U.S. Navy ships are highly susceptible to the threat of high-speed cruise missiles. Aircraft carriers are no exception. These ships must be deployed with an effective anti-air self-defense system to ensure the survivability of the ship and enable it to meet its mission. Based on a predetermined threat scenario and various performance requirements, this report selects various radar and weapons systems from existing assets to form an integrated anti-air self-defense system.

The report is broken down into two sections: concept design and preliminary design. Concept design consists of defining the requirements and establishing the basic combat systems functions necessary to perform anti-air self-defense. Also, a maintenance philosophy is discussed which will assist in defining the type of maintenance facilities required aboard ship. Preliminary design looks at the various assets available that would enable us to design a system that would meet the stated requirements. Preliminary design develops a topside arrangement consisting of the major sensors, missile systems, and gun systems as well as a below deck arrangement of the major command and control facility necessary to run the combat system. In preliminary design the integrated performance of the anti-air self-defense system is determined with respect to system coverage, kill probabilities, overall system reliability, and availability.

The results of the report show that in order to meet the required kill probabilities a four-tier anti-air self-defense system is required consisting of standard missile, NATO seasparrow missile, rolling airframe missile and close-in weapon system (25mm gun system). The report also shows that in order to meet the overall system reliability and availability required to simultaneously engage and defeat high altitude missiles, low altitude missiles and conduct flight operations, four air surveillance radars are required: SPS-52 and SPS-49 for high altitude missile and TAS and SPS-67 for low altitude missiles.