Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a
The first attempt at SAM development took place during World War II, but no operational systems were introduced. Further development in the 1940s and 1950s led to operational systems being introduced by most major forces during the second half of the 1950s. Smaller systems, suitable for close-range work, evolved through the 1960s and 1970s, to modern systems that are man-portable. Shipborne systems followed the evolution of land-based models, starting with long-range weapons and steadily evolving toward smaller designs to provide a layered defence. This evolution of design increasingly pushed gun-based systems into the shortest-range roles.
The American
History
The first known idea for a guided surface-to-air missile was in 1925, when a beam riding system was proposed whereby a rocket would follow a searchlight beam onto a target. A selenium cell was mounted on the tip of each of the rocket's four tail fins, with the cells facing backwards.[2] When one selenium cell was no longer in the light beam, it would be steered in the opposite direction back into the beam. The first historical mention of a concept and design of a surface-to-air missile in which a drawing was presented, was by inventor Gustav Rasmus in 1931, who proposed a design that would home in on the sound of an aircraft's engines.[3]
World War II
During
Bombers flying at higher altitudes require larger guns and shells to reach them. This greatly increases the cost of the system, and (generally) slows the rate of fire. Faster aircraft fly out of range more quickly, reducing the number of rounds fired against them. Against late-war designs like the Boeing B-29 Superfortress or jet-powered designs like the Arado Ar 234, flak would be essentially useless.[5] This potential was already obvious by 1942, when Walther von Axthelm outlined the growing problems with flak defences that he predicted would soon be dealing with "aircraft speeds and flight altitudes [that] will gradually reach 1,000 km/h (620 mph) and between 10,000–15,000 m (33,000–49,000 ft)."[5][nb 1] This was seen generally; in November 1943 the Director of Gunnery Division of the Royal Navy concluded that guns would be useless against jets, stating "No projectile of which control is lost when it leaves the ship can be of any use to us in this matter."
German efforts
The first serious consideration of a SAM development project was a series of conversations that took place in Germany during 1941. In February, Friederich Halder proposed a "flak rocket" concept, which led
Von Axthelm published his concerns in 1942, and the subject saw serious consideration for the first time; initial development programs for liquid- and
In general, these designs could be split into two groups. One set of designs would be boosted to altitude in front of the bombers and then flown towards them on a head-on approach at low speeds comparable to manned aircraft. These designs included the Feuerlilie, Schmetterling and Enzian. The second group were high-speed missiles, typically supersonic, that flew directly towards their targets from below. These included Wasserfall and Rheintochter. Both types used
Albert Speer was especially supportive of missile development. In his opinion, had they been consistently developed from the start, the large scale bomber raids of 1944 would have been impossible.[9]
Allied efforts
The British developed unguided antiaircraft rockets (operated under the name
When several Allied ships were sunk in 1943 by
To combat this threat, the
Heavy shipping losses to
Post-war deployments
In the immediate post-war era, SAM developments were under way around the world, with several of these entering service in the early- and mid-1950s.
Coming to the same conclusions as the Germans regarding flak, the
The Soviet Union began development of a SAM system in earnest with the opening of the Cold War. Joseph Stalin was worried that Moscow would be subjected to American and British air raids, like those against Berlin, and, in 1951, he demanded that a missile system to counter a 900 bomber raid be built as quickly as possible. This led to the S-25 Berkut system (SA-1 in NATO terminology), which was designed, developed and deployed in a rush program. Early units entered operational service on 7 May 1955, and the entire system ringing Moscow was completely activated by June 1956.[21] The system failed, however, to detect, track, and intercept the only overflight of the Soviet capital Moscow by a U-2 reconnaissance plane on July 5, 1956.[22][23] The S-25 was a static system, but efforts were also put into a smaller design that would be much more mobile. This emerged in 1957 as the famous S-75 Dvina (SA-2), a portable system, with very high performance, that remained in operation into the 2000s.[24] The Soviet Union remained at the forefront of SAM development throughout its history; and Russia has followed suit.
The early British developments with Stooge and Brakemine were successful, but further development was curtailed in the post-war era. These efforts picked up again with the opening of the Cold War, following the "Stage Plan" of improving UK air defences with new radars, fighters and missiles. Two competing designs were proposed for "Stage 1", based on common radar and control units, and these emerged as the RAF's
War in Vietnam
The Vietnam War was the first modern war in which guided antiaircraft missiles seriously challenged highly advanced supersonic jet aircraft. It would also be the first and only time that the latest and most modern
The
During the war, The Soviet Union supplied 7,658 SAMs to North Vietnam, and their defense forces conducted about 5,800 launches, usually in multiples of three. By the war's end, the U.S lost a total of 3,374 aircraft in combat operations. According to the North Vietnamese, 31% were shot down by S-75 missiles (1,046 aircraft, or 5.6 missiles per one kill); 60% were shot down by anti-aircraft guns; and 9% were shot down by MiG fighters. The S-75 missile system significantly improved the effectiveness of North Vietnamese anti-aircraft artillery, which used data from S-75 radar stations[32] However, the U.S states only 205 of those aircraft were lost to North Vietnamese surface-to-air missiles.[33]
Smaller, faster
All of these early systems were "heavyweight" designs with limited mobility and requiring considerable set-up time. However, they were also increasingly effective. By the early 1960s, the deployment of SAMs had rendered high-speed high-altitude flight in combat practically suicidal.[nb 2] The way to avoid this was to fly lower, below the line-of-sight of missile's radar systems. This demanded very different aircraft, like the F-111, TSR-2, and Panavia Tornado.
Consequently, SAMs evolved rapidly in the 1960s. As their targets were now being forced to fly lower due to the presence of the larger missiles, engagements would necessarily be at short ranges, and occur quickly. Shorter ranges meant the missiles could be much smaller, which aided them in terms of mobility. By the mid-1960s, almost all modern armed forces had short-range missiles mounted on trucks or light armour that could move with the armed forces they protected. Examples include the
.The introduction of
MANPADS
As aircraft moved ever lower, and missile performance continued to improve, eventually it became possible to build an effective man-portable anti-aircraft missile. Known as
By the 1960s, technology had closed this gap to a degree, leading to the introduction of the
Through the evolution of SAMs, improvements were also being made to
General information
Surface-to-air missiles are classified by their
Mobility, maneuverability and range
Missiles able to fly longer distances are generally heavier, and therefore less mobile. This leads to three "natural" classes of SAM systems; heavy long-range systems that are fixed or semi-mobile, medium-range vehicle-mounted systems that can fire on the move, and short-range man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS).
Modern long-range weapons include the
Medium-range designs, like the Rapier and 2K12 Kub, are specifically designed to be highly mobile with very fast, or zero, setup times. Many of these designs were mounted on armoured vehicles, allowing them to keep pace with mobile operations in a conventional war. Once a major group unto itself, medium-range designs have seen less development since the 1990s, as the focus has changed to unconventional warfare.
Developments have also been made in onboard maneuverability. Israel's David's Sling Stunner missile is designed to intercept the newest generation of tactical ballistic missiles at low altitude. The multi-stage interceptor consists of a solid-fuel, rocket motor booster, followed by an asymmetrical kill vehicle with advanced steering for super-maneuverability during the kill-stage. A three-pulse motor provides additional acceleration and maneuverability during the terminal phase.[35]
MANPAD systems first developed in the 1960s and proved themselves in battle during the 1970s. MANPADS normally have ranges on the order of 3 km (1.9 mi) and are effective against attack helicopters and aircraft making ground attacks. Against fixed wing aircraft, they can be very effective, forcing them to fly outside the missile's envelope and thereby greatly reducing their effectiveness in ground-attack roles. MANPAD systems are sometimes used with vehicle mounts to improve maneuverability, like the Avenger system. These systems have encroached on the performance niche formerly filled by dedicated mid-range systems.
Ship-based anti-aircraft missiles are also considered to be SAMs, although in practice it is expected that they would be more widely used against
Guidance systems
SAM systems generally fall into two broad groups based on their guidance systems, those using radar and those using some other means.
Longer range missiles generally use radar for early detection and guidance. Early SAM systems generally used tracking radars and fed guidance information to the missile using radio control concepts, referred to in the field as command guidance. Through the 1960s, the semi-active radar homing (SARH) concept became much more common. In SARH, the reflections of the tracking radar's broadcasts are picked up by a receiver in the missile, which homes in on this signal. SARH has the advantage of leaving most of the equipment on the ground, while also eliminating the need for the ground station to communicate with the missile after launch.
Smaller missiles, especially MANPADS, generally use infrared homing guidance systems. These have the advantage of being "fire-and-forget", once launched they will home on the target on their own with no external signals needed. In comparison, SARH systems require the tracking radar to illuminate the target, which may require them to be exposed through the attack. Systems combining an infrared seeker as a terminal guidance system on a missile using SARH are also known, like the MIM-46 Mauler, but these are generally rare.
Some newer short-range systems use a variation of the SARH technique, but based on laser illumination instead of radar. These have the advantage of being small and very fast acting, as well as highly accurate. A few older designs use purely optical tracking and command guidance, perhaps the best known example of this is the British Rapier system, which was initially an all-optical system with high accuracy.
All SAM systems from the smallest to the largest generally include identified as friend or foe (IFF) systems to help identify the target before being engaged. While IFF is not as important with MANPADs, as the target is almost always visually identified prior to launch, most modern MANPADs do include it.
Target acquisition
Long-range systems generally use radar systems for target detection, and depending on the generation of system, may "hand off" to a separate tracking radar for attack. Short range systems are more likely to be entirely visual for detection.
Hybrid systems are also common. The MIM-72 Chaparral was fired optically, but normally operated with a short range early warning radar that displayed targets to the operator. This radar, the FAAR, was taken into the field with a Gama Goat and set up behind the lines. Information was passed to the Chaparral via a data link. Likewise, the UK's Rapier system included a simple radar that displayed the rough direction of a target on a series of lamps arranged in a circle. The missile operator would point his telescope in that rough direction and then hunt for the target visually.
See also
- List of surface-to-air missiles
- Anti-aircraft warfare
- Man-portable air-defense systems
- Missile guidance
- List of anti-aircraft weapons
- List of NATO reporting names for surface-to-air missiles
- Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), the mission of finding and destroying SAM and AA gun installations. The SEAD mission in the United States Air Force is designated "Wild Weasel".
References
- Notes
- Citations
- ISBN 9780850451634.
- ^ "Evolution of the Guided Missile" Archived 2013-05-15 at the Wayback Machine FLIGHT, May 4, 1951, p. 535.
- ^ Corporation, Bonnier (1 July 1931). "Popular Science". Bonnier Corporation. Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2015 – via Google Books.
- ^ Westerman 2001, p. 197.
- ^ a b Westerman 2001, p. 111.
- ^ Westerman 2001, p. 78.
- ^ Westerman 2001, p. 112.
- ^ "Scheufeln Taifun". Archived from the original on 10 January 2004. Retrieved 2006-07-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), RAF Museum - ^ Albert Speer, "Inside the Third Reich", Macmillan, p. 492.
- ^ a b c "A Brief History of White Sands Proving Ground 1941–1965" (PDF). New Mexico State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ "Talos Missile History". Hays, Philip R. Archived from the original on 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ Phillip Hays, "History of the Talos Missile" Archived 2013-06-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Taylor 1975, p.45
- ^ Flight 1947, p.345
- ^ Parsch 2003
- ^ a b "Nike Zeus" Archived 2013-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Flight International, 2 August 1962
- ^ "The Boeing IM-99/CIM-10 BOMARC"[permanent dead link], National Air Defense Radar Museum
- ^ "Swiss Guided Missile" Archived 2013-05-15 at the Wayback Machine Flight, 7 January 1955, p. 7.
- ^ "Guided Missiles" Archived 2013-05-15 at the Wayback Machine, FLIGHT, 7 December 1956, p. 910.
- ^ Bill Gunston, Rockets & Missiles, Salamander Books, 1979, p. 156.
- ^ The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare Vol. 11, pp. 1175–1176, general editor Bernard Fitzsimons, Purnell & Sons Ltd. 1967/68.
- ISBN 9781624103490.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISSN 1558-2256.
- ^ "S-75" Archived 2012-10-05 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopedia Astronautica
- ^ "Bloodhound: The SAGW System of the Royal Air Force." Archived 2013-11-01 at the Wayback Machine, Flight International, 23 October 1959, pp. 431–438.
- ^ "Thunderbird" Archived 2013-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, Flight International, 25 September 1959, pp. 295–299, 302–303.
- ^ "Seaslug: The Most Missile in the Least Space" Archived 2013-11-01 at the Wayback Machine, Flight International, 21 November 1958, pp. 790–794
- ^ Michel III p. 1-4
- ^ Steven Zaloga, "Red SAM: The SA-2 Guideline Anti-Aircraft Missile", Osprey Publishing, 2007, p. 22
- ^ Marshall Michel, "The Christmas Bombing" Archived 2013-06-21 at the Wayback Machine, Air and Space, January 2001
- ISBN 978-1-84603-062-8. p. 22
- ^ "Русская "Двина", сбив сотни "Фантомов", довела американцев до психоза - Статьи - История - Свободная Пресса". 14 October 2018.
- ^ Davies p. 72-74
- ^ "SEACAT – The Guided Missile To Defend Small Ships" Archived 2013-11-01 at the Wayback Machine, Flight International, 5 September 1963, p. 438.
- ^ a b Fulghum, David A. (23 September 2010), "Missile-Killing Interceptors Eyed By Israel, US", Aviation Week's DTI
- ^ Eshel, David (2010-02-12). "Israel upgrades its antimissile plans". Aviation Week & Space Technology. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- Bibliography
- Davies, Peter. F-105 Wild Weasel vs SA-2 "guideline" SAM, Vietnam 1965–73. Osprey 2011. ISBN 978-1-84908-471-0.
- Hobson, Chris. Vietnam Air Losses, United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps Fixed-Wing Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia 1961–1973. Midland Publishing 2001. ISBN 1-85780-115-6.
- Michel III, Marshal L. Clashes, Air Combat Over North Vietnam 1965–1972. 1997, Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-519-6
- Westerman, Edward (2001). Flak: German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914–1945. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0700614206.
- ArtOfWar. Шеломытов Геннадий Яковлевич. Все считали, что такого не могло быть никогда
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External links
- Media related to Surface-to-air missiles at Wikimedia Commons
- Rest-of-World Missile Systems Archived 2016-05-28 at the Wayback Machine from the Federation of American Scientists website
- RIM-2 Terrier SAM intercepts a F6f drone