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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1712.PDF
876 FLIGHT, 7 December 1956 MISSILES THAT THINK AN INTRODUCTION TO GUIDED WEAPONS By the Technical Editor IN deciding whether or not a guided missile is the most efficientweapon for a particular task, the basic question is probably"is die exclusion of man an overall advantage?" The brain of man enjoys a flexibility and adaptability which cannot bematched, or even approached, by any of his own creations. He has a unique degree of independence and can take decisions andassess situations in a manner which no mechanical device has yet been able to match. From several aspects, in fact, the exclusion of man seems anact of folly. Reasons for such exclusion are in no way connected with sentimentality or fear of operational casualties. Danger isnever absent from war, any more than it is from peace. There is still a very good case for the military aeroplane and, in fact, formost of the conventional weapons with which the world's armed forces are at present equipped. Nevertheless, there are opera-tional requirements which can be met more effectively by guided missiles than by anything else which can be foreseen. Already missiles are showing themselves capable of oustingother weapons from most of the tasks in which a moving target has to be destroyed, irrespective of whether the target is in theair, on land, at sea or under the sea. It is also probable that within a few years—almost certainly less than ten—the world willbe faced with the existence of missiles of global range, capable of placing the most destructive nuclear devices on any chosen spot.To meet this fearful threat, work is even going ahead on anti- missile missiles, again proving the truth of the old adage that thereis a defence for every weapon. The Weapons System. Although some Britons find it distaste-ful, this youdiful American term has no counterpart.* It signifies a complete service weapon together with its ancillaries, extraneouscomponents and supporting units, including all equipment needed for storage, transport, maintenance, repair, calibration, testing andtraining. Missile systems always include the missile itself, some form of launching device, possibly a booster motor for initialacceleration and, in most cases, ground or airborne radar equip- ment. Many characteristics are common to all missile systems,but much depends on die operational requirements or the type of mission involved. Apart from "offensive" and "defensive," the broadest classifica-tion for missiles is that which defines the medium from which they are launched and in which tfiey find their target. As thesemediums are "surface," "air" and "underwater," there are nine theoretically possible combinations (such as SAM, surface-to-airmissile). This form of classification has been employed in the descriptions—starting on page 893—of missiles at present beingdeveloped or in use. In the remainder of diis particular account, the emphasis is laid on missiles intended for the destruction ofaircraft. No air force in its right mind would attack a country armedwith defensive missiles unless its bombers were extremely fast, high-flying and equipped widi the latest detection and counter-measures systems. For this reason the defending missiles are faced with a most difficult task, and a fundamental pre-requisite to theiremployment is that the whole area to be defended should be covered by a comprehensive and automatic air-defence system. Such a system is, in the first instance, based upon powerfulearly-warning radars mounted around die coasts or on piles sunk into the sea or carried aloft in high-flying picket aircraft. These *In Britain the term "guided weapon" is sometimes applied to acomplete weapons system, the name "guided missile" then being restricted to a missile per se. Other terminology is the Americancolloquialism "bird" to mean any guided missile and the British per- petuation of "round" to describe any individual missile or test vehicle.The adjectives "intelligent" and "hot" are sometimes used to describe vehicles fitted with a guidance system and an internal motor, respectively. radar installations are charged with the vital task of providingthe longest possible warning of any raiding force, together with a rough indication of its scope and character. The second stageof the system comprises tactical-control radars which count the raiding aircraft, determine their speed, altitude and direction, andpin-point actual targets with sufficient accuracy for the final stage. For SAMs, the latter comprises tracking radars associated directlywith the missile systems, and it is their job to pick up individual targets for each missile. For AAMs, the final stage is carried aloftin a fighter, although the set may be basically similar to the ground-tracking radar.Throughout the whole set-up—which may involve a number of allied nations—the keynote is speed; seconds and fractions of asecond have assumed a completely new importance. It is no longer merely a matter of using alert and well-trained personnel,for the human factor can be tolerated at no point except to monitor the overall picture; the speed of response of the human brain is This Crown Copyright photograph shows a firing test on an RTV-2 test vehicle. Points of interest ore the massive body construction (tankage) and the shock diamonds in the jet. This rocket motor is operating on liquid propellants (such motors are described on p. 881) and, for the purposes of the test, the cruciform wings and control surfaces have been removed.
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