Navy CWIS Ship Defense Weapon Upgraded to Destroy Small Boats
[Kris Osborn]
Kris Osborn
04/19/2016
The Navy's Close-in-Weapon System fires 4,500 rounds per minute to destroy approaching enemy targets such as small boats, drones, helicopters and cruise missiles.
The U.S. Navy is pursuing a massive, fleet-wide upgrade of a shipboard defensive weapon designed to intercept and destroy approaching or nearby threats such as enemy small boats, cruise missiles and even low-flying drones and aircraft, service officials said.
The Phalanx Close in Weapons System, or CIWS, is an area weapon engineered to use a high rate of fire and ammunition to blanket a given area, destroying or knocking enemy fire out of the sky before it can reach a ship. The Phalanx CIWS, which can fire up to 4,500 rounds per minute, has been protecting ship platforms for decades.
http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1662498-navy-ciws-can-now-hit-surface-small-boats
