Drachinifel believes the cutter concept's original ESSM launcher cannot fire ASROC, making a different launcher attractive for an ASW frigate. Alex Clarke gives a practical use for the weapon: maintaining an attack on a submarine contact after the helicopter has expended its torpedoes. In their hypothetical twelve-cell Mark 41 fit, six ASROC rounds leave six cells for quad-packed ESSM, or twenty-four air-defence missiles. The arithmetic corrects the initial impression that almost no self-defence armament would remain, while both still regard the magazine as limited. Asking for twenty-four or more cells then revives the displacement and redesign problem. A hull-insertion solution is mentioned only as an unverified possibility.
Notable Point · 1:57:46-2:00:02
ASROC and ESSM compete for a small frigate's launcher space
A twelve-cell example shows how adding an anti-submarine weapon can reduce the self-defence magazine and prompt another request for a bigger hull.