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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 2063.PDF
454 FLIGHT International, 13 September 1962 Tl e Lightning F.3, and the Sea Vixen FAW.2 seen here, are armed with the Red Top collision-course missile, the design of which is extensively discussed in the text. The handling trolley is by M.L. Aviation Co Ltd ROUND THE STANDS... pattern established by Firestreak, although improvements in wave length, signal-to-noise ratio, "look" angle and gimbal friction could certainly enable a much greater range to be achieved. The IR sources must be either kinetic heating of the target airframe or emission from the hot gas issuing from it (and in practice Red Top probably locks-on to either). As far as published information is concerned, there is no other IR-homing missile which can attack from any direction. As a defence against Red Top, a target can eject spurious IR sources, commonly in the form of flares; but a considerable weight of flares would be required to effect protection, and a very ambitious radar would be necessary to indicate not only that a fighter had locked-on but also that it had launched a missile. Target range does not enter directly into the guidance of most IR devices, which work purely on sight-line information. In view of the fact that the homing head is almost certainly locked-on before the Red Top is launched, and that its field of view is exceedingly narrow, the target would have to eject an overwhelmingly powerful IR flare and get it within this narrow look-angle in order to present the missile with a problem in discrimination. As already reported, the MoA have allowed Red Top to be shown with its true nose configuration. Firestreak's nose is formed from eight sloping panels of flat glass, like a sharp lead pencil. Red Top has a cast hemisphere, which removes the problem of inter-pane joints and worries the homing head less with internal reflections. In any case, some of the incident energy is always lost through glass, and the D.H. designers must have done all they can to increase signal-to-noise ratio. A side issue is that sustained supersonic flight may result in such kinetic heating that the glass itself tends to become an IR source. There is certainly scope for interesting development in this field. It is naturally desirable to launch an IR-homing missile when the heat radiation from the target is a maximum and the terminal flight corrections are such that miss-distance is minimized. Effective range of Red Top is probably of the order of double the five miles quoted for Firestreak, and extensions in range are in general more readily achieved by improvements to the IR guidance than by reduction in missile drag. The near-circles which define maximum guidance range and maximum aerodynamic range must overlap as far as possible, in order to increase the area within which the missile may be launched with probable success. Collision-course interception imposes greater demands on the missile guidance system, and Red Top may have to manoeuvre with greater violence than Firestreak, especially in the terminal phase of an interception when sight-line spin becomes extreme. Now in production by RAC at Stevenage, the Vigilant one-man anti-tank weapon will be available with a new British warhead having a long contact probe, or—as shown here—with the Swiss CML head Firestreak has exceptional powers of manoeuvre, yet the span (36in) and area of the wings of Red Top are both greatly increased, and should more than counteract the obviously increased weight of the new missile. To match the increased demands on the guidance system it should be possible to include additional components as a result of transistorization and printed-circuitry; the airborne guidance may not be exhibited, but it is certainly miniaturized in comparison with that of Firestreak. Designed and produced at the Government Aircraft Factories, Melbourne, Jindivik 2B is imported into Britain by the MoA as a complete airframe into which a Bristol Siddeley Viper 8 engine, Elliott autopilot, radiocontrol system and various trials equipment are incorporated. The work of importing and modifying this target aircraft was previously handled by Fairey Engineering Ltd, but is now the responsibility of BAC (AT) Ltd, which is owned jointly by BAC and Fairey Engineering. Responsibility for Jindivik has been assigned by BAC (AT) to Bristol Aircraft and will ultimately be centred at Filton. The Jindivik 2B on view (serial number A92-241) was festooned with a greater array of trials equipment than would normally be carried at one time. It included two wing-mounted AMPOR pods, tail-mounted Luneberg lens, two flare-heated sources, side and ventral flare packs (ten flares in all) and a towed target containing four flares. Short Brothers & Harland are hoping that, despite the obvious attractions of the very much more advanced—and correspondingly expensive—Mauler system, developed for the US Army (and des cribed in our November 2, 1961 issue), the British Army will make up their mind to adopt Tigercat as a flexible and cheap system for the defence of field armies against low-flying aircraft. The weapon system is in general based upon Seacat 1, now in RN service, but is envisaged as being capable of deployment in three standards of automaticity:— In the simplest arrangement, a multiple launcher—any of a variety of vehicle-mounted or trailer schemes could be chosen— could be directed by a purely visual sighting system derived from the Mk 20 binocular direction developed for the naval missile, with the director bin either pushed round by hand, as in the RN, or rotated by power. This scheme would involve a minimum development cost, and in some respects—such as performance against very low- flying aircraft—appears equal to radars. As an intermediate stage, a Tigercat launcher could replace one or more of the 40mm guns at present controlled by radar fire- control in NATO armies. Three guns per radar is usual, and typical radars are the British Yellow Fever and the army version of the N.V. Signaalapparaten set used with Seacat. Finally, in conjunction with Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd, Short have prepared a very advanced, self-contained system. All that remains is for the Army to borrow hardware and "play with it" at Larkhill. Largest anti-armour missile in the world of which details have been published is the Malkara, developed by the Australian Govern ment Aircraft Factories in association with the Australian Depart ment of Supply. This weapon has a firing weight which is now given as 2161b (101b more than previously), and carries a "squash-type" warhead weighing between 55 and 601b. This head is large enough to destroy any known tank, and has also proved extremely effective against other hard-skinned battlefield targets and ships, and Malkara is increasingly thought of as an anti-invasion missile. When in 1959 the British Army felt that it was essential to acquire an anti-tank missile, it selected Malkara and placed an initial relatively small order (about 200 rounds). Price for a single missile is of the order of £4,000, but the value of the initial order, complete with all supporting and training equipment and costs incurred by the deployment of the weapon, was stated at the time to be of the order of £4m. Fairey Engineering at Heston acted as sales agents, and undertook the task of modifying the weapon to suit British requirements (for example, they replaced the Australian missile battery, which had a relatively brief shelf-life). With British Aircraft Corporation, Fairey Engineering have formed BAC (AT) Ltd, who are now responsible for industrial support of British Malkaras. The missile is now in service with the Royal Armoured Corps, deployed on a special vehicle—the Hornet, by Wharton Engineering—which carries two rounds on launchers and two rounds stowed. Hornet may be air-dropped, has a crew of three, and is proving successful in service. For training purposes Malkara Mk I is used, with a range of some 2,000m (6,600ft). The operational weapon is Malkara Mk 1 A, which has a different type of tracking flare, thinner guidance wire, and other improvements to give approximately double the range of Mk 1. Even this range, sa\ BAC (AT), could be extended quite easily. As predicted in our August 30 issue, the Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott has developed an automatic system for maintaining the flow of two liquids in precise proportions, and an exhibit was mounted by the Ministry of Aviation. Signals from a flowmeter in each line were fed to a proportioner unit—in which three digital stores registered the flows and the differences between them, and fed an analogue output to a servo valve.
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