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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1146.PDF
FLIGHT International, 23 April 1964 643 Missiles and Spaceflight SERGEANT ELECTRODYNAMICS By MYRON D. LOCKWOOD, vice-president, Sperry Division of Sperry Rand Corporation, Great Neck, New York SERGEANT is a 10,0001b ballistic, guided missile consisting offour major sections: warhead (forebody); guidance section (centre); storable rocket motor (afterbody); and four interchange- able control-surface assemblies (which snap on to the afterbody). Checkout and countdown are automatic, and the all-inertial guidance system is immune to all known electronic counter- measures. In the automatic launch, all of the solid fuel is consumed, regardless of the programmed range. This is followed by a mid- course manoeuvre, and then the final phase, during which a final trajectory correction is made. Peak altitude is controlled by com- paring the actual course with the pre-programmed trajectory. Range control is achieved by aerodynamic dragbrakes, which extend periodically from the body of the missile. The four control surface assemblies provide directional and aerodynamic control. Ground-handling requirements are accomplished with five large wheeled vehicles. The launching station is emplaced and levelled. Then the missile sections are assembled on the launcher boom by the electro-hydraulic system, which also elevates and traverses the missile. Sergeant is first erected to 5°, automatically slewed to target azimuth and finally erected to 75° for firing. The firing set in the enclosure is capable of self-test, accepting firing data, generating flight parameters and inserting them in the missile, checking its own computations, monitoring the missile functions and controlling the automatic countdown and firing. It houses two identical banks of electrical components; if one mal- functions, the operator can switch to the other system and restart the countdown. Prior to firing the operator evacuates the enclosure and continues monitoring from a remote position. A manual over- Sperry Utah would be the first to accept that it is now theoretically possible to fulfil the Sergeant mission with a smaller and simpler weapon system. This photograph taken inside the firing set emphasizes the bulk of the Sergeant system In the final moments of the automatic countdown the missile is slewed to target azimuth and erected to firing elevation. The firing-set operator monitors the procedure, and allows the countdown to be completed by setting the remote firing box to FIRE ride capability to hold or stop the firing sequence exists, and the firing set also provides automatic holds following a malfunction. The gas-turbine generator set (GTGS) provides power to the missile and to the erector/launcher. It can operate on a variety of fuels, and produces 208V, 400c/s current which is converted to 28V d.c. by a transformer-rectifier unit on the main boom of the superstructure. The azimuth orientation system is used to determine the azimuth of the launching station and to orient the missile guid- ance platform to the firing azimuth. It comprises: (1) the azimuth orientation unit (AOU), a modified Wild T-2 theodolite mechanic- ally connected through a door in the missile to the inertial platform; (2) the reference theodolite (also a modified Wild T-2), placed over the primary reference stake and used to orient the AOU; and (3) the transverse target, used to mark a point on the orienting line. The second of the five vehicles is the organizational maintenance test station (OMTS). After a self-test of its own equipment, the OMTS performs an automatic test of the missile sections while they are in their sealed re-usable containers. A boom on the aft end of the OMTS moves any faulty missile section from the container into the van. There, assembly replacement and retest are performed, utilizing the replacement assemblies carried as part of the basic load in the OMTS. The third vehicle is the field maintenance test station (FMTS), which has the same external configuration as the OMTS but a greater test capability. It can isolate malfunctions to the subassembly level, and replacement subassemblies are carried as part of the basic load. The fourth vehicle is the missile transport, carrying the guidance section, rocket motor and control surfaces, all in re-usable containers. The last vehicle is the warhead trans- porter. Maintenance The Sergeant electronic maintenance concept is based on the detection and replacement of faulty assemblies by the battery OMTS during prelaunch checkout. Faulty assemblies are returned to the FMTS at battalion level for the isolation and replacement of
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