Are gun and missile CIWS (Close-In Weapon System) systems obsolete?

[jcf]

Also don't believe the hype, exaggerations, myths and outright BS surrounding "hypersonic" missiles. 

[kitbasher]

No they're not.  You can't jam bullets.

It's just the nature of the systems that could change.  Ideal for downing low, slow drones.

A range of answers are needed to counter a range of threats, so there's equally a place for missiles too.

I think you mis-understood what I wrote; I wasn't saying guns were "headed for obsolescence", I was saying 30mm guns were headed for obsolescence.

I was responding to seadude, old chap.

[Old Wombat]

No they're not.  You can't jam bullets.

It's just the nature of the systems that could change.  Ideal for downing low, slow drones.

A range of answers are needed to counter a range of threats, so there's equally a place for missiles too.

I think you mis-understood what I wrote; I wasn't saying guns were "headed for obsolescence", I was saying 30mm guns were headed for obsolescence.

I was responding to seadude, old chap.

Jolly good!

[Rick Lowe]

What of the 'Metalstorm' device developed a couple of years ago? Was it a dead-end?
Short range in the initial version, but could the size & calibre be ramped up somehow?
Even if it's more of a high-tech Chaff dispenser, would it have some use?

As for lasers vs. eyes, mirror sunglasses are cheap...
Something like the Humvee-based microwave emitter they were trialing as crowd-control, now...with the available electrical wattage a ship's turbine generates...

[rickshaw]

Metalstorm was a solution perpetually looking for a problem.  What was not made clear is what happens to the mounting because of recoil.   All the ground mounts were fixed to the earth and of a small enough calibre to absorb the recoil.  As as soon as you try the same trick on a ship and make it a useful calibre it tears lose from the ship's deck.  Metalstorm was an interesting idea but never practical which is why no one adopted it, despite it's supposed promise.   

[Rick Lowe]

Now that makes a lot of sense, yes. Handling the recoil can be the deal-breaker for a lot of promising ideas.

Sad, though - I was looking forward to the media Bleeping out the Troops' nickname for it... being Aussie, there was a near 100% likelihood it would've been called 'Sh!tStorm'...