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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1968.PDF
FLIGHT International, 7 November 1963 771 also been adopted by several other NATO nations, the first being Belgium and Canada. In 1962 Nord announced that future developments in this field were being undertaken in collaboration with British Aircraft Corporation. BAC were the heirs to the outstanding Vigilant missile developed during 1957-59 by Vickers-Armstrongs' GW Division at Weybridge. By carrying an autopilot on board Vigilant has exceptional flight stability and ease of control; in fact the direct lateral-velocity con trol system, allied with exceptional flight manoeuvrability, enables Vigilant to be employed with greater certainty and rapidity against all armoured targets than any other weapon in service, and its minimum effective range of 200yd cannot be matched. Despite a unit price roughly double that of a bare Entac, Vigilant appears to have the highest kill probability for a given financial investment, and to make minimum demands on the operator and impose lower costs for training. It is in service with the British Army (infantry and Royal Armoured Corps), Kuwait and Finland, using the Swiss CML warhead. A British warhead, with a long contact probe, does not yet appear to be in service. BAC are also foster-parents for the Australian Malkara missiles of the Royal Armoured Corps, and the new company BAC(AT) Ltd, at Stevenage, hold the prime contract for the design and development of a new and very advanced weapon named Swingfire. The latter remains classified, except in appearance; but it can be said that it is wire-guided, and the name suggests control by deflecting the motor jet (certainly no other controls can be seen). Bolkow's Cobra has not found a market in the US, despite an evaluation by the Marine Corps and discussions with an American licensee; but it is in service with the Federal German Army and has been ordered by other countries, reported to include Denmark and Italy. The Swiss/Italian Mosquito, a parachute-recoverable training version of which is available, is being supplied by Contraves to several unidentified nations, and the Swedish Army are now receiving quantities of the folding-wing Bantam by AB Bofors. While these weapons have been under development, the US Army have done their utmost to produce a modern anti-tank guided weapon of their own. At the time of writing two projects have survived and both are now in an advanced state of development and likely to see inventory service. Shillelagh is the further developed, and this mainstay of Ford's Aeronutronic Division is a neat cylindri cal device fired from a gun-type launcher, usually itself mounted on a tank," stabilized in flight by fins which flick open after launch and steered by motor-jet deflection according to microwave signals from the launcher. A Vigilant of the British Army being fired during cold-weather trials in Norway. During these trials many Vigilants were mounted on miniature sledges for both transport and firing Simpler than Shillelagh, but further behind in development, is TOW, the initials denoting tube launch, optical sighting and wire guidance. Hughes Aircraft is prime TOW contractor, and numer ous tests have demonstrated launch acceleration and flight speed considerably greater than that of any previous weapon in this category; other design teams may wonder how Hughes prevent the guidance wire from breaking. TOW is probably some two years from service, but its development has lately been accelerated; last month Hughes announced a new $15,432,059 contract for con tinued R&D. TOW is intended principally for infantry use, where as Shillelagh will be deployed on the Sheridan armoured vehicle, Japan, India, Egypt, Israel and Indonesia have all announced weapons in the anti-tank category, although lack of reliable in formation on their derivation and characteristics prevents more than speculative discussion. During the May Day parade through Red Square, Moscow, this year, Soviet anti-tank weapons were seen for the first time. They were deployed in groups of three or four on wheeled scout cars, and are included in the accompanying panel of scale drawings. ach to 5 b r 3 7 J 5* 5 5+ Propulsion 6,0001b Thiokol M46 solid 6.0001b Thiokol M46 solid Thiokol M60 solid Solid boost motor Aerojet-General solid Hotchkiss-Brandt solid 18,7401b Hotchkiss-Brandt Nord boost/sustainer charges Solid boost/sustainer charges n.r. Naval Propellant Plant solid Aerojet-General packaged liquid Guidance CW semi-active radar homing by prime IR homing by prime Semi-active radar homing by prime IR homing by prime Spin-stabilization only Pursuit, semi-passive CFTH radar homing Collision-course all-angle, IR or semi-active Pilot visual command via coded radio link Hughes; possibly hybrid radar + IR homing Advanced IR homing by prime Philco IR homing Raytheon CW semi-active radar homing Control Four trailing-edge controls Four trailing-edge controls Four trailing-edge controls Four rear-mounted fins Trajectory stabilized by flip-out fins 4- gyro Twist and steer elevons plus foreplane Four rear fins plus roll aileron Deflection of jet from sustainer motor Not disclosed Four rear-mounted fins Canard cruciform fins Cruciform of moving wings Warhead h.e. 401b h.e. Nuclear h.e. Nuclear (I.5KT) 551b h.e. 601b h.e. 511b h.e. h.e. h.e. 101b h.e. 601b h.e. Propulsion Airframe Guidance Control Warhead/penetration ,»f»te boost and sustainer >liH l l>oost' sustainer 32 ^st/sustainer ^bcon/sustainer *o be" .?J,,h,r'?) b°°st/sustainer ilijk. jt <!3g)/sustainer *JV»t sustainer f£"n>,Amoco solid ' 'Sustainer " boos'; Glass-fibre Phenolic reinforced plastics Steel sheet Steel and light alloys Reinforced plastics Steel sheet Steel sheet Aluminium and steel Light-alloy and plastics Wire, acceleration, rolling Wire, acceleration, rolling Wire, hybrid (shaped) Wire, shaped, roll-stab'd Wire, acceleration Wire, acceleration Wire, acceleration Microwave, velocity Wire, velocity Trailing-edge spoilers Trailing-edge spoilers Trailing-edge spoilers Four moving wings Trailing-edge spoilers Trailing-edge spoilers Sustainer-jet deflection Motor-jet deflection Trailing-edge fins 3.11b hollow-charge/l9in 5.51b hollow-charge/24in 101b hollow-charge/25 + in 601b squash head/n.r. 7.31b hollow-charge/24in I lib hollow-charge/16.5in I7.6lb hollow-charge/23.6in Nuc. or hollow-charge/n.r 12.lib hollow-charge/23in
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