FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1989
1989 - 1123.PDF
Budget constraints ensure that cost will become the dominant factor inhibiting development of new weapons systems. Peter Middleton examines the technologies which can maximise the cost-effectiveness of the 21st Century tactical missile. The quest continues for the small, fast, modular multirole missile, because small is not only beautiful, it is also cheap, allowing more weapons to be carried both within budget and airframe. The small airframe also contributes to stealth. The technology exists to build a light weight, short-range missile combining anti aircraft and shoulder-launched anti-tank capability in one airframe. One British Aero space study reduced it to 12kg, for which the customer could get an 8km-range (air-to-air) "hittile", guided by a combination of imag ing infrared and millimetre-wave seekers, powered by a conventional rocket, and controlled by aerodynamic fins coupled with graphite exhaust deflectors. It would rely on a kinetic-energy penetrator rather than an- explosive warhead. The key microminiature electronic processing technology exists, and the missile could be in service within a decade if devel opment funds were available. In the current Western budgetary climate, however, inertia has gained a powerful new ally—parsimony. Long term, such multirole, multi-service missiles could provide the cost-effectiveness that defence planners demand. Modular construction will soon be a major weapon available to missile designers in their battle with the budget. The massive leaps in the processing power of ever-smaller micro electronics now make it possible to design a common airframe and associated computa tional electronics for a variety of tasks. Role- specific guidance, warhead, and propulsion modules could be added as necessary, with out modifying the basic "bus". The main development investment is in the electronic core of the missile, where processing power will increase tenfold for a given volume as component packing densi ties move rapidly from the 50,000 "gates" per chip of today's 1 • 5-micron component spac ing, to the half million per chip of tomor row's 0 • 5-micron technology. The smallest spacing now available commercially is three microns. Paradoxically, such high-density packing tends to improve reliability, because it reduces the number of conventional connectors. Although major progress has been made in recent years, reliability and storage life is becoming an increasing challenge as armed forces plan to keep their existing weapons longer, and update them through modification or module changes. Assuming a clean sheet and an adequate budget, however, it is possible that funda mental advances could be made in the new missiles operated by those forces at the turn of the century. The quest for longer ranges in smaller packages is exemplified by the US Navy's competition to replace the Phoenix air-to-air fleet-defence weapon (see page 30). Stand-off range would also allow airborne early warn ing aircraft to be attacked while operating well behind their own lines. It would also enable heavy fighters to stand back and fire at airborne targets over the top of their own ground forces, rather than being mixed up in the battlefield melee. To prevent targetting information going stale at ranges of well over 100km, extreme speed (Mach 4 to Mach 5) may be required of such missiles—pushing airframe materials technology to the limit, with temperatures of above 1,000°C at the front end. (Already, missile fin leading edges can reach 1,000°C at Mach 3 at low level.) The ramjet is the most obvious propulsion option, with carbon-loaded ceramic materials being used to withstand extreme kinetic heating. The terminal agility of such missiles may not be adequate for interception of a highly manoeuvrable target, so guided submuni- tions are an option. Imaging-infrared and millimetre-wave seekers would allow the submunitions to select their impact points on the target. The provision of self-protection capability for strike aircraft penetrating look-down/ shoot-down fighter defences would also demand a very-high-speed missile to outshoot the enemy. With a radar-homing seeker module it would be used to suppress the radars which guide semi-active-homing surface-to-air missiles. By the early 21st Century it could become necessary to attack the missiles themselves, as their semi-active guidance systems give way to active guidance and autonomy. The further development of harassment Top left a General Dynamics technician checks a missile's printed circuit paths, accurate to ten millionths of a centimetre. Left laser tests of seeker-head optical alignment. Autonomous target- recognition systems are candidates for stand-off missile guidance, far left
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
