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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1608.PDF
712 FLIGHT, 2 November 1961 MISSILES 1961 Bloodhound 1 ... IM-99A Bomarc IM-99B BomarcContraves RSD Hawk Masurca Nike Ajax Nike Hercules Nike Zeus RedeyeSeacat 1 Seacac 2 Seaslug 1 Talos Tartar ... Terrier ... Terrier (Advanced) Thunderbtrd Typhon Range (n.m.) 60- 200 440 18 19.5 13.5 26 74 -i 2001 3? — 65- 9 -. 10.5 20 + 20 + 200 Altitude limits (ft) / 68,000 -r 0/100,000 10/38.000 /70.000 5,00/60,000 /150,000 * /500.000 10/5,000!0/10,000? 0/20,000 90,000- 1,000/40,000 5,000/60,000 2,000/90,000 0/120,000 TABLE 4 : SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES Launch weight (Ib) Ji boosts 15,000 16,000 n.a. n.a. 3,198 2,300 10,000 40,000? n.a.n.a. n.a. 7,000 n.a. 2,900 5,000 20,000? without n.a. n.a. 882 1,275 1,653 1.100 5,100 20 3.100 1 500 1,100 1,500 — Length (ft) + boosts 25.25 47 45 n.a. n.a. 28.2 34.9 39.7 63 n.a.n.a. n.a. 19.7 30.5 n.a. 26.6 29.5 21 46 without 22.2 n.a. n.a. 19.75 16.8 19.1 21 26.8 42 44.82 6.6? 19.7 20.5 15 14.3 14.8 21 28 Body diam (in) 21.5 34.6 34.6 15.75 14 12 31.5 60 37.5 7.5? 16.1 30 13 13 13 21 38 Span (in) 112.5 218 218 53 48 55.1 53 90 98 n.a. 25.6 20! 56.6 112 20 46 20 63 160 Math no 2.53 2.4 2 + 2.5 2.5 3.35 1 1 2 +0.8? 2.5 2.5 + 2.5 3 5 guidance aerial. The four rounds can be loaded in less than three minutes, and are each protected by hermetically sealed sheaths of plastics material through which the missile may be launched. The simplest guidance system (Blue Tallies) is by the Mk 20 director, manned by a control officer and aimer. The latter tracks the target through binoculars, and movements of the latter are transmitted electrically to the launcher control console, corrected, and then used to position the launcher in bearing and elevation. This ensures that when a missile is fired it comes into the aimer's field of view, and the aimer then drives it into coincidence with the target by radio command from a miniature control column. Although no details have been divulged re- garding the type of shipboard direction equip- ment which the Royal Navy will use with this missile, it seems likely that in all the smaller ships it will be this Blue Tallies system. The complete weapon system has been at sea for many months, and photographs have been released showing firing trials taking place at both high and low angles of elevation from HMS Decoy (a Daring-class destroyer). If necessary, the missile can be integrated with various blind-fire radar directors (a model has been exhibited of Seacat with radar guidance by NV Hollandse Signaal- apparaten). With alternative warheads and fuzes it can be employed against surface targets, and the land-based Tigercat (q.v.) is being developed as a private venture. SEACAT 2 At the Paris Salon earlier this year Short Brothers exhibited models of this second- generation weapon, which they are at present developing as a private venture. It is described as supersonic and '"of higher potential," although it should be possible for the Seacat 2 Redeye can be fired from the shoulder, even from foxholes or ravines system to employ much of the equipment developed for Seacat 1. The data given in Table 4 are estimated, but the changed appearance of the new missile is evident from the drawing. Body cross-section remains circular throughout, and the missile has entirely new fixed wings and rear control fins. SEASLUG Beam-riding missile for surface ships ROYAL NAVY FIRST of Britain's guided-weapon pro- grammes, this ship-to-air weapon system for the Royal Navy has in 12 years been brought to an excellent state of development; and there is no doubt that today it far sur- passes the original design specification, and is as effective in its role as any missile in the world. Development has been handled for the Admiralty by three main contractors, Whit- worth Gloster Aircraft (formerly Armstrong Whitworth, whose name is still borne by the missile), GEC and Sperry Gyroscope Co. They have been respectively responsible for the airframe, guidance and control system. In order to minimize the space required for storage, Seaslug's four boost motors are mounted around the forebody, where they need no stabilizing fins. From the ship's magazine missiles are automatically fed through checkout rooms and up to the multiple launcher on the quarter-deck. After targets have been picked up by the air-warning radar, they are passed to a long-range direction radar which controls the missile guidance radar and puts the latter's pencil beam on target. When a missile is launched the follow- ing sequence occurs: boost motors fire; boosts separate and solid sustainer fires; missile is roll-stabilized with the correct fin vertical; missile is gathered into centre of guidance beam, with full control response; flight up the centre of the conical-scan guidance beam, with reduced control response owing to the increased signal strength, detonation of the warhead by the proximity fuze. The complete and largely automatic ship- board control and guidance systems, and their associated test equipment, have been developed with the trials ship HMS Girdle Ness. Between July 1959 and April 1961 this ship thoroughly tested every aspect of Seaslug operations during live firings in the Mediterranean against various target aircraft, and she returned in July to complete the trials and allow the missile to be cleared for service. In its final firings Seaslug demonstrated its ability to destroy eight out of every ten aircraft engaged at heights from well over 50,000ft down to very low levels. In one series of seven firings four targets were demolished by impact, and to conserve targets subsequent trials had to be programmed to miss by a predetermined distance. Last month three more Seaslugs were fired before NATO observers; two air- craft (one at high altitude and the other distant on the horizon) were destroyed by impact, and the third would have been des- troyed had a warhead been fitted. Twin launcheis for Seaslug 1 are fitted to four ad hoc 5,000-ton ships of the Royal Navy, which are due to join the fleet between next summer and late 1963. On September 29 contracts were placed for two additional 5,200-ton ships, which will from the outset be designed for armament with Seaslug 2. First mentioned in the 1961 Navy Estimates. Seaslug 2 '"will have greater range and speed ... to deal with the types of aircraft likely to be encountered during the latter part of this decade"; its guidance receiver will be devel- oped by GEC. Seaslug 2 will be retrospectively installed in the four earlier ships. The Federal German Republic has requested permission to build ships larger than 3,000-tons, and is closely watching Seaslug performance. SOVIET MISSILES IN the accompanying drawings, sketch 5 represents a missile seen in many public parades since 1957. Almost certainly a beam- rider, it has a tandem boost motor and rear controls; a photograph on page 693 shows that it can be launched at a remarkably low elevation. Sketch 9 depicts a missile first seen one year ago. Although of similar size to the earlier type, it appears to have a much smaller boost charge, and an entirely different configuration, with a cruciform of canard control surfaces. These weapons should be able to engage all targets up to heights of about 75,OOOft, but far later con- cepts are implicit in the statement on October 23 by Marshal Malinovsky, Soviet Defence Minister, that "the problem of destroying rockets in flight has been successfully solved." TALOS Long-range missile for surface ships us NAVY (SurfacejAir Missile N-6) ONE of the most expensive and complex of all weapon systems. Talos provides protection within a radius of some 70 miles but can be installed only in ships of at least 10,000 tons. The vehicle portion of the system is built around a 30in-diam ramjet duct, built by McDonnell for the prime contractor Bendix. After launch by a tandem boost motor, the ramjet lights up its mixture of kerosine and naphtha fed by turbopump from an annular tank. Nuclear-warhead Talos missiles are simple beam riders; those with conventional heads may be distinguished by projecting aerials and pitot tubes surrounding the air intake, and these have an additional semi- active terminal homing radar system. Talos, which was described at greater length in pre- 1960 reviews, has been operational with the cruiser Galveston since 1959, and is bsing deployed aboard six more large ships including the nuclear-powered Long Beach. It has paved the way for Typhon (q.v.).
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