Description
Close In Weapon System Market (CIWS)
Frequently Asked Questions of CIWS Market
A close-in weapon system (CIWS) is a point-defense weapon designed to detect and destroy incoming short-range missiles and enemy aircraft that have breached the outer defenses. It is commonly deployed aboard naval vessels. CIWS devices are installed on nearly every class of contemporary warships. Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS) are ships’ last line of defense. While they were initially designed to protect against anti-ship missiles, the range of threats has broadened over the years, causing changes in CIWS architecture. CIWS systems are typically based on a 20mm to 35mm cannon, but there is substantial variation within the category. Modern CIWS might fire airburst rounds in addition to more classic high-explosive rounds.
A firing control assembly and a gun subsystem are housed in each gun mount. A search radar for observation and detection of hostile targets and a tracking radar for aiming the gun while monitoring a target comprises the fire control assembly. The CIWS’s unique closed-loop fire control system, which tracks both the incoming target and the stream of outgoing projectiles, allows it to alter its aim to hit fast-moving targets such as ASMs. A gun-based CIWS is often made up of radars, computers, and rapid-firing multiple-barrel rotary cannons mounted in a rotating turret. Missile-based CIWSs guide missiles to the intended enemy aircraft or other threats using infrared, passive radar/ESM, or semi-active radar terminal guidance. CIWS are sometimes utilized on land to protect military sites. The CIWS can also protect the base from shell and rocket fire in this instance.
Major Factors Driving Close in Weapon System Market Growth
Naval modernization programs are one of the major factors driving the weapon system market growth. Navies are investing in ship sustainment and procurement programs, sustainment programs will enable upgrading CIWS systems on board ships.
Trends Influencing the CIWS Market Size
The Automatic Stripless Ammunition Feeding Mechanism allows two or more types of ammunition to be loaded into the system at the same time, and the operator can pick and utilize the chosen type of ammunition. This is one of the primary trends influencing the growth of the market. High-energy lasers, according to experts, now offer an affordable means to target asymmetric threats like unmanned aircraft and small attack boats at the speed of light and with extraordinary precision. Systems consisting of a single laser weapon control console manned by a surface warfare weapons officer who can operate all functions of the laser and fire the weapon if required. That sailor will be able to manipulate the laser’s power using a video-game-like controller to achieve a variety of effects against a threat, from disabling to complete destruction.
CIWS Market Forecast & Dynamics
According to close in weapon system market analysis, increasing defense spending will drive the market for new procurement activities and upgrades to existing platforms with newer technologies and capabilities. The increase in defense spending will encourage the procurement of new naval platforms such as destroyers and aircraft carriers.
Procurement will also be driven by prevailing geo political conditions in Europe and the Asia Pacific. Proliferation of autonomous and unmanned platforms in these regions will be one of the key drivers of the CIWS market as CIWS aboard ships and land based platforms are a credible deterrent against drones.
Close in Weapon System Market Analysis for Recent Developments
Raytheon Technologies Corp. shipboard weapons experts will improve computer-controlled and radar-guided Gatling guns that defend Republic of Korea surface warships against anti-ship missiles, manned aircraft, and drones under a $49 million deal. Officials from the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington have requested four MK-15 Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS) Block 0 to Block 1B Baseline 2 upgrade and conversion systems, as well as related equipment, for Korean warships. The 1B model adds a forward-looking infrared sensor for use against helicopters and high-speed surface vessels at sea to the CIWS anti-air warfare capability. The GOKDENIZ Close-In Air Defense System, designed by ASELSAN to suit the Navy Command’s close air defense system needs as part of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) project, demonstrated its capabilities during fire tests on a vessel.
The GOKDENIZ CIWS effectively destroyed the target of the high-speed attack approaching the sea in the final step of the tests. GOKDENIZ is a crucial close air defense system that serves as the final line of protection for ship platforms against air attacks. In addition to the 35 mm barrel gun, the GOKDENIZ system includes search radar, tracking radar, and E/O sensors on the same platform. In this manner, the system is able to accomplish all of the duties of target detection, threat prioritization, automatic monitoring, and threat destruction.
The multi-mission HELIOS system, which is designed to be integrated and scalable, will provide tactically relevant laser weapon system warfighting capability as a critical component of a layered defense architecture. Helios is a 60-kilowatt laser system with double the power of the AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System, or LaWS, which was installed on the USS Ponce in 2014. HELIOS is advertised as a weapon capable of destroying unmanned aerial vehicles and destroying small patrol boats.
Under the terms of a $113.6 million order announced late last month, Raytheon Technologies Corp.’s shipboard weapons experts will modernize and overhaul computer-controlled and radar-guided missile-defense systems that assist in defending surface warships against anti-ship missiles, manned aircraft, and drones. CIWS is a terminal shipboard air defense system that responds quickly to radar-guided attacks against high- and low-flying, fast-moving anti-ship missiles that have evaded all other defenses. Since the early 1980s, a high-volume Gatling gun has been in use, with the aim of shredding incoming missiles and aircraft with a shower of bullets.
The CIWS is made to fend off close-quarters threats such as anti-ship missiles that have breached other defense systems at sea. It can also be used on land as a mortar, artillery, and counter-rocket system that can identify and eliminate incoming bullets. The CIWS (pronounced “”Sea-WIZ””) shipboard weapons are a self-contained package that automatically manages surface warship search, detection, threat assessment, tracking, engagement, and kill assessment. The system’s Block 1B version includes control stations that let operators visually identify and track targets prior to engaging. The 1B variant’s configuration adds a forward-looking infrared sensor to enhance the CIWS’s anti-air warfare capability against helicopters and fast-moving surface vessels at sea. Every surface combatant ship class in the U.S. Navy fleet as well as those of 24 allies have the CIWS installed.
