Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: gwh%earthquake.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Aegis vs. Dozen Missiles (was USS IOWA) Summary: AEGIS can handle a LOT of missiles at once! Message-ID: <1990Jun29.025336.6452@cbnews.att.com> Date: 29 Jun 90 02:53:36 GMT References: <1990Jun20.043246.17762@cbnews.att.com> <1990Jun20.232933.1779@cbnews.att.com> <1990Jun22.043119.27816@cbnews.att.com> <1990jun26.025008.15408@cbnews.att.com> <1990Jun28.025720.18921@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 63 Approved: military@att.att.com From: gwh%earthquake.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) In article <1990Jun28.025720.18921@cbnews.att.com> bxr307@csc.anu.oz writes: > > Surely a better determinant of rate of fire of a missile launcher using >a semi-active guidance system that the Standard missile does is the number of >missiles that can be guided at the same time towards a target? It might be >fine for you launcher to be able to fire missiles off wily-nily, however how >much good is that when only the first two or three are actually able to be >guided to their targets? Added to that must be the problem of at what ranges >the engagements begin, because the longer the missile is in flight, the longer >it has to be guided and that cuts down the number of missiles that can be >launched in a single engagement. > I don't know how good the radars on the Aegis system are (and after >the Iranian A300 episode I wonder even more) but I would doubt >if more than two or four missiles could have handled in one engagement at any >one time. Some info to clear this misconception up: The Aegis "system" consists of several major components. In addition to an extensive central computer and display system, the main components are: A SPY-1(CG-47) or SPY-1D (DDG-51) Phased Array Radar Four (CG-47) or Three (DDG-51) Mk-62 (?) Target Illumination Radars Two (CG-47) or one (DDG-51) Mk-45 5" gun mounts either Two Mk-26 twin rail missile launchers (early CG-47) One 61-cell Mk 41 VLS missile launcher and one 32 cell (late ^) Two 61-cell Mk 41 VLS (DDG 51) The antiair missile component of the system is the SM-2 Standard missile. The key to the unique effectiveness of the combined system is the synergism of the components. In a many target engagement, the ship will be launching continuously, and the missiles will follow this path: At launch they are given a vector to fly out. They immediately start heading out this track. While they are in this portion of flight, they may recieve new vectors to track out on from the SPY-1 radar system, which is recieving instructions from the central computer to keep missiles headed towards incoming targets. Note that the radar can do this at the same time as it does all other functions. At some point, the ship will point a Mk 62 designator at the target it wants the missile to engage. It then tells the missile that it's been activated, and the missile starts steering towards the illumination signal in a Semi-Active Radar Homing mode. As soon as the missile hits the target, the Mk 62 is pointed to another target. If the first missile misses, the Mk 62 can be held on the same target while another missile is told to track on the signal. Missiles in flight that haven't been designated yet are under the control of the central computer via the SPY-1, keeping the whole anti-missile targeting situation flexible. Hope this helps clear up everyone's understandings of the Aegis system. == George William Herbert == Quantum Mechanics can explain everything == JOAT for Hire: Anything, === except Madonna, Flame Wars, and NASA's space =======Anywhere, My Price.======= Policy. We're working on the first two... == gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu == ___"Gee, I Hope that wasn't a hostage..."___ == ucbvax!lilac!ocf!gwh == The OCF Gang: Making Tomorrow's Mistakes Today