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Vertical launching system

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A diagram of K-VLS
An example of modern VLS cells, these being the Mk. 41, on board USS San Jacinto
In December 1959, the U.S. Navy commissioned the USS George Washington (SSBN-598) as its first ballistic missile submarine, making it the first VLS-equipped submarine in the world to use nuclear rather than diesel propulsion
The Kara-class cruiser Azov was the first surface ship to be fitted with a true, 90º VLS. The system in question contained 4 revolving drums of 48 tubes for 5V55RM missiles
A Tomahawk missile canister being offloaded from a VLS aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur

A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of cells, which can hold one or more missiles ready for firing. Typically, each cell can hold a number of different types of missiles, allowing the ship flexibility to load the best set for any given mission. Further, when new missiles are developed, they are typically fitted to the existing vertical launch systems of that nation, allowing existing ships to use new types of missiles without expensive rework. When the command is given, the missile flies straight up far enough to clear the cell and the ship, then turns onto the desired course.

A VLS allows surface combatants to have a greater number of weapons ready for firing at any given time compared to older launching systems such as the Mark 13 single-arm and Mark 26 twin-arm launchers, which were fed from behind by a magazine below the main deck. In addition to greater firepower, VLS is much more damage tolerant and reliable than the previous systems and has a lower radar cross-section (RCS). The U.S. Navy now relies exclusively on VLS for its guided missile destroyers and cruisers.

The most widespread VLS in the world is the Mark 41, developed by the United States Navy. More than 11,000 Mark 41 VLS missile cells have been delivered, or are on order, for use on 186 ships across 19 ship classes, in 11 navies around the world. This system currently serves with the US Navy as well as the Australian, Danish, Dutch, German, Japanese, Norwegian, South Korean, Spanish, and Turkish navies, while others like the Greek Navy preferred the similar Mark 48 system.[1]

The 3S-14 VLS was developed in Russia and is used in sea-based as well as land-based TEL systems such as the S-400 missile system.[citation needed]

The advanced Mark 57 VLS is used on the Zumwalt-class destroyer. The older Mark 13 and Mark 26 systems remain in service on ships that were sold to other countries such as Taiwan and Poland.

When installed on an SSN (nuclear-powered attack submarine), a VLS allows a greater number and variety of weapons to be deployed, compared with using only torpedo tubes.

Launch type

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A RIM-156A missile launching from a VLS cell on USS Lake Erie in 2008.
US Navy Mark 41 Tomahawk hot launch.

A vertical launch system can be either hot launch, where the missile ignites in the cell, or cold launch, where the missile is expelled by gas produced by a gas generator which is not part of the missile itself, and then the missile ignites. "Cold" means relatively cold compared with rocket engine exhaust. A hot launch system does not require an ejection mechanism but does require some way of disposing of the missile's exhaust and heat as it departs the cell. If the missile ignites in a cell without an ejection mechanism, the cell must withstand the tremendous heat generated without igniting missiles in adjacent cells.

Hot launch

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An advantage of a hot-launch system is that the missile propels itself out of the launching cell using its own engine, which eliminates the need for a separate system to eject the missile from the launching tube. This potentially makes a hot-launch system relatively light, small, and economical to develop and produce, particularly when designed around smaller missiles. A potential disadvantage is that a malfunctioning missile could destroy the launch tube. American surface-ship VLSs have missile cells arranged in a grid with one lid per cell and are "hot launch" systems. The engine ignites within the cell during the launch and so requires a way of venting rocket exhaust. France, Italy and Britain use a similar hot-launching Sylver system in PAAMS.

Cold launch

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The advantage of the cold-launch system is in its safety: if a missile engine malfunctions during launch, the cold-launch system can eject the missile, reducing or eliminating the threat. For this reason, Russian VLSs are often designed with a slant so that a malfunctioning missile will land in the water instead of on the ship's deck. As missile size grows, the benefits of ejection launching increase. Above a certain size, a missile booster cannot be safely ignited within the confines of a ship's hull. Most modern ICBMs and SLBMs are cold-launched. Russia produces both grid systems and a revolver arrangement with more than one missile per lid for its cold launch system. Russia also uses a cold launch system for some of its vertical launch missile systems, e.g., the Tor missile system.

The UK's Common Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM) family of missiles utilises a similar cold-launching system, referred to as soft-vertical-launch, and actively markets the advantages of the system. Soft-launch provides the missile with a reduce interception rate allowing for shorter ranged engagements, reduces the IR signature of the ship and the obscurant of visibility by rendering the ship in efflux for several minutes; and most notably, the lack of hot efflux and reduced stress on the ship's structure allows for a much greater choice of launch systems, such as the lighter Mushroom Farm launcher whilst also still enabling installation into the heavier Mark 41 in a quad-pack or dual-packed configuration (4 or 2 missiles per cell) for a costly, but more space efficient option.[2][3][4][5]

Concentric canister launch

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Some warships of China's People's Liberation Army Navy use a concentric canister launch (CCL) system that can launch using both hot and cold methods in the cell module, onboard the Type 052D destroyer and the Type 055 destroyer.[6] The universal launch system is offered for export.[7]

Older Chinese ships use single launch system: Type 052C destroyers use a cold launch system, while Type 054A frigates use a hot launch system.[8]

Other platforms

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Transporter erector launchers are wheeled or tracked land vehicles for the launch of surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles. In most systems the missiles are transported in a horizontal out-of-battery configuration: in order to fire, the vehicle must stop and the transport/launch tube must be raised to the vertical before firing.

BAE Systems has filed patents relating to the use of Vertical Launch missiles from modified passenger aircraft.[9]

Systems in use by states

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NATO

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In 2021, the Centre for Military Studies published the total number of VLS cells in use with fourteen NATO navies. The results are displayed below.

Vertical Launch System Cells of 14 NATO Navies in 2020 (Centre for Military Studies)[10]
Country Ship classes and approx. number of VLS cells Total Strike Length VLS cells for Sea-Launched Cruise Missiles (SLCM)
 United States 8,646 8,700+ arsenal of SLCM / Not included are VLS and BFM on submarines.
Europe total - 2,392 688
 United Kingdom 672 -
 France 384 6 × 16 = 96 SLCM deployed on Aquitaine-class
 Denmark 240 3 x 32 = 96 / No SLCM
 Spain 240 5 × 48 = 240 / No SLCM
 Italy 224 No SLCM
 Canada 192 -
 Netherlands 192 4 × 40 = 160 / No SLCM
 Germany 160 3 × 32 = 96 / No SLCM
 Turkey 144 -
 Greece 128 -
 Norway 40 -
 Belgium 32 -
 Portugal 32 -
 Bulgaria
  • 2 × 8 MMPV 80 corvette
16 -

Note: The above table does not include NATO navies which do not possess vertical launching systems, namely Albania, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia.

Other

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 Algeria
 Australia
 Brazil
 Chile
 China
Surface
 Egypt
 Finland
 India
Surface
Submarine
 Iran
 Indonesia
SYLVER cells of the Italian destroyer Caio Duilio
 Israel
 Japan
 Malaysia
 Morocco
 New Zealand
  • Anzac-class frigate – GWS-35 (20 cells)
 Oman
Soviet missile cruiser Frunze firing a missile from the Tor VLS
Top view of the Ticonderoga-class USS Lake Champlain with VLS visible fore and aft as the gray boxes near the bow and stern of the ship
 Pakistan
 Philippines
 South Africa
 Russia
Surface
Submarine
 Singapore
 Republic of Korea
Surface
Submarine
 Thailand

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Preview ofTable of contents (2016-07-08). "Naval Swiss Army Knife: MK 41 Vertical Missile Launch Systems (VLS)". Defenseindustrydaily.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2016-12-29.
  2. ^ Głębocki, Robert; Jacewicz, Mariusz (2018-10-20). "Simulation study of a missile cold launch system". Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. 56 (4): 901–913. doi:10.15632/jtam-pl.56.4.901. ISSN 1429-2955.
  3. ^ "From Sea Wolf to Sea Ceptor – the Royal Navy's defensive shield | Navy Lookout". www.navylookout.com. 2019-06-04. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  4. ^ "SEA CEPTOR | FORCE PROTECTION, Maritime Superiority". MBDA. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  5. ^ "CAMM | FORCE PROTECTION, Ground Based Air Defence". MBDA. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  6. ^ "Shots of cold and hot launches of 052D destroyer unveiled". China-arms. 19 February 2020.
  7. ^ "China Reveals Universal Ship-borne Vertical Missile Launch System". defense post. 1 October 2021. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021.
  8. ^ Joe, Rick (8 June 2018). "All You Need to Know About China's New Stealth Destroyer". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  9. ^ "Patent US7540227 – Air based vertical launch ballistic missile defense – Google Patents". 2003-05-06. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2016-12-29.
  10. ^ Stöhs, Jeremy. "How High? The Future of European Naval Power and the High-End Challenge" (PDF). Centre for Military Studies. Djøf Publishing. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Patrol ship for distant sea areas Project 22160E | Catalog Rosoboronexport".
  12. ^ "Project 11541 "Korsar"".
  13. ^ "ЦКБ МТ Рубин: Amur 950".
  14. ^ "Russia's newest submarines are 'on par with ours' and sailing closer to the US, top commanders say". Business Insider.
  15. ^ "SSBN Typhoon Class (Type 941)".
  16. ^ "Delta III Class Ballistic Missile Submarine | Military-Today.com".
  17. ^ "Explainer: Russia's Delta IV Nuclear Missile Submarines". 23 December 2020.
  18. ^ "SSBN Borei Class Nuclear-Powered Submarines".
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