Air-to-air Missile

A air-to-air missile is a drawn Missile in flight since a Aéronef, with an aim of destroying an air target.

Like the surface-to-air missiles, this type of missile has the effect of having to reach an extremely mobile target (high speed and/or abrupt operations), which produces particular constraints for its design.

History

The first air-to-air missiles were designed by the Germany during Second world war: the two principal projects were Henschel Hs-298 guided by radio and the Kramer X4 wire-guided, but no missile was operational before the end of the engagements.

In 1946, USAAF launched the development of a first series of American air-to-air missiles. The result of these studies were:

  • the missile Firebird conceived by the company Ryan Aeronautical, which was tested for the first time at the end of 1947 but finally abandoned after two years of tests
  • the missile AIM-4 Falcon conceived by the Hughes company, which was tested for the first time in 1949. Brought into service in 1956, it was built with close to 50  000 specimens and used until in the years 1980.
On its side, the US Navy launched in 1947 the program of the AIM-7 Sparrow, whose development was difficult because it was necessary to await the end of the year 1950 to have a really operational version, then in 1950 that of the AIM-9 Sidewinder which was since product with more 200  000 specimens and is still used nowadays.

The the USSR started to develop its first air-to-air missiles with the beginning of the year 1950, the first of them being the Kaliningrad K-5. A tough rumor wants that the Soviet engineers could recover Sidewinder inserted without exploding in the fuselage of Mig, which enabled him to carry out of it a copy under designation Vympel K-13 (Code NATO: AA-2 Atoll) as of the beginning of the year 1960.

The first air victory obtained by an air-to-air missile intervened when a AIM-9B Sidewinder drawn by a F-86 Saber Taiwan board cut down a Mig-15 popular Armée with release of China Populaire, the September 24th 1958. It should not however be forgotten that the first air-to-air missiles were not very at the point and often missed their objective.

Categorization

They can be classified according to their range:

  • with short range of a few hundreds of Meter S to approximately fifteen Kilometer S.
  • with average carried until approximately fifty kilometers.
  • with long range beyond that.
but it can also be distinguished by their method of guidance:
  • with Infra-red guidance with locked on the infra-red signature of the target.
  • with guidance passive Radar according to the emissions radar of the target.
  • with guidance semi-active radar using the waves returned by the target, lit by the plane which launched it.
  • with guidance active radar emitting to him even a beam radar to pursue its target.

Fights with the air-to-air missile

The Terminologie NATO defines 3 types of aerial combat; “Fox 1” , “Fox 2” and “Fox 3” .

Type Fox 1

It corresponds to a shooting of missile with semi-active guidance. It is about the system employed by AIM-7 Sparrow or the Matra Super 530 working in mode STT (Individual Target Tracking, i.e. with the only capacity to follow a target at the same time). The Radar of the hunter starts by sweeping the sky with the research of the targets then it stops sweeping to be focused on a target. Consequently, it is pointed on this target permanently to guide the missile. Indeed, the missile with semi-active guidance does not have any autonomous means of detection. It can only move on the echoes which the target “lit” by the plane gunner returns. This operation, which corresponds to the first generations of hunters, results in several disadvantages. Initially, the stop of sweeping is the unquestionable indication that the radar passes in mode “fixing” to draw. For the plane which is known hung thanks to its detector of alarm radar (RWR, Radar Warning Receiver), it is the good signal to begin evasive operations. For the other planes which had been swept beforehand, it is on the contrary the signal of end of alarm. The other disadvantage is that, during the phase of shooting, only one target can be treated at the same time, with the obligation to keep the nose pointed towards this one to provide to the missile all information which it needs for its guidance. The hunter becomes blind on the sides and vulnerable to a counter-attack.

Type Fox 2

It corresponds to a shooting of infra-red homing head missile, such as for example AIM-9 Sidewinder, the AA-2 Atoll or the Matra R550 Magic, of the missiles very handy and swift, but more particularly reserved for the combat with short range. It is of the air-to-air missiles of this type which for the first time were used with the combat at the end of the years 1950. The startup of the Mica to infra-red homing head however upset deeply gives it in this category.

Type Fox 3

It corresponds to shooting of active homing head missile. Nowadays, the principal representative of this family is AIM-120 AMRAAM American entered in service in 1991. France lays out, when with it of the Mica - EM (for electromagnetic). With this system, sweeping also recovers the fixing which can be done immediately. The targets are located, chosen and selected in order to engage more menaçantes. During this time, the target, which can have detected sweeping, does not know if a missile were drawn or not against it.

Operation of the mode “Fox 3”: example with the Mirage 2000 -5 equipped with radar RDY

The radar sweeps the sky in the search of targets and “equips” the echoes which it receives, while basing itself in particular on the result of the interrogations IF (system of coding which makes it possible to know if the apparatus is friendly or enemy).

On board the Mirage 2000 -5, the pilot regulates his radar, whose image appears on the display screen average head (VTM), without leaving the hands of the handle and the throttle lever. With the inch of the left hand, it moves the azimuth reading device (cursor) on the screen and indicates itself the targets which it wishes to pursue.

This phase is called Track While Scan (TWS, or fixing during sweeping). Once the selected targets (4 at the most for the Mirage 2000-5), the pilot passes in automatic mode TWS: the radar then will optimize its sweeping to keep the targets in line of sight permanently, while treating on a hierarchical basis them according to their dangerosity.

The priority target will be the FKT for First to Kill Target (objective to destroy in first); followed SKT (Second to Kill Target) and of P3 for the following targets. On the display screen of the pilot, intuitive symbols make it possible to follow the situation which always evolves/moves very quickly: a target seen by the radar is represented by a white square. This square is blackened when the target is indicated. It becomes a fine cross for the SKT and a thick cross for the FKT.

Targets being selected and being informed, the missiles MICA - ER can enter in scene.

At the time when it leaves the plane, the missile has a designation of objective (DO) provided by the radar, which indicates to him where is the target at this precise moment and which is its Flight Path Vector. But even 3.000 km/h, to traverse about fifty kilometers takes 60 seconds. During this time, the target can change direction or start evasive operations, which makes null and void information passed to launching.

The information given to the missile during the flight thus constantly is brought up to date through a LAM (connection air-missile) several times a second by the radar always in sweeping mode. On the Mirage 2000, the transmitter of the LAM is placed in top of the drift to offer to him the best point of emission in direction of the missile which evolves some share to the front one.

The Mirage 2000-5 is able to follow 8 targets simultaneously and to engage 4 of them. However, the planes of the French air force have only 2 simultaneous LAM until which they are carried to standard SF1C-IR as from 2006. Two possibilities are offered then to the pilot who wishes to engage 4 targets simultaneously: to fire two missiles with LAM and two without LAM by hoping that the targets of the latter do not change too much trajectory; or to wait until the first 2 missiles activate their homing head and thus release the LAM to guide the following salvo.

Arrived at a few kilometers of the target, the missile “fox 3” met on the way its own transmitter radar and finalizes itself the trajectory towards the target. This one is then informed by its RWR which it is hung by a missile, but it already too late and it remain very little of time to try evasive operations (Recall that in the case of a shooting “fox 1”, the target knows that it hung as of the launching of the missile. The pilot then has a few tens of seconds to work out a parade.)

The various management styles of the LAM make it possible to vary the scenarios of shooting in “Fox 3”:

  • In mode 1, the plane draws in mode LAM and the preserve more possible for a long time to give best possible information to its missile. It can however choose to make half-turn not to be exposed too much to a shooting of response. As of the half-turn, the radar ceases pursuing the target and the LAM also ceases. If the target follows a regular trajectory, the missile will be able to only find it when it lights its own homing head. But for little that the target breaks its trajectory, there are strong chances that the homing head (which remains relatively not very powerful with a rather narrow angle of sight) finds only the vacuum when it gets under way.

  • In mode 2, the plane gunner releases immediately after the shooting, which excludes employment from the LAM. What makes strongly fall the km No (Probability off Kill).
  • mode 3 corresponds to the shooting with sight of helmet, which for Mica-IR. Frightening mode for the confrontations with short range, the pilot directs the missile while following the target of the glance. Is not currently available for the Mirage but the Rafale should be provided about it.
  • Let us quote finally the mode 4, which also refers to the infra-red homing head missiles. This mode applies when the missile still on its rail detects itself its target and hangs it before being drawn.

Has note that the computing powers now available open new horizons with the embarked radars. Still is necessary it well to relativize the things, radar RDY for example was developed with the beginning of the year 1990 and it uses Microprocesseur S of this time, i.e. class of the first Pentium. One touches finger there the questions of Obsolescence which enter in account since the development of the systems amounts either in month or years, but in decades but technologies on rack allow levellings relatively fast.

List air-to-air missiles

; The USA

; The United Kingdom ; France ; Germany
  • Ruhrstahl X-4
  • IRIS-T
; Israel
  • Rafael Python 5
; Canada
  • Velvet Glove
; Japan
  • Mitsubishi AAM-3
; China
  • PL-7
  • PL10
  • SD-10
; Nationalist China
  • TC-1 Sky Sword I
  • TC-2 Sky Sword II
; India
  • Astra missile
; The USSR and Russia

External bonds

    Video
  • of the 1 {{er}} shooting of a missile IRIS-T on target by Norwegian F-16

Random links:Scolopacidae | Augustus Asplet the Large one | The Community of communes of the Valley of Aisne | Andre Arendse | Family of Polastron | Shelby,_Montana