I was wondering about the Aegis system. I heard that it can track missiles or aircraft from over like 1000 miles. is that true?

I don't think 1000 miles...I've heard roughly 250 nautical miles...but the Navy loves to keep secrets, so that may be inaccurate.

I know they're good enough to make naval commanders salivate at the thought of owning them and fear the prospect of opposing them...

Well the AEGIS system was created essentially as a response to the arch enemy of a navy, the cruise missile.

The AEGIS system has only met the cruise missile once in history. It was the brittish version of AEGIS in the falklands war and her name was the HMS Sheffield. She was successfully hit by an exorcet missile fired from an Argintine aircraft, most of her crew where able to successfully evacuate by the ship was lost.

So it's still cruise missile - 1 AEGIS cruiser - 0.

The Sheffield was not a fully equipped Aegis cruiser...I can't find any specifics after 5 minutes of research, but it's my understanding that the Type 42 destroyer was designed for ASW work. Only US Ticonderoga- and Arleigh Burke-class ships have the Aegis system per se...the rest are just knockoffs .

The Type 42 Destroyer is an area air defence platform that is designed to be smaller and more cost effective than its American contemporaries.

The primary weapon is the GWS-30 Sea Dart surface-to-air missile. The Type 42 is also equipped with a 4.5 inch (114 mm) gun, six torpedo launchers, and two Vulcan Phalanx Mk.15 Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS) were fitted after the loss of the Sheffield to an Exocet missile.

Electronics suite includes one Type 1022 L-band long range radar with Outfit LFB track extractor, one Type 996 S-band 3D target indication radar with Outfit LFA track extractor, two Type 909 X-band fire control radars and a Outfit LFD Radar Track Combiner.

The issue here is that the Sheffield is the only time a cruise missile and an AEGIS-type air defence ship have met in combat.

From what I heard the Captain had switched of the missile system to use his satellite system to have a chat with Whitehall as they could not use them both at the same time.

Originally Posted by Whispering Death

The Type 42 Destroyer is an area air defence platform that is designed to be smaller and more cost effective than its American contemporaries.

Yeah...that's probably what killed it.

we pretty much moved off of AEGIS to type 42 destroyers.

Well I did answer your original question... /

Did you have any other specific questions?