With the US Navy on board USS
The US Navy is leading the proverbial charge when it comes to security cooperation aspects of the increasingly close Indo-US relationship. Nowhere was this more evident than at IFR 2016, with the USA sending two frontline warships and the US Navy band to Visakhapatnam. US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John M Richardson, making his first visit to India, also attended the event. The Ticonderoga- class air defence cruiser USS Antietam (CG-54) and Arleigh Burke- class guided missile destroyer USS McCampbell ( DDG- 85), both forward based at Yokosuka, Japan, were among the largest vessels anchored off Vizag, eclipsed only by the two IN aircraft carriers.
Vayu was invited to tour Antietam after the fleet review, before it sailed back to Japan.
Named after the American Civil War Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, the enormous 9,800-tonne cruiser was arguably the most heavily armed ship at the entire event, boasting two 127mm guns, eight RGM-84 Harpoon AShMs in inclined launchers, and an incredible 122 Mark 41 vertical launch (VLS) cells! Although the vessel’s primary role is to host the air warfare commander and act as the principal air defence ship in a USN Carrier Strike Group (CSG), the 122 VLS cells give it incredible flexibility in employing a range of missiles such as the BGM-109 Tomahawk longrange land-attack missile, all variants of the vertical- launch Standard Missile (SM) family, RUM-139 antisubmarine rocket (ASROC), and quad-packed surface-to-air Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM). All these munitions are controlled by the Lockheed Martin Aegis Combat System, at the heart of which is the AN/ SPY- 1 electronically scanned radar. The ship also includes two Phalanx close-in weapon systems (CIWS) and a range of flare and chaff launchers as a ‘last line of defence’ against incoming threats.
As a means of extending the vessel’s horizon and expanding its combat capability, USS Antietam sails with two multirole Sikorsky (now part of Lockheed Martin) MH-60R Seahawks, used chiefly for ASW and ASuW, with a secondary SAR and casevac/ medevac role. The helicopters, operating as Detachment 3 of Maritime Strike Squadron 51 (HSM-51) 'Warlords,' are equipped with a Raytheon AN/ AAS- 44 forward- looking infrared (FLIR) turret, Telephonics AN/APS-147 or 153(V) multi-mode radar, Raytheon AN/ AQS- 22 dunking sonar, Lockheed Martin AN/ALQ-210 Electronic Support Measures ( ESM) and a comprehensive countermeasures suite that includes the Alliant Techsystems AN/AAR-47 Missile Approach Warning System, BAE Systems AN/ALQ-144 infra-red countermeasures system and BAE Systems AN/ALE-39 chaff and flare decoy dispenser. The MH-60R can launch torpedoes or fire AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, and a new AShM of greater range and lethality is already under consideration.