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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1962.PDF
765 FLIGHT International, 7 November 1963 MISSILES 1963 Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Blue Steel stand-off missiles have now been in operational service with RAF Bomber Command for more than a year. This pair are among the much larger number assigned to 6/7 Sqn at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire motor and entered US Navy service in 1958; it has since been adopted by the USAF and is being produced under licence by a NATO consortium which includes Hawker Siddeley Dynamics in Britain and firms in Turkey and Denmark working under Kongs- berg Vapenfabrikk of Norway. This consortium began by assemb ling US parts and has now graduated to full manufacture of all except a few critical components. These weapons are used by Buccaneer, Scimitar and Sea Vixen squadrons of the Royal Navy; USN aircraft include the AF-1 Fury, A-4 Skyhawk, A-5 Vigilante, A-6 Intruder, F-4B Phantom and F-8E Crusader; USAF Bullpup carriers include the F-100 Super Sabre, F-105 Thunder- chief and F-4C Phantom. Pilot training was initially assisted by firing a training version, TGAM-83 under the old designation system; but a new training Bullpup is under development. In 1962 the USAF introduced a new version with a nuclear warhead housed in a fatter mid-body section, while the Navy received Bullpup B (now AGM-12C), a larger missile (see drawings) wi;h 1,0001b conventional warhead. Both these missiles have packaged liquid motors. Since 1959 the Navy has been developing offset guidance (guidance which does not require that the controller in the launch aircraft should keep the missile trackingfiare in line-of-sightto the target), and all-weather guidance. The prime contractor has investigated TV, inertial and other systems, as well as semi-active radar all-weather guidance on to targets illuminated by the radar of the Grumman A-6 Intruder. Yet another, completely new, homing system is being developed for USAF Bullpups. Martin have achieved great success in reducing the cost per missile (to about $2,500 for AGM-12A), but Maxson Corp have for a year been a second-source supplier. Since 1960 the US Navy has introduced a range of highly efficient aircraft stores with names ending in -eye. One of these, Walleye, is described as "the most accurate and effective air-to-surface con ventional weapon ever developed anywhere." The Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS, China Lake, Calif) have yet to appoint an industrial prime contractor, but the weapon is in the service test stage. It has TV command guidance. Yet another US Navy missile is Shrike, the function of which is clear from its previous title ARM (anti-radar missile). The Navy scientists at China Lake appear to have used Sparrow (air-to-air) as a basis, and to have succeeded in equipping the weapon with a passive-homing capability sensitive to enemy radars. It will probably be a long time before they disclose how the homing capability has been achieved, unless devices which sweep over all electromagnetic frequencies can now be packaged into an 8in ogive. Shrike is now in production, presumably at NOTS since no in dustrial contractor has been appointed; the USAF expect to purchase this weapon during the current financial year (ends next June 30), although it appears to have obvious limitations. Nord-Aviation have completed deliveries of most of the limited number (4,300) of AS.20 missiles ordered for use by such aircraft as NATO Fiat G.91s and Aeronavale Aquilons; AS.20 differs from AA.20 chiefly in having no proximity fuze but a larger warhead. AS. 12 is used by Alize ASW squadrons of the Aeronavale and P-2 Neptune squadrons of the Netherlands Navy; unlike the army SS.12, it has radio guidance. More important is AS.30, a very effective 1,1251b weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead if °ne small enough were available outside the USA. AS.30 has been considerably modified during development, a significant change being the addition of aerodynamic rear fins to enable control to continue beyond motor burnout. In May 250 had been delivered out of 1,630 ordered. Some 1,000 rounds have been purchased by the British Government for issue to Canberra squadrons, and Nord claim AS.30 will also be compatible with TSR.2. Sweden has for several years been engaged in the definition and feasibility study of a new missile to form part of System 37, the aircraft portion of which is the J37 Viggen. The Svenska Robot- byran has disclosed no details (what was described as this missile by a US trade journal was, in fact, a Nord AS.30 mock-up on the Saab 105). Meanwhile deliveries of Robot 304 for A32A Lansen squadrons are complete. Air-to-surface missiles table overleaf Surface-to-air DESPITE the vociferous assurance of those who build and operate aeroplanes that a modern strike aircraft can be made practically invulnerable if it can attack at high speed at ground level, the fact remains it is much easier to shoot down an aeroplane than a hyper sonic ICBM re-entry vehicle. In both cases the problem is basically one of cost. A rich king of a small island could render his territory absolutely proof against all aircraft now; and he could also put up quite a good defence against an ICBM. It is by no means so easy to defend a big country, nor to maintain defence at the highest level for years on end. Nike X is the US Army's current answer to the ICBM. For seven years the Department of Defense has not ordered Nike Zeus, the original "anti," into production; a gamble which has proved amply justified. Zeus, fully described in this journal on August 2, 1962, is one way of doing things; Nike X is a combination of Zeus and a second missile in a single weapon system. One of the greatest difficulties facing the defender is that a clever enemy can equip his ICBM re-entry vehicle with various kinds of decoy, and it is essential to sort the goat from the diversionary flock of sheep. A simple analogy will illustrate how Nike X works. Imagine that the enemy is a hostile crowd of perhaps 50 people, one of whom (and only one) means to kill, the rest merely give the killer moral support. The defender has at his disposal a rifle and a spear. With the rifle he can kill at great range, and this gives him a bit of breathing-space; but he may kill the wrong person. The spear cannot be used until the enemy is very close; but, if the defender has strong nerves, he can wait until he has identified the vital enemy and then despatch him with the spear. In the Nike X system, Zeus is the rifle and a missile called Sprint is the spear. Neither appears to be adequate by itself. Zeus laid the groundwork on the basis provided by a decade of development, by the same industrial team, of earlier Nike weapons. Key elements in the system are the radars, which are among the most powerful and complex electronic devices ever made. The incoming re-entry vehicle is detected by the ZAR acquisition radar, with pulse power of many megawatts and a receiver aerial in the form of an 80ft hemisphere made of 34,484 blocks of clear plastics containing a precise 3-D mesh of metal filaments. A discrimination radar decides which of the reflecting sources is the real target and its trajectory is worked out by the TTR target-tracking radar; the Continued on page 768, after drawings and tables overleaf
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