Category Archives: cold war

How many Sidewinders Does $1.1B Buy?

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U.S. Marines with Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA(AW)) 533 transport an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Sept. 28, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Gabriel Durand)

First fired successfully in September 1953 (!) and bagged its first confirmed aerial kills in 1958, the AIM-9 Sidewinder is still very much in demand and on front-line service in its 70s.

Of course, the current fifth-generation infra-red AIM-9X tactical weapon system family, which debuted in 2004 and has delivered well over 10,000 examples, is not your grandfather’s Sidewinder.

Unlike previous AIM-9 models, the AIM-9X can even be used against ground targets and has Lock-On-After-Launch and Data Link capabilities. Little wonder that it is used by 29 countries.

With that in mind, it should be no surprise that the DOD just announced a $1.1B contract for right at 2,000 war-shot and around 200 training missiles for both U.S. and overseas customers. This points to a cost of about $500K per round, which is a bargain compared to a $1.3 million longer-range AIM-132 AMRAAM.

As Sidewinders have proved useful against incoming Iranian and Houthi missiles in the Middle East in the past couple of years, a lot of these new purchases are likely to backfill for expended rounds.

Plus, the Ukrainians have shown them to be useful when fired in a novel fashion from their Magura 7 SAM-equipped air defense drone boats, which have claimed two shootdowns of Russian tactical aircraft in recent weeks over the Black Sea, ala Cold War M48 Chaparral style.  

Anyway, the announcement:

Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $1,100,806,209 modification (P00004) to a previously awarded fixed-price incentive (firm-target) contract (N0001924C0032). This modification exercises options for the production and delivery of AIM-9X production Lot 25 requirements as follows: 1,756 AIM-9X-4 Block II All Up Round Tactical Missiles (492 for the Navy, 456 for the Air Force, and 808 for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers); 242 AIM-9X-5 Block II+ All Up Round Tactical Missiles for FMS customers; 187 Captive Air Training Missiles (CATM)-9X-4 (40 for the Navy, 62 for the Air Force, and 85 for FMS customers); 13 Special Air Training Missiles (NATM) (five for the Air Force and eight for FMS customers); six Data Air Test Missiles for FMS customers; 30 Multi-Purpose Training Missile for FMS customers; eight Block I Tactical Sectionalization Kits for the Air Force; seven Block I CATM Sectionalization Kits for the Air Force; 33 Block II Tactical Sectionalization Kit (21 for the Navy, eight for the Air Force, and four for FMS customers); 34 Block II CATM Sectionalization Kits (24 for the Navy, six for the Air Force, and four for FMS customers); 31 Block II Tactical Maintenance Kits (30 for the Navy and one for FMS customers); 28 Block II CATM Maintenance Kits (27 for the Air Force and one for FMS customers), as well as various associated spares, containers, and support equipment. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (36.14%); North Logan, Utah (9.96%); Niles, Illinois (7.83%); Keyser, West Virginia (7.65%); Hillsboro, Oregon (4.71%); Midland, Ontario, Canada (3.17%); Heilbronn, Germany (2.58%); Goleta, California (2.5%); Simsbury, Connecticut (2.49%); Anaheim, California   (2.39%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (2.10%); Murrieta, California (2.10%); Valencia, California (1.68%); San Diego, California (1.57%); Kalispell, Montana (1.56%); St. Albans, Vermont (1.21%); Anniston, Alabama (1.15%); San Jose, California (1.12%); Cincinnati, Ohio (1.03%); and various other locations within the continental U.S. (7.06%), and is expected to be complete by October 2028. Fiscal 2025 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $490,708,962; fiscal 2025 missile procurement funds in the amount of $183,651,109; fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $2,082,840; fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $952,404; fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $664,351; fiscal 2024 missile procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $55,470,485; fiscal 2024 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,961,405; fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $952,404; fiscal 2023 missile procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $8,768,269; fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,448; and FMS customer funds in the amount of $597,227,867, will be obligated at the time of award, of which $19,623,826 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract action was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

 

It’s official: CVN-65 headed to Mobile for final cruise

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Operation Sea Orbit: On 31 July 1964, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) (bottom), USS Long Beach (CGN-9) (center) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) (top) formed “Task Force One,” the first nuclear-powered task force, and sailed 26,540 nmi (49,190 km) around the world in 65 days. Accomplished without a single refueling or replenishment, “Operation Sea Orbit” demonstrated the capability of nuclear-powered surface ships.

The world’s first nuclear powered flattop and the longest carrier ever constructed (at 1,088 feet oal, later pushed to 1,123 feet, some 31 feet longer than a Nimitz and 17 feet longer than a Ford) will be deconstructed slowly in Mobile Bay through the end of the decade, under the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She will disappear while docked at Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services, LLC (MARRS), where the former SS United States is now tied up.

The ex-USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, was ordered on 15 November 1957 during the Eisenhower administration and commissioned on 25 November 1961, somehow just four years later. She left on her inaugural deployment just seven months later in June 1962. In all, she would complete 25 overseas deployments in her career.

Keep that in mind when you note that Ford took nine years from ordering (2008) through commissioning (2017) and only deployed for the first time six years later (2023).

Big E’s original cost, in 1961 dollars, was $451.3 million. Her recycling, after over 55 years of service, will be more expensive until you consider inflation.

Per DOD’s contract announcements last Friday:

NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services LLC, Vernon, Vermont, is awarded a $536,749,731 firm-fixed-price contract (N00024-25-C-4135) for the dismantling, recycling, and disposal of Ex-Enterprise (CVN 65). Under this contract CVN 65 will be dismantled in its entirety, and all resulting materials will be properly recycled or disposed of. Specifically, hazardous materials, including low-level radioactive waste, will be packaged and safely transported for disposal at authorized licensed sites. Work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by November 2029. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $533,749,731 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment solicitation module, with three offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

 

The only submarine museum in Africa has reopened

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The French-built Daphne-class submarine SAS Johanna van der Merwe (S99) was ordered in 1967 by South Africa for use by the SAN, one of 26 of Daphnes constructed during the Cold War for service in six different fleets around the world.

Commissioned in 1971, “JDM” gave lots of shadowy and unsung service during the assorted “Bush Wars” in the 1970s and 80s in which South Africa was a proxy for the West against the Soviets in Angola and Mozambique.

SAS Johanna van der Merwe Daphne-class submarine South African Navy by Tim Johnson

She reportedly took part in at least ten clandestine special operations, dropping commandos behind enemy lines. However, Söderlund details at least 11 commando runs by JDM as: Op Extend (June 1978), Op Lark 1, Op Bargain (January 1979), Op Artist (February/March 1980), Op Nobilis (July 1984), Op Legaro (September 1984), Op Magic (March 1985), Op Argon (May 1985), Op Cide (February/March 1986), Op Drosdy (May/June 1986), and Op Appliance (May/June 1987).

Kept in operation somehow despite layers of embargoes, she outlasted the Apartheid era in South Africa and was renamed SAS Assegaai in 1997 with the change in government in Jo’Burg.

Decommissioned in 2003 after a 32-year career, her three sisters in SAN service were cut up for scrap, but a shoestring operation over the past 22 years has finally saved her. While she spent a few years as a floating museum before closing to the public in 2015, the “Silent Stalker” is now preserved on shore in Simon’s Town. 

South Africa – Cape Town – 30 April 2025 – The Naval Heritage Trust (NHT) celebrated the official opening of the SAS Assegaai Submarine Museum in Simon’s Town. This milestone marks the culmination of years of dedication and hard work by NHT volunteers, donors, and stakeholders. This also happens to be the first submarine museum in Africa, a valuable tourism drawcard for the Western Cape. SAS Assegaai, formerly known as SAS Johanna van der Merwe, was a Daphné-class submarine of the South African Navy. Launc

South Africa – Cape Town – 30 April 2025 – The Naval Heritage Trust (NHT) celebrated the official opening of the SAS Assegaai Submarine Museum in Simon’s Town. This milestone marks the culmination of years of dedication and hard work by NHT volunteers, donors, and stakeholders. This also happens to be the first submarine museum in Africa, a valuable tourism drawcard for the Western Cape. SAS Assegaai, formerly known as SAS Johanna van der Merwe, was a Daphné-class submarine of the South African Navy. Launc

Adieu, Commandant Birot

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The 1,270-ton French patrouilleur de haute mer (PHM) Commandant Birot (F796) last week capped 41 years in commission with one final cruise, taking 18 of her former skippers on a sortie out of Toulon. The past commanders included Admiral Nicolas Vaujour, the current Chief of the Naval Staff.

Le mardi 13 mai 2025, en mer Méditerranée, le Patrouilleur de Haute Mer (PHM) Commandant Birot effectue sa dernière sortie des commandants à l’occasion de son départ en Posture permanente de sauvegarde maritime (PPSM), en présence de l’amiral Nicolas Vaujour, chef d’état-major de la Marine (CEMM).

The 16th of 17 Estienne d’Orves-class avisos, she entered service on 14 March 1984. Some 262-feet overall, she was equipped akin to a corvette or surveillance frigate with two MM38 Exocet anti-ship missiles, a 100m CADAM turret, four ASW torpedo tubes, and a six-tube 375mm Bofors ASW rocket launcher.

PHM Commandant Birot 

Deployed first based in Brest, then to the Pacific at French Polynesia and New Caledonia, Commandant Birot was been assigned to Toulon in 1995.

Most of her ASW gear was removed in 2009 when she re-rated as a PHM, traded for a twin Mistral manpads launcher and some smaller guns. She has been very active in recent years in a constabulary role off Libya during the unpleasantness there and on the migrant beat in North Africa.

It is always sad to see an old warrior off.

Le mardi 13 mai 2025, en mer Méditerranée, le Patrouilleur de Haute Mer (PHM) Commandant Birot effectue sa dernière sortie des commandants à l’occasion de son départ en Posture permanente de sauvegarde maritime (PPSM), en présence de l’amiral Nicolas Vaujour, chef d’état-major de la Marine (CEMM).

The vessel carries the proud name of LCDR Roger Richard Louis Birot, a professional French Navy officer (Ecole Navale ’25) who escaped the fall of France as the XO of the battleship Courbet only to perish when his first command, the Free French Navy’s Flower-class corvette Mimosa (K 11), was sunk by U-124 in June 1942 in the North Atlantic while escorting the Allied convoy ON 100.

Sting Ray

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Frozen in time, some 30 years ago.

A port bow view of the Spruance-class destroyer USS David R. Ray (DD-971) underway off San Diego, 8 January 1995.

Photo by PH3 Brewer. DN-SC-87-11564. National Archives Identifier 6419151.

Named in honor of HM2 Ray, who earned a posthumous MoH in Vietnam at the ripe old age of 24, DD-971, as with the rest of her class, was constructed at Pascagoula.

Commissioned 19 November 1977, she had an active career in the Pacific Fleet, conducting numerous Westpac cruises, extending to the sandbox where she ran interference with the Iranians in the Persian Gulf and clocked in during Desert Shield, earning a Southwest Asia Service Medal for the latter.

A test bed ship of sorts, she was the first ship to intercept a supersonic drone with the NATO RIM-7 Sea Sparrow then later became the Navy’s primary test platform for the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) System, which you can see on her stern in the above shot, just aft of her No. 2. 5″/54 Mk 45 mount. She was later one of just two dozen “Sprucans” to substitute her 1970s ASROC mousetrap for a 61-cell VLS to sling Tomahawks.

Earning a trio of both Navy Meritorious Unit Commendations and Navy Expeditionary Medals across her abbreviated 23-year career, she was decommissioned in 2002 and later expended in a SINKEX.

The King of the Sea (Whiz)

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The Farragut-class guided missile destroyer leader USS King (DLG-10) is underway, circa 1973, with the prototype “Phalanx” close-in weapon system on her fantail for tests.

National Archives Catalog #: KN-21546

King, a 5,600-ton tin can, carried a twin Mark 10 Mod O launcher for Terrier/Standard-ER missiles rear with two directors and a Mark 16 matchbox launcher for ASROC/Harpoon forward. Her main gun was a Mk 42 5″/54. Commissioned with a pair of twin 3″/50 Mark 33 radar-directed guns in 1960, she shipped out with the prototype CIWS in 1973, taking up space on her VERTREP area over the stern.

That original system was a lot bulkier than what we know as Phalanx today.

“Phalanx” Close-In Weapon System shown ready for tests at Pomona, California. This automatic cruise missile defense weapon features the “Vulcan” 20mm gun, with a “Phalanx” fire control system and search and track radars. KN-20570

“Phalanx” Close-in Weapon System (Vulcan 20mm Gun) aboard USS King (DLG-13) for tests. Catalog #: K-102265

“Phalanx” Close-in Weapon System (Vulcan 20mm Gun) aboard USS King (DLG-13) for tests. Catalog #: K-102266

King would land her prototype CIWS in 1975, with the firing model fitted to the hulked WWII-era Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, USS Alfred A. Cunningham (DD-752), fresh off starring in Don Knotts’ ASW epic, The Incredible Mr. Limpet.

Decommissioned in 1971 and unmanned, ex-Cunningham was anchored off the California coast and used as a target with her CIWS turned on and allowed to do its thing while the fleet chucked almost two dozen Walleyes and Mavericks at the old tin can.

Cunningham’s wonder gun downed them all.

“Phalanx” Close-in Weapon System defeats a “Walleye” anti-ship weapon during recent realistic shipboard tests. Photo received July 1975. USN 1163564

Same as the above USN 1163569

Taking lessons learned, a pre-production CIWS was shipped out and installed on the Forrest Sherman-class destroyer USS Bigelow (DD-942) in 1977 for final sea trials.

USS Bigelow (DD-942) circa 1977 in the Mayport operating area showing her Vulcan Phalanx CIWS mounted forward of her aft turret.

The tests and evaluation were completed in a record five years. Phalanx Block 0 production started in 1978, and the system achieved IOC aboard USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) two years later.

However, the early marketing photos published in Jane’s showed the ordnance-killing mount on Cunningham and the installation on King.

With that, the gun has evolved through Block 1, Block 1 BL1, Block 1A, and Block 1B over the past several decades and just finally bagged its first for-real at sea “kill,” with the Burke-class USS Gravely (DDG-107) splashing a Houthi cruise missile via Phalanx recently.

As for King, she never did receive a production CIWS. Reclassified DDG-41 in 1975, she continued her career without it until she was decommissioned at the close of the Cold War on 28 March 1991.

A port view of the guided missile destroyer USS King (DDG-41) underway 6 May 1987. Photo by PH2 Clements DN-SC-88-06244.

Roland would be smiling, if he ever found his head

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I would be remiss to observe that, among this year’s inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is Warren Zevon.

While not a household name, Zevon had a crazy life and, while hanging out with an Irish bar owner in Spain in 1973– one who had worked in the Congo as a mercenary in the 60s– teamed up to write possibly the best merc song ever penned.

Yup, Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner.

It became one of his most enduring songs, and he often performed it on Letterman, where he was a fixture. In fact, his 2002 Letterman appearance, which he closed with Roland, was his last public performance before he passed far too young of mesothelioma.

While the song has been covered dozens of times in the past 50 years, and tons of art abounds, Lorin Michki’s depiction, which hangs in my office, is perhaps the best.

Pour one out for Warren this weekend, my friends, and keep your DPM smock clean.

Cape St. George (almost) done with 5-year refit

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Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Cape St. George (CG 71) arrives at the mouth of San Diego Bay, April 22, 2025. Cape St. George, previously based at Everett, Wash., completed her homeport change to Naval Base San Diego. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Kelby Sanders)

Growing up in Pascagoula in a family of shipbuilders in the 1970s-80s-90s, the 19 Ticos built at Ingalls mean a lot to me as I saw them being born from the keel up, I often attended their launchings and commissioning, rode along on a few tiger cruises, went to school with the kids of their crews, and was even had the skipper of one (“Coach” Whalen of the USS Mobile Bay) as a soccer coach.

With that being said, the Cape St. George is the Tico that perhaps means the most to me as, as a pimply faced squeaky-voiced 16-year-old with a demilled M1903 Springfield in hand, I led the NJROTC honor guard that kicked off the ship’s christening on 10 January 1992 and earned my first challenge coin.

Now, pushing into my 50s, CSG is also getting up there, but is still kicking as she nears her 32nd year in commission.

The “Dragon Slayer” just completed her homeport change to Naval Base San Diego this month, moving from Everett, Washington, after more than four years at Vigor in an overdrawn modernization process that is set to complete later this year.

She is set to be put to pasture in 2029, at which point she may be the Navy’s last cruiser.

Smokin pic

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It happened 60 years ago today.

Official period caption: “The shadow of a U.S. Navy photograph reconnaissance jet passes near a burning Communist Vietnamese PT boat after it was blasted by U.S. Seventh Fleet aircraft from aircraft carriers USS Midway (CV 41) and USS Hancock (CV 19). This was one of the five PT boats destroyed by U.S. Navy aircraft on April 28, 1965. The boats were spotted in the Song Giang River near the Quang Khe Naval Base (located some 50 miles north of the 17th Parallel) despite heavy camouflage. A total of 58 Navy aircraft (28 strike and 30 support types) took part in the day-long attack. All were recovered safely.”

330-PSA-81-65 (USN 711478)

The silhouette is unmistakably that of a Crusader, making it either from Hancock’s embarked CVW-21’s Light Photographic Squadron (VFP) 63 Det. L or Midway’s CVW-2’s VFP-63 Det A, both of which flew RF-8A photo birds during that time.

While not made in big numbers (just 144 constructed), the RF-8A was key in Cold War history, playing a critical role during the Cuban Missile Crisis spotting Russian missile sites. In 1957, five years before becoming the first man to orbit the Earth, Marine Major John Herschel Glenn Jr. made the first supersonic transcontinental flight in “Project Bullet,” a photo Crusader, cruising from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8.3 seconds, averaging 725.55mph. It would have been faster had he not had to slow for three aerial refuelings. Glenn’s on-board camera likewise took the first continuous, transcontinental panoramic photograph of the United States.

For what it is worth, postwar analysis shows that the Vietnam People’s Navy lost three Chinese-supplied Type 55A (NATO Shantou or “Swatow” class) gunboats on 28 April 1968 at Song Gianh, South Vietnam: T-161, T-163, and T-173. Two others, though roughed up a bit by Navy air and follow-on strikes by USAF F-105 Thunderchief, were able to limp away to fight another day. The 82-foot steel-hulled diesel-powered boats were based on the Soviet P-6 class (Project 183) PT boats (which themselves were based on American-built Elco and Higgins mosquito boats delivered to Uncle Joe during WWII via Lend-lease), but only carried guns and depth charges, not torpedoes and were notable for their involvement in the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964.

Just in case things get rowdy

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50 years ago today.

Official period caption, 1st Marine Brigade aboard the carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) on 28 April 1975. Operation Frequent Wind. “Sgt. M.C. Murdock, assigned as a side gunner in one of the CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 (HMH-463) onboard the USS Hancock, poses beside the .50 caliber machine gun prior to flying into Saigon for evacuation exercises.”

Marine Photo A150915 (091-0850-86-75) by: GySgt.D.L.Sbearer, via NARA 127-GVB-279-A150915

Founded originally as a SBD bombing squadron (VMB-463) in 1944, by 1966 HMH-463 was reborn hard as a CH-53 unit and not only served in Frequent Wind– the evacuation of Saigon– but also in Eagle Pull, the evac of Phnom Penh two weeks prior.  

The number of fleeing refugees they could pack on a CH-53, once the gloves were off and pressure on, was amazing, as retold by retired Sgt. Maj. Michael G. Zacker:

“Our 53s were picking up 60 (evacuees). On our second load, we took on three sticks since we had no problem with 60, so then we had 90 aboard. On the third flight, we still had room on the ramp, and so we waved the CIA guy to have him send another stick. With a six-man crew and about 120 passengers, we left the DAO compound just east of Saigon for the Hancock at sea.”

HMH-463, flying CH-53s to the last, was decommissioned on 22 April 2022 as part of the Marines’ “divest to invest” budget cuts to fund the Marine Littoral Regiments.

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