NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: I've been gone on vacation for a while, and this is what I was working on. It's my first serious attempt at an air-to-air missile. Comments are appreciated, I really need to know if there's any problems.

I dunno if I'll put this up for general export, but NATO countries and longtime customers, feel free to inquire. I might put it up for sale after it's cleaned up a bit.

IC:

http://airspace.cz/img/vyzbroj/R-77.jpg

ATAIM-4 Firehawk Advanced Tactical Air Intercept Missile

Abstract:

Due to recent development and fielding of various missile countermeasure systems, the Imperial Air Force found itself in need of newer, more potent armament for her pilots. In early 2003, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration, working in tandem with Kotoko Aircraft Corp, responded to the call by beginning a new project, codenamed "Baron", which was intended to produce the ultimate BVR air to air weapon for Tyrandisan pilots. The result of Baron was the ATAIM-4 "Firehawk", which was first tested in mid-2004. The Firehawk is the absolute bleeding edge in aerial warfare technology, and incorporates the latest technology to acquire, track, and destroy any target.

Guidance:

The ATAIM-4 “Firehawk” incorporates an advanced acquisition suite, designed to detect and track any target, including low-observables (stealth). The main component of Firehawk’s guidance package is the TQ/A-201 Active RADAR seeker, which operates in X-band. The TQ/A-201 is classified as a Low Probability of Interception system, meaning that a target’s RWR and other electronic warfare equipment will likely not catch the missile’s signature until range has been closed. Due to the proliferation of destructive interference ECM devices, Firehawk’s RADAR is specifically programmed to cycle through multiple RADAR frequencies when the “black hole” effect of a out-of-phase signal is detected, effectively overwhelming all but the most advanced active stealth systems. Fiber optic gyroscopes guide the missile during its midcourse path. When range has closed to 25 kilometers of the target, the Firehawk’s terminal guidance activates. The seeker relies on an all-aspect imaging IR system, which detects the heat of an aircraft's skin, warmed by the friction of airflow, in addition to the fainter heat signature of the engine when the aircraft is seen side-on or head-on. The terminal guidance is effectively immune to flares, as the seeker’s target algorithms have been engineered to distinguish between a point heat source (such as a flare) and an aircraft engine.

Design:

The aerodynamic design of Firehawk is intended to simultaneously maximize maneuverability while reducing RADAR cross section. ATAIM-4 comprises of essentially four sections: seeker, missile electronics and fuse, blast-fragmentation warhead and rocket RAMjet enclosed within a stealthy, low drag, lightweight body. The missile’s advanced construction and design allows for maneuvers up to 55G, essentially making the Firehawk “unshakable”. Firehawk’s missile avionics incorporate an advanced silicon diode-based EMP shielding, due to the rise in popularity of such countermeasures in various aircraft. The advantage of using this material in place of more conventional shielding techniques is mostly one of weight, as well as the nondegradeable nature of silicon. Instead of standard control surfaces, the stabilizer fins on the missile are composed of aeroelastic material, allowing these to warp and bend up to 5 degrees. This modification produces significant gains in ATAIM-4’s maneuverability. The powerplant used in Firehawk is a MR-63V hybrid solid-fuel rocket propulsor/RAMjet engine. It is 3D thrust vectored, allowing for extremely off-boresight launch angles. Small, side-thrusting reaction jet controls are also built into the ATAIM-4’s aft section, further improving missile agility.

Contractor: Kotoko Aircraft Corporation

Type: Air-to-Air Guided Missile

Weight: 265 kg

Speed: Mach 4.8+

Powerplant: MR-63V thrust vectored hybrid RAMjet/solid fuel rocket motor

Range: 120 km

Warhead: 25.8 kg Octagen Spherical Blast Fragmentation

Guidance: Active RADAR seeker, Inertial Guidance midcourse, terminal all-aspect Infa-Red. Optional Command Link/Update for manual guidance is also available, at pilot discretion.
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Price: TBD

You do realize that this missile will be huge for an Air-to-Air missiles and will be very very costly. Heck the radar alone would cost as much as a normal AA missile and make it very bulky. Also, I dobt if could take 55G manuvers. It would break apart at those stresses, or at least damage the missiles avionics.

OOC: Hmm, looking at the weight, what are the dimensions? I agree with USSNA that this missile is somewhat too heavy for widespread use as somewhat of a medium-intermediate range missile, but knowing the exact size would also help.

OOC: This missile, as it stands, is quite heavy, and still too small for the systems described. An IR seeker with a 50 km range against most targets won't be small, and a 50+ km range LPI radar isn't that small either. By comparison, the radars on the AMRAAM and R-77/AA-12 are only good to about 20 km - they use inertial guidance with midcourse updates to get close enough (and oriented in the right direction) to engage with the active radar, and the long-range R-33 (AA-9) and Phoenix missiles also recieve updates to guide them through most of their flight, only switching to active seekers when they get close.
Another problem is the fact that both of those systems are going to need a significant amount of processing power (particularly the radar if it's to defeat most active stealth systems), and the result is that this would more likely be a Phoenix-sized missile.
The radar in particular, would also be quite expensive. This missile would likely have a price tag of several million, giving it limited utility against most targets due to high cost and the fact that most aircraft won't be able to use it (either lacking in avionics, or lacking in payload).

USSNA: I think it could take the stresses, since I've tossed just about every innovation in missile aerodynamics, but I should probably tone it down because of the seeker's complexity...

Omz: I haven't calculated dimensions for this thing yet, due to laziness (>_>), but I'll try to later. My goal is to keep the size just a touch over the AMRAAM.

CSJ: It does operate similarly to the AIM-120 (I just use fiber-optic gyroscopes in place of the regular IN systems), I made the radar LPI in the hope to further reduce visibility against EW measures, but I guess I dropped the ball and neglected to factor in size and complexity :/. Oh, the 50 km range for the IR seeker is off, it should be 25, although I am considering dropping it completely and relying solely on the RADAR alone since you've all brought up the issue up. I realize the missile will be EXTREMELY expensive, but I'm counting on it as a wanderwaffe against all the new superfighter and bomber designs coming out. Yes, it'll be ridiculously expensive, but my idea is that the return on investment is a destroyed aircraft costing in the hundreds of millions.

I'll try to reduce the complexity and cost as far as I can, since you've all brought that problem up. Silly of me to have missed it :(

55Gs? No. Not even a solid rod of titanum could withstand those forces. Even at 25Gs, the internal mechanises would be rendered useless.

Actually, there are some RL missiles (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/aster.htm) rated at 60 Gs, so 55 is possible. However, that involves a complex system, and for a normal modern missile, 50 Gs would probably be the max, with 40-50 Gs being rather common for advanced units.

Really? I did not know that. Guess you learn something every day.