Category: Missiles

MEADS CDR Set for 2010

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Note 4 Separable Canisters


Defense Pamphlet Pr0n

Over a decade ago, I did some very preliminary work with the Medium-Extended Air Defense System (MEADS). Nothing major, just taking PAC-3 munition boxes and slapping them together in a way that the “4 pack” could be made separable.

At the time, I figured that nothing would come of it, because it was a joint program with significant foreign involvement, which looking at history, seems to be the kiss of death for weapons’ systems.

There just ain’t enough pork in a joint venture for either the Pentagon or Congress.

Well, it appears that I may (emphasis on the may) have been wrong, because there is a scheduled Critical Design Review scheduled for next year.

Then again, I may have been right:

Brig. Gen. Genaro Dellarocco, the U.S. Army’s program executive officer for missiles and space, says the service is frustrated that Washington is paying 58% of the cost of the program, but only has equal say with Germany and Italy on management matters. Germany contributes 25% of the funding with Italy handling the remaining 17%.

Paul Schneider, former deputy secretary at the Homeland Security Dept., conducted a review of the program and possible alternate management structures. Options included increasing U.S. control over the program, but industry sources suggest that option was discarded.

It does look like the transmit-and-receive modules for the radar (German) is on track, as the PAC-3 MSE (Missile Segment Enhancement, basically a bigger and longer range dual pulse motor) will be the interceptor, for now at least.

Unsure as to Whether this is Brilliant, or Whacked

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But it appears that the Raytheon is working on an underwater surface to air missile based on the AIM-9X.

It appears that they are looking at autonomous operation of the missile after launch from a sub, as opposed the the German IDAS system which maintains a fiber optic link to the missile.

There are a number of reasons that I am dubious of such a system, the ability of a submarine to get targeting data regarding an airborne threat and the fact that the AIM-9X has pretty poor kinematics compared to other IR AAMS, because its motor is based on a 50 year old airframe.

On the other hand, this weapon is just about perfect for terrorists: Drop the canister off the end of a boat, and shoot down a passenger plane coming into land at a seaside airport.

End of Stealth?

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Bistatic Radar


Typical RCS

So, Joint Force Quarterly has an article on the end of stealth (PDF link for article)

Certainly, the air forces of the world have been trying to make Giulio Douhet’s vision of strategic bombing vision reality for many years, and stealth technology had the potential of reducing the costs of striking a target to something approaching the Italian general’s original vision.

Of course, even in the case of air supremacy over the target, WWII over Germany and Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and both Iraq wars, it turns out that air power, at least without Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has been an abject failure at winning wars.

While I do agree with the basic thesis of the article, that improvements in processing technology, particularly in processing power available in compact packages,which allow for intermittent signals from disparate platforms to be fused into a coherent picture.

The author Arend Westra, places a high degree of value on what he calls “bistatic’ and “passive” radars, where the receiver is well removed from the transmitter, and, in some cases, the transmitter is something like a civilian TV or radio facility.

I am far more dubious of the capabilities of such systems for a number of reasons:

  • They have multiple points of failure.
  • For the United States in particular, civilian broadcasting infrastructure, because of its ability to transmit civil defense instructions and “enemy propaganda”, these are considered militarily significant infrastructure whose locations are well known, and are hit early in any war.
    • As an interesting philosophical aside, by the standards of the United States, the World Trade Center towers were legitimate military targets, because they were festooned with civilian radio and television transmitters.
  • I think that using processing will be cheaper than new technology.

This is not to say that I think that these sorts of systems won’t be deployed, as there is already an existing civilian infrastructure to piggyback on, but that they will be a part, and for anyone with half a brain a small part of a total system.

I think that as we move to the future, that any sort of strike package heading into an integrated air defense system will do with the Israelis did, where the idea of somehow blocking or flooding the network used to integrate the various sensors will become the most significant part of any mission planning.

I think that the biggest impact will be in the arms market, where nations concerned about air attacks may very turn toward increasingly sophisticated Russian air defense systems.

The Israelis are not the Only Ones With Systems Integration Issues with the JSF

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It looks like the UK JSFs will be unable to carry 4 AIM-132 ASRAAMS internally, as opposed to the original 4, so a loadout of 4 will require external pylons, but the stealthy pylons which had been previously promised have not been funded.

The ASRAAM is significant, because it has lock after launch and much better kinematics (though inferior very short range agility) than the AIM-9X, allowing a modicum of BVR capability.

Is it just me, or is the entire JSF program beginning to sound a lot like what some are facetiously calling the “iFascism” that emanates from Steve Jobs and Apple Computer:

One thing that fascinates me is the way that Apple continues to maintain a cool/benevolent/almost counter-culture reputation, while actually being an incredibly aggressive, ruthless, arguably monopolistic company (the way they are cornering the music and phone businesses, and the way they so carefully guard applications on the iphone). Compare this to Microsoft, which has a more fascist ambiance around it.

Obviously, the consequences of an intensely closed platform in a PC and media player are of less consequence than for a front line fighter, but Apple has already has filed for a patent to automatically deactivate your devices if you use them in a non-approved manner, and the US Air Force, and Lockheed-Martin seem to have a similar goal with the JSF: making it extremely difficult for non-US weapons to be used, and I do think that there is a remote off switch in there.

If I were looking at buying a fighter, I would therefore be very concerned about the degree of control that the Pentagon, and perhaps LM would have over the operation of the aircraft.

When Technology Works For You

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I give you the Spike missile, the version from the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) at China Lake, not the rather more expensive ATGM produced by the Israeli company Rafael.

This Spike is a small (25″), light weight (2.5 kg) and very inexpensive (about 5000 lbs) that can be effective out to about 3200 m against relatively lightly armored targets. (The warhead weighs 1 pound)

It’s not fast, being decidedly subsonic, and it leaves launch tube at around 100 mpg, which means no backblast.

What makes this missile different is that it was designed using technology to meet a cost goal, so the seeker is, basically a camcorder bolted to the front of a rocket motor, and it can launch at low speed because it relies on COTS processor for flight controls, which do not require high initial speed.

It locks on the target image, and so is fire and forget, a capability that has been in the US arsenal since the 1970s with the Maverick missile.

Another advantage of this system is that it can easily be carried by a UAV when targeting things like insurgents, with a much lower cost, and a much higher number of rounds on existing UAVs that carry Hellfires, or it could be mounted on much smaller UAVs.

It just goes to show that technology can be used to create a reasonably effective weapon at a very reasonable price.

Some PDF with more details are here and here.

Army Revives Guided 2.75-inch Rocket Procurement

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Well, it’s beginning to look the army is going to take another look at a guided 2.75-inch rocket after the congress took the money from their advanced precision kill weapon system program, and transferred it to the Marine Corps, who were apparently much further along on the task of integrating guided rockets into combat units that the Army.

The original concept was to have a guided weapon to hang from the OH-58 and similar helicopters, but given the hot and (very!) high operating conditions in Afghanistan, and the nature of the targets, a Hellfire is overkill for a truck or an ox cart.

As the picture shows, you can carry 7 rockets (right of picture store) for each Hellfire:

A market survey released on 28 August by the army’s joint attack munition systems office says that high-altitude conditions require the army to trade the number of “stowed kills” on board an aircraft in favour of adding extra fuel.

“This undesirable trade is believed to be unnecessary given recent developments by industry on lightweight precision munitions,” it adds. “Industry efforts have resulted in a number of semi-active laser (SAL) munitions that may have the potential to satisfy army aviation’s need for a lightweight, precision munition.”

Market survey? I know what they mean, but the juxtaposition of the phrase “Market Survey,” and US Army is a bit odd.

Background here.

Russia May Terminate Bulava SLBM

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After numerous test failures of the new solid-fuel Bulava submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) intended for the new Borei-class submarines, there are reports that it could be replaced by the liquid fueled Sineva missile, which is currently deployed on older submarines.

My guess is that it would take less time and effort to make the Bulava work than it would to replace it, since it is derived from a land-based system which already works, and the rework of the Borei’s to do this would be involved, but I am speaking from a position of profound ignorance here.

Seriously, Cancel the JASSM

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Seriously, this thing has always underperformed tests, and now the lot 6 acceptance tests for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) have been deferred. (paid subscription required)

This thing has never performed as reliably as the specs require, and cancellation for cause would be a good way to kick a defense contractor in the teeth for delivering crap, and then expecting the taxpayer to fund the fixes.

Sometimes, you have to do stuff like this prevent this sort of behavior from becoming endemic in the defense procurement process.

AFRL Develops Directional Fusing for A

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The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is looking at fuses and configurations that would allow a warhead to direct the bulk of its shrapnel toward the target, as opposed to distributing it more or less evenly in all directions.

This intended to be a part of the Joint Dual-Role Air Dominance Missile (JDRADM), a missile intended to replace both the AMRAAM AAM and the HARM ARM.

I’m a bit dubious of packaging both of these roles into one missile, but the fusing and warhead tech here looks promising.

Russia: Turkey Seeks To Buy Air Defense System – Defense News

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About 7 months ago, I noted that Turkey was looking to buy Russian SAM Systems.

We have another report , and this adds the S-400 (NATO Code Name SA-21 Growler) to the list.

It is arguably the most capable SAM system in the world with a range in excess of 400 km, and a sophisticated control system that may allow for some anti-stealth capabilities through sensor fusion and data processing, along a significant anti-missile capabilities, which might very well provide coverage from something fired from Iran.

What is interesting here is that the story is not that the manufacturer is saying that Turkey wants the system, not that a contract has been inked, and the system has yet to be exported, and I am not sure that if I were Russian authorities, I would want a NATO ally, who would be very likely to pass along data on this system to the US, to get their mitts on this.

Russian Draws Back Veil from MiG-31BM

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Russia has finally displayed the latest version of the MiG 31 interceptor along with its weapons loadout.

Of interest is that this is the first showing of the R-33S (bottom pic, right hand side), which differs from the basic R-33 by having some small destabilizing surfaces up front (the ones with the ray and white bodies).

It’s about 40 kg (88 lb) heavier than the basic R-33, which would imply some increase in range, and the destabilizing surfaces implies an increase in maneuverability, though it is still clearly not intended for highly maneuverable targets.

You can click the pics for the full size photographs.

Good Read on Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile

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It appears that the impetus to get this all started was the US Pershing II, whose actively radar guided MARV produced a CEP of something under 30m much less than the 75m beam of a Nimitz flight deck.

In any case, this is a good read, and if this technology has been in development since the early 1980s, I can see no reasons that the Chinese are not near the point of being able to deploy such a system.

Modern processors allow for sensor fusion from a number of data sources, and a CVBG puts out a lot of signature.

In any case, I tend to figure that warships these days fall into 2 categories: Submarines, and targets.

Shooting Behind You

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MBDA just demonstrated an over-the-shoulder shot with their ASRAAM IIR AAAM, using its using the lock-after launch mode.

It’s a neat trick, and one of the arguments that the ASRAAM people have used, suggesting that its relative lack of maneuverability off the rail is more than made up for by its superior end-game kinematics, but one wonders how the launch aircraft would get targeting data in a real combat situation, unless, of course, it has the small stinger mounted radar of the Su-27 series.