The primary advantage SSDS brings to the combat systems suite is the ability to coordinate both hard kill (gun and missile systems) and soft kill (decoys such as chaff) systems and to use them to their optimum tactical advantage. The following systems represent the SSDS interfaces for a non-AEGIS ship: � AN/Air Search Radar � AN/Surface Search Radar � AN/Electronic Warfare System � Centralized Identification Friend or Foe (CIFF) � Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) 2-12 Figure 2-16. —CIWS radome with search and track radar. Figure 2-17.—Missile launch from an AEGIS class cruiser.