Prototype I installation on USS KING.(1973)
6 ft


Firing sequences at sea.
15 ft


Phalanx firing at low flying aerial target.(March 1975)
9 ft


Firing at ground launched drone missile.
10 ft


Firing at Walleye missile.
5 ft


Firing at air launched drone missile.
9 ft


Factory scenes ???
10 ft


OSM installation ???
9 ft


Firing at aerial ???
18 ft



Initials


This coverage is of the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System undergoing tests.
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Background: BACKGROUND: The Phalanx Close-In Weapon System is a self contained combat system. Its radar controlled Gatling gun is the Navy's terminal line of defense against anti-ship missiles and attacking aircraft. It provides autonomous threat detection, evaluation, tracking, destruction and kill assessment. Phalanx can also be used in non-autonomous modes, ranging from manually directed surface fire to engaging targets designated by other radars.

Phalanx completed Operational Evaluation aboard a modern destroyer, the USS BIGELOW (DD-942), in June 1977. It killed all targets and exceeded specifications for reliability. Over four hundred systems are planned to be installed on 240 ships, one to four per ship, depending on the ship type.

Phalanx has undergone some of the most realistic service testing ever conducted. It successfully defeated attacks by tactical missiles with live warheads in remote controlled battles at sea. Throughout most of the testing, the system was maintained and operated by Navy personnel from the Navy Phalanx Training Unit at General dynamics, Pomona, California.