History Holds a Crucial Key in the Navy's Fight Against Drones

Real Clear Defense  |  Anand Toprani, Michael Dennis

The United States Navy must restructure its air defense capabilities by transitioning away from expensive missile systems to mass-produced, gun-based artillery equipped with proximity fuzes to counter cheap, mass-produced drone threats. This shift would allow US maritime forces to economically intercept swarms of low-cost aerial targets without depleting finite, high-end precision munitions.

Historically, Allied forces successfully employed a layered air defense combining radar, lead-computing gun sights, and proximity fuzes during World War II to defeat German V-1 flying bombs and Japanese kamikaze attacks. Modern conflicts, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine, demonstrate the viability of gun-based systems, where mobile air defense teams and Gepard anti-aircraft guns achieve high intercept rates against Shahed drones. Rebuilding industrial capacity for simple, proximity-fuzed artillery shells will enable the military to bend the cost curve in its favor, preserving sophisticated missile inventories for peer-level strategic deterrence.

Comment

The reliance on the Aegis Combat System for fleet air defence has institutionalised a missile-centric doctrine. Integrating guided projectiles into the Mk 45 5-inch gun mounts offers a rapid doctrinal pivot back to gun-based layered defence. This shift exposes a structural vulnerability in modern surface combatant design. Current hulls prioritised vertical launching systems over the high-volume magazine depth required for sustained artillery engagements.

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