US finalizing plans to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine, US officials say

[CrabbyAppleton]

35. De nada

Phalanx was designed to be a point defense system to stop missiles, aircraft and small boats which have larger radar signatures. The other equipment was added to be able to detect artillery and mortar fire as well. Different sensors were needed to detect smaller objects as well as other processors to examine the incoming data. Power generators are required because Phalanx relies on shipboard power.

Another problem as I mentioned is the ammo. You can't just pump a lot of ammo into the air because what goes up, must come down and that can cause a lot of unwanted damage. In fact, there have been multiple incidents with Phalanx systems at sea causing collateral damage. USS Missouri sent out chaff to protect itself from incoming missiles which caused a ship nearby to fire it's Phalanx which caused some injuries or even a death, I don't remember. I myself saw a Phalanx shipboard test where the system shot the tow cable pulling a dummy missile and then the gun jammed. The dummy just barely missed hitting the deck I was standing on.

The solution to that problem is M940 ammo which instead of tungsten projectiles is a High Explosive Tracer Round which is designed to explode on impact with a target, OR burn-up after a set distance (2000 meters) if it doesn't hit a target.

Normal tracers are usually used in a 1 to 5 or 1 to 7 ratio to allow gunners to track where they are shooting. M940 is used in every round so none of the ammo comes back down. That's why video of the Land Phalanx Weapons System looks so cool. Every round is a tracer. Watch the video though and you'll notice the guns don't depress their fire too low so none of it comes back down to the ground. The ammo is very expensive too.

Another problem with multiple drone attacks is Phalanx doesn't have a large magazine (relatively speaking) so it is easily overwhelmed by a large number (more than 5) of incoming targets.

There are other systems in development to deal with the multiple threats that drones pose. The problem as I see it is that systems that are effective, are expensive and cover a very limited area.

On the other hand, the info I am privy to is that Russia does not have the resources to make drones of their own and their source of drones has been destroyed.

Crabby