October 17, 2008
Steven Collins
Previous blogs at this site have documented that Russia has developed and deployed a supersonic, “sizzler” cruise missile which is designed to sink US aircraft carriers. New readers can search the archives at this site for those previous blog entries or do a websearch for “Russian “sizzler” missiles and you will find suitable links. The American public is largely “in the dark” about the existence of this carrier-killing Russian missile,and the fact that it has also already been deployed on Chinese submarines. Since Russia and China are Iran’s backers, these nations may even have placed land-based variants of this “sizzler” missile in Iran for use against US aircraft carriers and warships in the Persian Gulf in the event of a strike vs. Iranian nuclear facilities. If so, it would be needlessly risky to deploy US navy ships in the Persian Gulf where they could be “sitting ducks” without an adequate anti-supersonic missile capability. Maybe such a defensive system now exists.
US aircraft carrier defensive systems were originally designed to counter subsonic cruise missiles attacking the US fleet. Supersonic cruise missiles are designed to overwhelm US Aegis tracking and weaponry-guidance systems. There is now hope that the US Navy is rapidly developing a counter-missile capability to Russia’s supersonic missile threat.
The first link below reports that the US aircraft carrier, the John Stennis, is being outfitted with an upgraded missile defense system called the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) which can be fired from “the existing NATO Sea Sparrow launcher,” and that it is intended for the “self defense of surface ships.” The link also states that the new anti-missile defense system has already been successfully tested. The report was brief, and (understandably) gives very few technical details. It does not specifically state that the new system is designed to counter incoming supersonic cruise missiles, but, given the pressing need for such a system, we can hope that the ESSM is designed to counter Russia’s new supersonic cruise missiles. The second link below documents that the ESSM anti–missile system has also been successfully tested on board a Greek NATO warship and is being deployed on Canadian, German and Dutch NATO warships as well. If the ESSM can counter supersonic cruise missiles fired at aircraft carriers or other surface combatants, we should expect to see it rapidly installed on all US aircraft carriers and NATO warships.
There is another possible defensive system being developed to counter the Russian supersonic cruise missiles. The third link discusses a Boeing/DARPA project to conduct further tests on a new hypersonic missile which can be used against attacking cruise missiles (and perhaps warplanes and ballistic missiles). The new defensive missile would travel at “Mach 6.” It was previously test-fired from a USAF F-15, but the test was conducted on a US Navy sea range (implying it is designed to be fired for oceanic fleet defense). If the hypersonic missile is developed successfully, it could presumably be fired from either a warship or a fighter aircraft.
The ESSM is being deployed on US/NATO warships now, but its technical abilities aren’t being fully discussed. Let’s hope it can counter supersonic cruise missiles as such a defense is sorely needed. The hypersonic defense missile is not ready to be deployed, according to media reports. However, given the reality of protecting military secrets, one never knows what secret defensive systems now exist on US/NATO warships. This report gives a needed boost to the capabilities and morale of the western world!
Ezekiel 38:21 prophesies that God calls upon the latter-day nations of the ten tribes of “Israel” to use their weaponry (“swords”) against the attack which will come upon them from the militaries of Russia, China, Iran, etc (the Gog-Magog alliance). Ezekiel 39:3 prophecies that at least some of the “bows” and “arrows” that are fired against the Israelite nations will be knocked down or disabled. The word “arrows” is an apt prophetic term for “missiles” in the latter days and the bows” would be their launchers. Bows and arrows constituted long-range aerial weaponry in ancient, biblical times, and they are good metaphors for missiles and missile-launchers in our modern context. God can, of course, accomplish this by Divine intervention, but since Ezekiel 38:21 invites the Israelite nations to use their own weaponry to fight back against the attack, this prophecy may indicate that the West will have some capable missile defenses at the time this attack occurs.
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/missiles/Stennis_First_with_New_ESSM160016564.php
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Thales_Successful_In_ESSM_Live_Firing_Test_999.html
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/printer/missiles/printer_Boeing_Receives_Contract_for_3rd_Mach_6_Hypersonic_Missile_Test.php
