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| Naval Ensign of Canada -Wikipedia |
Royal Canadian Navy marks first-ever missile test against shore-based targets
April 8, 2016 – Ottawa – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces
HMCS Vancouver made history recently as it became the first modernized Canadian frigate to successfully test surface-to-surface missiles against a shore-based target, utilizing the Harpoon Block II surface-to-surface missiles.
This is the first time in history the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) has exercised such a surface-to-surface missile launch capability. The launches were part of a Joint Littoral Training Exercise (JoLTEX.)
JoLTEX 16 is a training exercise that was recently completed by the RCN at a United States Navy missile firing range off the coast of California. The Exercise was held from March 30 to April 1, 2016.
(whole press release here)I admit I had no idea that any Harpoon anti-ship missile *could* strike shore based targets, but I guess a ship-to-shore missile is a new capability, and a distinguishing feature between the old variants of the Harpoon and the new Block II. What about the deck gun? According to Wikipedia the deck gun "is a 57 mm 70 Mark 3 gun from Bofors. The gun is capable of firing 2.4 kg shells at a rate of 220 rounds/min at a range of more than 17 km. The Bofors is a multi-purpose weapon usable against surface and air targets. The 57 mm main gun has limited ship-to-shore bombardment capability." As I haven't looked very closely at the Canadian Navy armament before, this surprised me as well. I was unaware we has such a (relatively) small gun on our largest naval vessels; heresy you say? Let me elaborate. The Russian Navy (1962 design) Kashin-class Destroyer has a multitude of armaments, including two twin 76 mm guns. But a destroyer is usually bigger than a Frigate; so to compare apples-to-apples, the Russian frigates are the Krivak-class, Neustrashimyy-class and the new Admiral Grigorovich-Class - all of which have more, and bigger, deck-guns. I'm sure I've drawn the ire of many Royal Canadian Navy fans, but now that I'm looking closer at the armament of our flagship-class, I'm rather horrified. Yes, I understand it isn't just the size of the gun; it's how you use it. But I'm getting off topic.
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| Libya Credit: Google Maps |
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| Range of Harpoon II Credit: Google Maps |
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| Range of Russian Kalibr Cruise Missile Credit: Google Maps |
A Russian Navy Ship or Submarine, armed with their new cruise missiles, might be able to hit Winnipeg from Halifax. That's a little more impressive, and a little frightening.
So, why did we upgrade our Harpoon to the Harpoon Block II? Well, the Harpoon was originally fielded in 1977. The Harpoon II, while not the most recent block, has undergone a significant set of improvements, and performs better than it's predecessor. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't have upgraded them, but maybe we need to look at what we have in the end; what can the Halifax-class Frigate accomplish, compared to other warships of the world? Was this refit worth the money spent?
