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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1141.PDF
642 FLIGHT International, 23 April I9&4 Missiles and Spaceflight combination total and spectral radiometer. They will furnish measurements of re-entry heating due to radiation from the hot gases. Radiant energy will be admitted to the instruments through fused quartz windows. One is located at the centre of the forward face, in the stagnation region; the second near the corner of the front face; and the third on the conical afterbody. The combination total and spectral radiometer is designed to measure the radiant energy in such a#way that the experimenters can gather information on the chemical composition of the gases in the radiant region. It will scan radiation at the stagnation point over a wavelength range from 2,000 to 6,000°A. In addition to these instruments, each of the ablative heat shield layers and a number of locations on the re-entry package afterbody and interior structure are equipped with thermocouples, so that the complete spacecraft will in itself operate as a calorimeter. All told, there are 258 thermocouples in the craft. The conical afterbody is built of sheet aluminium and glass-fibre, covered with a phenolic asbestos laminate. In addition to the primary Project Fire instruments it contains: (1) data acquisition and processing electronics; (2) two solid-state telemetry trans- mitters; (3) a delayed data system which tape records research measurements during the radio blackout period for transmission 45sec later; (4) a C-band beacon for radar tracking; (5) an attitude sensing system, consisting of three rate gyros and five linear accelerators; (6) pressure sensors; (7) an electronic device attached to the realtime telemetry transmitter to gather information on signal attenuation caused by the plasma sheath; (8) a time code generator to indicate elapsed time starting from lift-off; and (9) a cooling system. The re-entry package is not designed for recovery. REDEYE PRODUCTION On April 10 it was announced that the US Army has awarded two major contracts to General Dynamics/Pomona to initiate produc- tion of the Redeye shoulder-fired missile system. One contract, for $8,240,710, pertains directly to production costs; the other, for 14,981,648, provides for engineering services required to support manufacture. Redeye can in most respects be regarded as the smallest guided missile known. In principle of operation it resembles the traditional Bazooka anti-tank rocket, in that the missile is fired from a tube, open at both ends, placed on the operator's shoulder and aimed by an optical sight. Unlike the Bazooka, the Redeye projectile homes on to its target. Basically the missile is a simple tube, of approximately 3in diameter and 4ft long. Much of its length is occupied by the boost/ sustainer solid-propellant rocket motor, by Atlantic Research Corp. The tube also contains a high-explosive warhead, and a guidance and control system governed by sightline-displacement signals transmitted from an infra-red sensor mounted in the nose. Prin- cipal subcontractor for the seeker optics is Miniature Precision Bearings Inc. The complete weapon system consists of the missile and a glass- fibre launcher. The latter, equipped with a carrying strap and the optical sight, serves as the storage and transport container for the missile. It can be carried on the back of an infantryman "anywhere a soldier can carry a rifle." Initial detection and tracking of the target are accomplished visually by the operator. Preparing Redeye for use takes only a few seconds—obviously, the closure plugs on the ends of the tube have to be removed—and the operator then tracks the attacking aircraft through the sight on the launcher. This automatically points the missile's IR seeker cell at the target. When the seeker senses the heat emission from the target it locks-on automatically. The fact that it has done so is signalled to the operator (presumably by means of a visual display or a mechanical signal felt by one of the operator's hands, since earphones are not worn). When the target has approached within range the operator squeezes a trigger with his right hand to fire the missile. After the The shoulder-fired Redeye surf act-to-air guided missile is being developed for the US Army and Marine Corps by General Dynamics/Pomona latter has left the launcher its fins unfold to provide stabilization, and the trajectory is thereafter controlled by unstated aerodynamic means. The empty launcher is discarded. Development of JRedeye has been financed jointly by the US Army and Marine Corps, and both arms will receive production deliveries. Weapon-system manager is the US Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. Extensive tests have been made both by the prime contractor and by Service troops, chiefly at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, Calif. Redeye is said to have "scored direct hits on a variety of drone aircraft . .. Soldiers firing the missile in tests have scored hits after only a few hours of instruction." Despite these encouraging statements, the fact remains that the infantry anti-aircraft mission is one of the most demanding with which any weapon system can be faced. Problems of size and weight—and cost—are immediately obvious, and it is difficult to reconcile these limitations with the required missile range and warhead lethality. The rate of sightline spin of the homing-head seeker can often reach very high values. High supersonic flight speed greatly increases this rate, and also the required power of manoeuvre, but is advantageous in allowing the missile to reach the target within the very brief time between seeker lock-on and engagement. Moreover, within this brief period the missile must accelerate from rest, and even at maximum speed the power of manoeuvre of a tube-launched missile is usually relatively low. Perhaps most important of all is the fact that it is obviously desirable to engage the target when it is still coming towards the defender, and this demands lock-on to the front of the attacking aeroplane, from which little IR radiation is normally emitted. The alternative to a collision course is for the soldier to wait until the aircraft has made its attack and then let the missile acquire it as it is speeding away. Its rear hemisphere would present a far better IR target, but the missile would then have to overtake the aircraft within its fairly limited flight range—and, of course, its operator may already have been killed by the aircraft during the latter's attacking pass. Development of Redeye has certainly taken much longer than was originally predicted. Several markedly different designs of launcher and sight system have been seen during the R&D phase, and it is probable that considerable development has also taken place in the design of the projectile. Nevertheless, the start of production shows that the system is now considered worth buying. There is nothing else like it in the Western world, and it may well be adopted by many countries. "Missile Gap" in Reverse On April 14 the US Department of Defense issued a statement contrasting the massive American strategic "deterrent" strength with the limited deployment of stra- tegic delivery systems by the Soviet Union, and confirming that it is US policy that the increase in American superiority should be maintained. Comparative figures are: ICBMs, 750 in US (and rapidly rising to over 1,250), fewer than 180 in USSR; long-range bombers in alert status, 540 in US, 120 in USSR; submarine-ba?^ missiles, 192 (building up to 656) in US control, "substantial fewer" in Soviet control.
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