Is Phalanx obsolete compared with Goalkeeper and newer point-defense guns?
Short answerPhalanx remains useful, and most of the alternatives are also mature designs whose integration and defensive roles differ.
NotesPhalanx and Goalkeeper belong to much the same design generation, despite publicity that can make one sound substantially newer. Kashtan and the Rolling Airframe Missile also have decades of development behind them. Millennium Gun is newer but appears to rely on the ship's sensors rather than operating as an independent mount. Missile point defence and gun-based last-ditch defence perform related but different tasks. Improved versions of existing systems have sustained these capabilities while navies wait for a new generation, including lasers.