Nulka decoy: Australia’s missile ‘spoof’ being fitted to US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers

US supercarriers are being called “obsolete” in the face of modern missile swarms. But an unsung Australian invention is countering this threat.

THE scenario is chilling: An enormous US aircraft carrier — despite being at the centre of its protective fleet — being relentlessly pounded by missile after missile.

It’s an economy of scale.

The newest US Navy supercarrier — the USS Ford — costs $18 billion to build.

A missile costs maybe more than a million a piece. So throwing a few hundred of them at an aircraft carrier — or any other warship, for that matter — is an economically viable option.

And in a world where missiles are getting ever faster and smarter, that threat is very real.

But an unsung Australian invention is playing a role in countering this threat.

And it appears it has already proven successful.

The burnt-out wreck of the Incat-built HSV Swift, a protytpe vessel used by Saudi Arabia after having served with the US Navy. It was struck by a missile of the coast of Yemen.

Several missile attacks have been launched at warships and merchant vessels off the coast of the troubled Middle Eastern nation of Yemen in recent years.

Several Royal Saudi warships have been hit, including the Australian-built trimaran HSV Swift. Several oil tankers and cargo ships have also been damaged.

But similar attacks on US and allied warships have not been successful.

According to The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, three US warships were attacked by cruise missile in 2016.

At the time, US defence department statements vaguely attributed their survival to a defensive systems that either diverted or brought-down the missiles.

Now we know more.

“One of those systems, and key elements of another, were developed in Australia by scientists and engineers who are producing some of the world’s most advanced targeting devices,” the article by Brendan Nicholson states.

And Australia’s Defence science and Technology Group is in the race to develop more. It’s looking for ‘game changing’ ideas from academia and industry. And it’s more than happy to sink its $730 million dollar investment fun into turning ideas that sound like science fiction into reality.

A 4500kg underwater explosion rocks a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. This test was narrowly prevented from becoming reality by an Australian decoy system used off Yemen. Picture: US Navy

‘BE QUICK’

According to recently declassified details, one of the incidents involved the destroyer USS Macon which was travelling with the USS Ponce. The warships were in the Red Sea, about 22km from the coast of Yemen, when they were attacked by land-based anti-ship cruise missiles fired by Houthi rebels over the course of several days.

The guided missile destroyer fired off three of its own missiles in an attempt to shoot them down. Two Australian-made Nulka decoys were also launched as a last-ditch defence.

The cruise missiles reportedly crashed into the sea.

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The USS Mason and another destroyer, the USS Nitze, was again attacked several days later, this time while escorting the amphibious assault ship USS San Antonio. Cruise missiles were again fired at the ships. Missiles and decoys prevented all from striking home.

One of the interceptor missiles used — the Evolved Sea Sparrow — owes its control and guidance systems in large part to the Australian Defence science and Technology Group (DST).

Sailors aboard the destroyer USS Mason load the Nulka missile decoy system a few days after the crew successfully shot down or diverted several missiles fired at US ships. Picture: US Navy

But at the core of these successful escapes from harm was the DST’s homegrown Nulka (an Aboriginal word meaning ‘be quick’) hovering-rocket decoy system, which is produced in conjunction with BAE Systems Australia.

When a ship realises it is under attack, one of these rockets is fired into the path of the oncoming missile. There it hovers, transmitting the electronic signal ‘signature’ of the ship it is defending.

To the onrushing warhead, the electronic ‘ghost’ becomes indistinguishable from the real target. Once it ‘locks on’ to the Nulka, the rocket then drifts towards clearer water — taking the warhead with it.

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It’s Australia’s most successful defence export. More than $1 billion worth of copies have been sold to our allies in the past few decades. Some 150 ships now carry the protective device.

It’s proven so successful, it has recently been added to the defensive suite protecting US supercarres.

The USS Eisenhower conducting a Resupply at Sea (RAS) in the Gulf of Oman. Protecting such enormoush ships has become a pressing issue. Picture: US Navy

CARRIER GUARDIAN

Weighing more than 100,000 tons and measuring more than 332m in length, one of the US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers presents a tempting target.

There’s an enormous concentration of men, material and investment in each ship.

But this is nothing new.

These behemoths have been plying the oceans now for some five decades.

What is new, however, is the nature of the threat they face.

Just as US carriers proved vulnerable to massed attacks by the original guided missiles (human piloted kamikazes) during World War II, the fear is things are just as bad now.

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Missiles have got smarter. Now they’re much, much faster — particularly the emerging hypersonic varieties. Their range can now deliver them over distances much greater than ever before. And they can be launched in ‘swarms’ designed to overwhelm traditional missile and gun defences.

Such is the threat that some defence analysts are asking whether floating airfields such as the USS Dwight D Eisenhower still have a place in modern navies.

But, to hit the ship, first you have to find it.

Then you have to accurately target it.

Two years ago, the USS Eisenhower conducted a test firing of a Nukla decoy rocket specifically tailored to ‘ghost’ its enormous electronic and radar signature.

Dubbed the Mk234 Nulka, it’s a cooperative effort of the DST and US specialists. Australia provides the hovering rocket, while the US provided the specific electronic suite.

“When a signal originates from the ship, you’re still a potential target,” Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician Christopher Noltee told local media. “Nulka gives you separation. This round sends out the electronics, away from your ship. The goal is to get the missile to fly to the Nulka round instead of coming here.”

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While Nulka has been used on warships of various types for some time, this was its first deployment aboard a US carrier. Five Nulka rockets were launched from the USS Eisenhower over the course of three days in December 2016 under varying conditions.

It’s since been fitted to several other active-service carriers.

Peter Steiner, production manager for weapons systems at BAE, with a Nulka ship missile and its guidance controller.