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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 1129.PDF
tested in 1984/5 during a series of flyover tests carried out by day and night. The GD/Westinghouse missile has fold ing wing and tail surfaces, and is delivered from the depot packed in a circular storage/launch tube. The team has released artwork showing how 12 of these tubes could be carried in two lateral rows of six under the fuselage of an F-14D. Tomcat will also need to carry a multi function airborne track illuminator (ATI) pod, either on one of its fuselage stations or an underwing pylon. This unit is lift lOin (3 • 6m) long, 16in (406mm) in diameter, and weighs 7501b (341kg). It is self-powered by a ram-air turbine whose vanes are located about a quarter of the way from the forward end. On the US Navy's next-generation fighter, currently expected to be a derivative of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter, the functions of the ATI will be handled by the aircraft's Westinghouse-developed radar. Finding and tracking Targets would be detected initially either by the F-14D's APG-71 radar or by its infrared search and track system (IRST), then handed over to the ATI pod. This uses its front- facing antenna to track the targets and compute the engagement envelope for each one. It also has a limited degree of search capability. The aircrew selects the target to be engaged, then fires the missile. The round will leave the launch tube under the power of its tandem-mounted rocket booster. At burn out this will be jettisoned, and the main solid-propellant rocket motor (sustainer) ignited to power the round for the first stage of its flight out to the target. After launch, the crew is free to manoeuvre its aircraft to reduce the closure rate. There is no need to keep the aircraft pointed towards the target —a drawback to conventional semi-active- radar-homing-missile attacks. The ATI pod even has a second rearward-facing antenna. Like the Hughes AIM-120 AMRAAM, AAAM will fly an optimised trajectory under the control of an inertial midcourse guidance system. Uplink facilities are provided, so that the parent aircraft can transmit targeting updates should these be needed. In the later stages of flight, the missile activates its terminal guidance seeker. Still later, the radome is jettisoned, allowing the missile's infrared seeker to begin operation. Home-on-jam attacks are also possible. While the sustainer is burning, its jet-tab thrust vectoring control (TVC) system will supplement the missile's aerodynamic con trol surfaces. This will probably be of greatest importance when engaging targets flying at high altitude. In such cases, the sustainer is re-ignited for a second burn. This extra power, plus the use of TVC, is expected to allow the missile to have the same manoeuvrability at 100,000ft (30,500m) as today's Sparrow has at 20,000ft (6,000m). The rival Hughes/Raytheon team has The General Dynamics/Westinghouse AAAM would be supplied in a launch container Above An artist's impression of the General Dynamics/Westinghouse AAAM being launched from an F-14. Below, the multifunction airborn track illuminator, which provides the vital link in the semi-active guidance system FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 22 April 1989 31
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