v2.0.3 / chapter 5 of 7 / 01 feb 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* Following the success of ALCM and SLCM, new cruise missiles have been developed in the West. These are generally air-launched weapons, though ground and sea launched variants are under consideration. This chapter provides a survey of modern air-launched cruise missiles.
* The US has followed up ALCM with a lighter, more modern air-launched cruise missile for tactical attack. Development of the "AGM-158A Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM)" was initiated in 1996. It evolved out of an earlier program, the "Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile (TSSAM)", that was cancelled because of cost escalation. The emphasis in JASSM development was on limiting costs while retaining capability. Price is expected to be under $500,000 USD in quantity. After a competition between Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing), Lockheed Martin won the full scale development contract in the spring of 1998. (Hughes' AirHawk, the cut-down version of the Tomahawk mentioned in the previous chapter, didn't make it into the finals.)
Lockheed Martin has been quiet about details of their JASSM design, but some
facts are known. JASSM has switchblade wings and a unitary penetrating
warhead. It navigates using a GPS-INS guidance system and has an infrared
seeker system to give it a CEP of 3 meters (10 feet). JASSM is powered by a
Teledyne J402-100 turbojet engine and incorporates a high degree of stealth
to improve its ability to penetrate enemy air defenses. It is fitted with a
datalink to provide status and location data up to impact, assisting in bomb
damage assessment, and may eventually incorporate a satellite datalink to
perform this function.
AGM-158A JASSM:
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spec metric english
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length 4.35 meters 14 feet
total weight 1,000 kilograms 2,200 pounds
warhead weight 450 kilograms 1,000 pounds
speed subsonic
range at altitude 320 kilometers 200 MI / 175 NMI
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First powered flights of JASSM were conducted late in 1999, with first launch
of a fully configured and armed missile in April 2001, and operational tests
in 2002. Although there were some development problems that led to a
stretchout of the program, initial production was authorized in early 2002,
and the weapon is now in service. The USAF is currently planning to buy
about 4,900 JASSMs. The US Navy has committed to buying 514 JASSMS, though
that service has been committed to SLAM-ER and has had mixed feelings about
JASSM. The weapon is being qualified for launch on the B-52, B-1, B-2, F-16,
F/A-18E/F, and the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The missile will only be
carried internally by the B-1 and B-2.
In 2006, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) selected the JASSM, to be carried by RAAF Northrop Grumman F/A-18 Hornets, and eventually RAAF Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Australia was the first export customer for JASSM.
The Air Force is obtaining a "JASSM-ER (Extended Range)" with a range of about 800 kilometers (500 miles) and the same airframe, the increased range being partly obtained by use of a turbofan engine, such as a variant of the Williams F107 or F122 (used on TSSAM). Formal go-ahead for development was given to Lockheed Martin in 2004, with initial test flights in 2006, and introduction to service expected in 2009. The Air Force plans to buy 1,400 JASSM-ERs, as part of the 4,900-unit total JASSM buy.
* Lockheed Martin is considering a "JASSM-XR (Extra Extended Range)" variant that would double the range again to over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles), but would only be carried on bombers and heavy strike aircraft. The JASSM-XR design is stretched to 6.3 meters (20 feet 8 inches) and features a fixed canard to ensure flight trim.
At the other end of the scale, the company is considering a shortened variant, the "JASSM-SR", that could be carried in the internal weapons bays of stealthy strike aircraft. The company would like the JASSM-SR to have the same warheads as the larger version, but unsurprisingly fears that the JASSM-SR may not be able to match the range of the standard JASSM. An F/A-22 Raptor would be able to carry an internal load of two JASSM-SRs.
Other possible future developments of JASSM include:
* There are many programs and concepts for new cruise missiles floating around the US defense industry. It is difficult to know how seriously to take them all: some seem to be active weapons programs, others are just experimental demonstrations and investigations, still others are just items in lists of concepts being considered as possibilities.
One concept regarded as attractive is a cruise missile that can loiter in a target area, waiting for targets to present themselves for attack, or engage in "search & destroy" tactics. Lockheed Martin has investigated such concepts in a range of scales, including a weapon called "Top Cover". This is a turbofan-powered cruise missile with forward-swept switchblade wings, a launch weight of 200 kilograms (440 pounds), a payload weight of 20 kilograms (44 pounds), and an endurance of up to 24 hours. It would operate as a light cruise missile or expendable surveillance UAV. Boeing's Phantom Works has also worked on a "miniature cruise missile airframe technology demonstrator" for the Air Force.
These are clearly concept or demonstration programs at present. Such exercises come and go, with only a small number of them actually proceeding to full development. However, the US Navy is in advanced development of a relatively small, cheap cruise missile under the "Affordable Weapon Systems (AWS)" program. The goal is to design a new weapon that will be an order of magnitude less expensive than the Tomahawk, using off-the-shelf components as much as possible. A preliminary development contract was awarded to Titan Corporation in 2002; following construction of demonstrators, a bigger contract was awarded to Titan in 2005 for a test and evaluation batch of 85 AWS missiles. The program appears to be moving on track, but there's no indication of when it will be introduced to service just yet.
Pictures of the AWS show a weapon that looks very much like a scaled-down
Tomahawk, ground or sea launched by a small solid-rocket booster with paddle
type tailfins. It is powered by an SWB Turbines SWB-65 turbojet with 290
newtons (30 kgp / 65 lbf) thrust and is fitted with a unitary blast /
fragmentation warhead, though three BLU-108/B Sensor-Fuzed Weapons, each
carrying four "Skeet" submunitions, is being considered as an alternate
warhead. The AWS is GPS-guided, features a datalink system, and has a
loitering capability.
TITAN AWS:
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spec metric english
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diameter 34.3 centimeters 13.5 inches
length 3.28 meters 10 feet 9 inches
launch weight 334 kilograms 737 pounds
warhead weight 90 kilograms 200 pounds
max speed 460 KPH 290 MPH / 250 KT
range 1,530 kilometers 950 MI / 825 NMI
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AWS is a very interesting program; consumers are used to the idea of buying
ever more powerful home entertainment technology at lower and lower prices,
but weapon systems seem to just keep getting more and more expensive. The
idea of using readily available technologies to build a weapon that is not
leading edge but still very capable has a lot to say for it, but the track
record for such low-cost weapons programs has not been very good. The usual
problem is that requirements tend, with good reason or not, to keep
ratcheting upward until the weapon is too expensive and not capable enough.
* The Navy is also investigating a very fast cruise missile. In the summer of 2002, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Boeing a contract to develop a demonstrator for a Mach 6 cruise missile under the "HyFly" program. The objective is to build a missile that could be launched from surface ships, submarines, or aircraft to attack mobile targets after they have been spotted and before they have time to move.
The HyFly demonstrator will be powered by a "dual combustion ramjet" engine. A traditional ramjet can operate at speeds up to Mach 5 at most, but above that speed the airflow in the engine becomes supersonic. (The speed of sound under high pressure and temperature conditions inside a jet engine is much greater than it is in the outside air, and airflow is slowed inside the engine as well.) It is difficult to mix and burn fuel in a supersonic airflow, at least in an engine of any reasonable length. Experimental "supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet)" engines are being developed that can operate at speeds potentially as high as Mach 25, but they require fast-burn fuels that are inconvenient or unsafe, or feature a relatively bulky fuel system that uses engine heat to "crack" conventional jet fuel down into smaller, more rapidly burned molecules.
The dual combustion ramjet is a compromise. It operates around a core "ramjet combustor" with its own set of inlets, where the intake air is slowed to subsonic speeds, mixed with fuel, and burned. However, the outlet air from the core ramjet is mixed with supersonic air in a "supersonic combustor" with another set of inlets, and burned more completely. A dual combustion ramjet can operate at up to Mach 6.5; it is cheaper and more compact than a scramjet. Since ramjets can't generate static thrust, the HyFly demonstrator's dual combustion ramjet will be brought up to speed by a booster rocket.
DARPA is conducting the program with US Naval Research Lab backing, and the development is being done by the Boeing Phantom Works, with Aerojet as the engine contractor. The DARPA contract specifies the delivery of 11 vehicles. The initial flight was on 26 January 2005, though this was simply a drop of an unpowered machine from an F-15E fighter to test separation, control, and guidance. The initial powered launch, with a booster only, was on 26 August 2005, with the vehicle attaining over Mach 3. The test flights are expected to continue through 2007.
A ship or submarine launched weapon would probably be about 6.5 meters (21 feet 4 inches) long, weigh 1,725 kilograms (3,800 pounds), and have a range of 1,100 kilometers (600 nautical miles). An air-launched weapon would probably be about 4.65 meters (15 feet 3 inches) long, weigh 1,050 kilograms (2,300 pounds), and have a range of 740 kilometers (400 miles).
In either case, the missile would be built of titanium and would have a "slip-in" launch booster that would be fitted inside the missile and discarded after burnout. It would have GPS-INS guidance and possibly a terminal seeker, and submunition or unitary payloads. A hard-target penetrating warhead is another option.
There is no commitment to development of an operational weapon yet, though the US armed services have implemented a series of programs to consider a hypersonic stand-off weapon. Once again, such programs come and go, and so far nothing resembling a full development program has emerged yet.
* JASSM is representative, though not the first, of a class of air-launched standoff weapons now being developed in several countries. The French Matra "Arme Propulsee Antipiste A Charges Ejectables (APACHE / Propelled Anti-Runway Munition With Ejectable Charges)" missile is a stealthy standoff weapon with switchblade wings and a Turbomeca turbojet engine. It has a GPS-INS guidance system, coupled with terrain-following radar for low altitude penetration.
APACHE carries ten 52 kilogram (115 pound) "Kriss" runway-penetrating
submunitions that are released out of the sides and the bottom. The French
air force, the Armee de l'Air, now has the Apache in service. Apparently
APACHE was also evaluated with other antiarmor and antipersonnel submunition
loads, but these configurations are not being fielded at this time.
MATRA APACHE:
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spec metric english
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wingspan 2.53 meters 8 feet 4 inches
length 5.1 meters 16 feet 9 inches
total weight 1,200 kilograms 2,700 pounds
warhead weight 520 kilograms 1,150 pounds
speed subsonic
range at altitude 150 kilometers 93 MI / 81 NMI
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* The APACHE airframe is being used for the French "Scalp-EG (Emploi General
/ General Purpose)" cruise missile, with a unitary warhead and larger fuel
tanks for extended range. It carries the British Broach penetrating warhead.
Scalp-EG will use GPS-INS navigation with a terrain following system, along
with an imaging infrared seeker coupled to an automatic target recognition
system. The French Armee de l'Air and the French naval air arm, the
Aeronavale, are buying a total of 500 of these weapons, with initial service
in 2003.
The winner of the British CASOM competition was an APACHE derivative almost identical to Scalp-EG named "Storm Shadow". Scalp-EG and Storm Shadow apparently differ only mission planning equipment and aircraft interfaces. Britain ordered 900 Storm Shadows, with the missile going into service with the RAF in 2002 and seeing introduction to combat during the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003.
There is interest in introducing an extended-range variant of the Scalp EG / Storm Shadow, using a new high-energy "JP-10" fuel instead of the current "JP-5" kerosene-based fuel. The British have done some work on an even longer range variant, using new Rolls-Royce light expendable engine technology, for fielding after 2010. Other efforts for the same timefrane have focused on developing a one-way datalink for strike assessment, to be followed in 2015 by a two-way datalink that will permit in-flight mission changes and a more robust navigation system. Improvements under consideration in the post-2015 timeframe include new warloads and loitering capability, possibly with "smarts" to provide an autonomous or semi-autonomous search and destroy capability.
Italy has also placed an order for 200 Storm Shadows, and Matra BAe Dynamics has sold the Scalp-EG / Storm Shadow to the United Arab Emirates under the name "Black Shaheen", named after a species of falcon. The order was placed in 1998, with delivery in 2002. Greece has ordered the Storm Shadow as well, and there is interest in several other countries.
The French are working on a derivative of SCALP for ship and submarine launch. This "Naval SCALP" will use SCALP components but will have a new airframe compatible with torpedo-tube launch. It will have a range well in excess of 1,000 kilometers (620 kilometers) and will have an optional datalink. The French hope to have a frigate-launched version in service by 2011, and a submarine-launched version in service by 2015. Warheads being considered include a kinetic-energy penetrator and a derivative of the British Broach penetrating warhead.
The current plan is to build about 200 surface-launched and 50 submarine-launched missiles. A three-year risk-reduction effort is now under way, which involves construction and flight of a demonstrator. Full-scale development is expected to begin in 2006. Italy and Spain are interested in the Naval SCALP.
* The French do have a standoff nuclear cruise missile in service, the Aerospatiale "Air-Sol Moyenne Portee (ASMP)". It was originally carried by the Mirage IV bomber, but is now carried by the Mirage 2000N strike fighter. The ASMP is 5.38 meters (17 feet 8 inches) long and is propelled by a ramjet engine, which allows it to cruise at Mach 3 after being brought up to speed by a solid-propellant booster. The weapon carries a 150 kilotonne warhead and can follow terrain to a target up to 100 kilometers (60 miles) away. The French are now working on an improved "ASMP-A", which will be used to equip Dassault Rafale land-based and shipboard fighters beginning in 2008.
* DASA of Germany (now part of EADS) developed a family of gliding cluster munitions, the most representative of the family being the "BK-90" or "DWS-24", which Sweden has acquired for the SAAB Gripen fighter as "Mjoelnir". The BK-90 has a boxy fuselage, stubby wings, a tailfin on each rear corner, and twelve launch tubes on each side.
The BK-90 and its siblings are discussed in detail in a separate document; the BK-90 is relevant here because EADS and Bofors of Sweden have developed a cruise missile derivative, designated by the somewhat strained acronym of "Target Adaptive Unitary & Dispenser Robotic Ubiquity System (TAURUS)", or more formally as the "Kinetic Energy Penetrating Destroyer 350 (KEPD-350)". A smaller variant, the "KEPD-150", has apparently also been considered, but details are unclear.
The joint EADS-Bofors company building the missile is also named Taurus. TAURUS is being developed for the air forces of Sweden and Germany. Italy was a backer, but decided to acquire the Storm Shadow missile instead.
TAURUS is powered by a Williams International P8300 turbojet engine and has switchblade wings. It has a length of about 5 meters (16 feet 5 inches) and weighs about 1,300 kilograms (2,870 pounds), including a 500 kilogram (1,100 pound) unitary warhead). TAURUS has GPS-INS guidance, along with terrain-following radar and a terrain-matching navigation system, plus an imaging infrared seeker for terminal guidance. Range is over 500 kilometers (310 miles).
The missile has stealth features including split engine inputs, which helps reduce its radar signature. It can carry chaff and flare dispensers to confuse enemy air defenses. TAURUS is being designed to carry a "Mephisto" two-stage penetrating unitary warhead, or will act as a submunitions dispenser. Possible submunitions include the "SMART-SEAD" submunition for attacking air-defense sites, using the same intelligent submunition as designed for the Bofors SMART-155 artillery shell, discussed elsewhere.
First flight test of TAURUS was in the fall of 1999, with the weapon introduced into Luftwaffe service in late 2005. Germany has ordered 600, with the weapon to be initially carried on Panavia Tornado strike aircraft and later on Eurofighters. Spain ordered an initial batch of 43 weapons in 2004, initially for carriage on Spanish F/A-18 Hornets and later on the Eurofighter. The Swedes have not bought the weapon yet but are expected to place an order once funding becomes available.
* Israel Military Industries (IMI) sells a midsize cruise missile, the "Delilah". It has stubby main wings, cruciform tailfins, and a turbojet engine intake in the middle of the belly. It has GPS-INS navigation and a datalink, allowing control over the missile and readout of its seeker system. Either an imaging infrared or daylight imaging seeker can be fitted. The Delilah has a range of over 250 kilometers (155 miles) and can loiter in a target area. Air, ship, or ground-launched versions are available, with the ship and ground-launched versions featuring a solid-fuel booster and folding control surfaces. Delilahs were first used in the clash between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militia in 2006.
A number of other cruise missile projects have been put forward around the world, but details of these projects are unclear and it is difficult to know if there is any substance to them or not. South Africa's Kentron has publicized an air-launched cruise missiles such as the "TORGOS", but no details have been forthcoming and the program appears to be in limbo. Taiwan has also been developing an air-launched cruise missile, but the only information that's been released has been a few pictures, revealing a weapon along the lines of the APACHE / Storm Shadow.
