Over their thirty years in service, the missile armament of the
Ticonderoga-class cruisers has experienced dramatic evolution and by the time the last one finally decommissions, it is quite possible that not one of the design's original missiles or launchers will remain.
The Original Armament
When
USS Ticonderoga (CG-47)
commissioned in 1983, she was armed with two Mk 26 twin-arm launchers, each fed from a forty-four round magazine containing both SM-2MR surface-to-air-missiles and ASROC antisubmarine weapons (both nuclear and conventional variants). Finally, as with most USN ships of her generation,
Ticonderoga also carried eight Harpoon antiship missiles in Mk 141 canister launchers on the fantail.
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| Ticonderoga in 1983: 72x SM-2MR, 16x ASROC, 8x Harpoon |
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The Mk 41 VLS Is Introduced
In 1986, this armament changed drastically when
USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) commissioned with two sixty-one cell Mk 41 Vertical Launch Systems instead of Mk 26 launchers. This had the obvious effect of increasing missile storage by 35%, but it also drastically changed the missiles that could be carried. On one hand, the Mk 41 permitted the use of the Tomahawk missile, which had been far too large for the Mk 26. But on the other hand, there was not yet a VLS-compatible version of ASROC (although one had begun testing, it did not enter service until 1993 as its development was paused in favor of the
more advanced Sea Lance missile, which was subsequently cancelled).
However, this sacrifice was well worth it as ASROC was increasingly becoming a secondary system, rather than the primary weapon that it had been previously. In contrast, Tomahawk was a powerful offensive missile that came in antiship, nuclear land-attack, and conventional land-attack variants. Interestingly, at this point the conventional variant was actually
by far the least common of the three. However, by the late 1980's, the situation had changed.
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| Bunker Hill in 1986: 90x SM-2MR, 20x TLAM, 12x TASM, 8x Harpoon |
New Weapons and Missions
With the end of the Cold War, more changes were seen. The demise of the USSR meant that there was suddenly little need for large number of antiship weapons and nuclear cruise missiles. Thus, the nuclear warheads were placed in reserve and the antiship variants converted to conventional land-attack missile. Also, as mentioned above, VL-ASROC (VLA) entered service in 1993, restoring a standoff ASW capability. However, US procurement of this weapon ended in 1997 at slightly over 400 units. With 67 VLS ships then in commission, this came to only six VLA each. However, it is likely that slightly more were carried in practice given that weapons could be cross-decked to deploying ships from vessels entering maintenance periods.
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| Bunker Hill in 1997: 82x SM-2MR, 32x TLAM, 8x VLA, 8x Harpoon |
The next significant change was the fielding of extended-range SM-2 Block IV in 1999, finally filling the long range surface-to-air missile gap created by the retirement of the
Terrier cruisers. More importantly, roughly half of these weapons were of the Block IVA variant that added ballistic missile defense to the
Ticonderoga-class' growing list of capabilities. However, the Peace Dividend struck again and only around 100 SM-2 Block IV missile were built before the program was canceled in 2002. Split among 22
Ticonderoga-class and 16
Arleigh Burke-class Flight II and IIA, this would have allowed for just three missiles each. However, arming the cruisers was likely prioritized.
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| Bunker Hill in 2002: 8x SM-2ER, 74x SM-2MR, 32x TLAM, 8x VLA, 8x Harpoon |
Updates and Modernization
2009 brought radical change when Bunker Hill became the first cruiser to be equipped with the SM-3 exo-atmospheric antiballistic missile and the Evolved Sea Sparrow (ESSM) point defense missile. These were both revolutionary weapons, with SM-3 permitting the engagement of targets in space and ESSM's ability to be "quad-packed" four missiles to a cell massively increasing defensive firepower. While these missiles had both become operational in 2004 on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the combat systems on the Ticonderoga-class required extensive changes to make use of them and half the class has still not received the necessary upgrades today.
By the time that
Bunker Hill completed her modernization, 400 of the Aegis ESSM variant had been procured for twenty-three compatible ships, resulting in around 18 missiles each. SM-3 production had reached 63 weapons and 18 ships had been modified for missile defense, for just three missiles per ship (even before considering the missiles expended in testing). Further, as more Aegis destroyers had joined the fleet, the number of SM-2 Block IV per ship had declined.
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| Bunker Hill in 2009: 6x SM-2ER, 66x SM-2MR, 24x ESSM, 4x SM-3, 32x TLAM, 8x VLA, 8x Harpoon |
The final change in the missile armament of the
Ticonderoga-class was the introduction of the highly capable SM-6 in 2013. With the addition of an active radar seeker, this missile generally picks up where SM-2 Block IV left off. But, unlike that curtailed program, over 800 SM-6 have been procured to date and the production line is still going strong. Indeed, given that SM-2MR procurement ended in 2012, it appears that the Navy intends SM-6 to become the primary surface to air missile. With 87 Aegis ships in service today, the current inventory would allow for nine missiles per ship.
Further, ESSM Block 2 has just entered production. This version adds an active homing seeker to the missile, vastly improving its capability against large scale attacks. However, after procuring around five-hundred and forty of the Aegis ESSM variant, production was halted for several years. When combined with ever more ships being modified to carry the weapon, this caused the number per ship to decline drastically. The same effect can also be seen in the VLA numbers.
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| Bunker Hill in 2018: 12x SM-6, 3x SM-2ER, 56x SM-2MR, 12x ESSM, 10x SM-3, 32x TLAM, 6x VLA, 8x Harpoon |
While the
Ticonderoga-class is now reaching the end of its service life, these vessels have led the way in proving what a modern surface combatant can be capable of. Whereas
Ticonderoga herself was restricted to three different weapon and was defensively-oriented, today's members of the class carry seven different missiles and are capable of projecting offensive power on the surface, in the air, underwater, on land, and even in space.
