Browse Topic: Missiles
The canard configuration has been widely adopted in short-range missiles. However, its main drawbacks include difficulties in roll control and a limited angle-of-attack (AoA) range. Compared to conventional canard missiles, the addition of a pair of control surfaces (referred to as “aileron”) behind the canard control surfaces achieves decoupling between the roll channel and pitch-yaw channel. To investigate the influence of ailerons on the aerodynamic characteristics of canard configuration missiles, numerical simulations were conducted for two typical flow conditions: subsonic (Mach 0.5) and supersonic (Mach2.0). The results show that the introduction of ailerons increases the normal force of missiles, causes the center of pressure to shift forward, and reduces the static stability of missiles, thus enhancing their maneuverability. When the ailerons control the roll channel, the effectiveness of the rolling moment remains consistent over the entire AoA range without adverse effects. However, when the canards control the pitch channel, the interference caused by the deflection of the canards on the ailerons leads to increased lift and generates additional nose-up pitching moments, which reduces the pitching moment effectiveness of the missile.
Rocket projectiles are a type of ammunition that get their power from rocket engines. Long-range guided rockets, in particular, hold great significance as they seem to mark the way forward in modern warfare. These guided projectiles take full advantage of the considerable range that long-range rockets offer and, at the same time, manage to achieve improved accuracy. This paper delves into a model that is used for predicting the impact point of rocket projectiles, with the application of the proportional navigation guidance law. It also undertakes an analysis of both the strengths and the weaknesses of this model. Through the formulation of equations related to the dynamics of the center of mass and some other supplementary equations, a rather comprehensive trajectory equation was worked out. When this trajectory was simulated, it brought about the creation of a firing table, which is of help in predicting the initial trajectory inclination angle.
On a clear afternoon over a contested airspace, a drone suddenly appears on radar. Within seconds, more follow, and they're small, fast, and unpredictable. For the U.S. Army's air and missile defense operators, every moment counts. The difference between mission success and mission failure is measured in milliseconds. During that brief window, sensors must connect instantly, embedded systems must process floods of data at the edge, and command links must hold steady even under electronic interference.
Leonardo DRS has opened a new naval power and propulsion manufacturing and testing facility in Charleston, South Carolina, expanding its role in delivering next generation electric propulsion, integrated power systems, and high energy payload support for U.S. Navy surface and undersea platforms. The 140,000 square foot site consolidates advanced manufacturing, final assembly, and high fidelity testing for electric power conversion and propulsion systems, while also supporting naval steam turbine design, production, and subsystem integration for programs including the Columbia class ballistic missile submarine. A representative for Leonardo's Naval Power Systems business unit provided emailed statements with details about the type of advanced manufacturing the company will deploy at the new facility.
Pyrovalves (also known as pyrotechnic valves) have long been a staple in defense systems, particularly in missile and munition launcher applications. The rapid growth of counter-UAS and missile defense systems makes this an ideal time to explore smarter alternatives to pyrovalves. One of the largest ongoing U.S. military efforts is the Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) Multiple Award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. In December, MDA issued two tranches of SHIELD awards to more than 2,100 companies, including major defense contractors and startups such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Shield AI, Anduril, and Virtualitics.
The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Center's Aerophysics Research Facility, (ARF), fired a successful hypersonic shot to test its new rainfield simulator. U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Center, Huntsville, AL Zack Perrin, ARF manager and technical lead engineer of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC's) Targets and Test Resources Branch of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, said ARF is SMDC's premier hypersonic flight and hypervelocity impact laboratory. Perrin said their largest gun system, the 254 mm light gas guns, or LGGs, is the fastest gun in the Army and can launch projectiles 6 inches in diameter to speeds up to 3 kilometers per second or smaller projectiles on the order of 2.7 inches in diameter to velocities exceeding 6 km/s. “I like to tell people that the facility is a gun range the size of an aircraft carrier and within the facility are multiple engineering tools, called light gas guns,” Perrin said. “Aerophysics' core mission is to efficiently and affordably provide both the Army and the broader Department of Defense (DoD) engineering community with state-of-the-art hypersonic aerodynamic data, hypervelocity impact physics data, and weapons system performance data.”
RF and fiber have long co-existed within modern military and aerospace systems, with each medium dedicated to separate, mission-critical roles. Increasingly, however, system designers are turning to RF-over-fiber (RFoF) architectures to bridge the gap between over-the-air RF interfaces and the long, interference-resistant transport advantages of fiber. When it comes to over-the-air communications uses like tactical radio or satellite communications terminals, radio frequency (RF) is still the dominant signal format. RF is also commonly used at the front end of radar and electronic warfare, supporting search, tracking, fire control radar, missile seekers, jammers and electronic support measures.
Moog Inc. East Aurora, NY kgibas@moog.com
When a Marine in the field launches an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) to gather intelligence, it becomes more than just a drone. It's a flying data center that processes AI workloads, runs machine learning algorithms, and transmits critical information through a complex network designed to provide situational awareness across multiple commands. All of this computational power generates significant heat, and in the confined space of a UAV operating in harsh environmental conditions, thermal management becomes critical to mission success. But there's a fundamental question the U.S. defense isn't asking: how will we manage the heat? The Golden Dome, the Trump administration's vision for missile defense, builds upon the existing Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) framework for connecting sensors from all branches of the U.S. armed forces into a unified network powered by artificial intelligence. This plan faces an existential threat from thermal management challenges that have plagued edge computing systems for years.
U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal, AL 703-697-9603
A joint acoustic flight test was conducted by NASA Langley Research Center and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center, with the goal of investigating new methods for acoustic data collection. The impetus for the effort is the anticipated growth of Urban Air Mobility and Future Vertical Lift vehicles. Many of these vehicles are expected to have distributed propulsion systems that may result in unsteady vehicle state conditions even during steady flight. This work examines the acoustic measurements collected during purposefully unsteady maneuvers performed by an MD530F helicopter. A snapshot microphone array design was deployed for this test to capture the acoustic signature on the ground from the helicopter under maneuver conditions. An analysis of the acoustic emissions indicated the presence of blade-vortex interactions, not only during the rolls towards the advancing side of the main rotor, but also rolls towards the retreating side and during pitch-up maneuvers. The strength of the interaction noise was found to be strongly dependent on the acceleration of the vehicle.
BlueHalo Arlington, VA paul.frommelt@bluehalo.com
BlueHalo Arlington, VA 703-718-4050
Defense Equipment & Support (DE&S) Bristol, UK 0117-913-0893
Severe problem of aerodynamic heating and drag force are inherent with any hypersonic space vehicle like space shuttle, missiles etc. For proper design of vehicle, the drag force measurement become very crucial. Ground based test facilities are employed for these estimates along with any suitable force balance as well as sensors. There are many sensors (Accelerometer, Strain gauge and Piezofilm) reported in the literature that is used for evaluating the actual aerodynamic forces over test model in high speed flow. As per previous study, the piezofilm also become an alternative sensor over the strain gauges due to its simple instrumentation. For current investigation, the piezofilm and strain gauge sensors have mounted on same stress force balance to evaluate the response time as well as accuracy of predicted force at the same instant. However, these force balance need to be calibrated for inverse prediction of the force from recorded responses. A reliable multi point calibration methodology has been used to recover the calibration force. Initially, a blunt bicone shaped scaled “DASA CTV” model has been fabricated in house along with three component stress wave balance. Further, a multi-point calibration experiment has been performed over a test model at nine different locations. In literature, there is no any evidence has been found that effect of various sensors during calibration or actual shock tunnel experiments on a recovered forces. Hence, a calibration experimental studies focus on various sensors mounted on stress wave force balance to understand its behavior and also recovery of calibration forces during the experiment.
Lockheed Martin Orlando, FL 407-284-9248
U.S. Army Combat Capability Development Command Aviation and Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC) and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) developed the Mission Systems Flying Testbed (MSFTB) to enable rapid evaluation of innovative technologies and integration approaches against Modular Open System Approach (MOSA) objectives. The MSFTB is a flight test capability to evaluate and demonstrate integration of mission systems to inform Army stakeholders on satisfaction of Modular Open System goals for the Army Aviation enterprise, Future Vertical Lift family of systems, and enduring aviation platforms.
Corrosion occurs in diverse environments mainly on metallic parts. Helicopters are made of a huge percentage of metallic parts and need to have several maintenance steps to guarantee its functioning and its durability. The military helicopters are flying in different kinds of environment, which cover large spectrum of severity of the atmospheric corrosion [1]. In maritime conditions, the most influencing factor is the Time of Wetness, which is a direct result Relative Humidity and Salt loading. The main material used for aircraft and that is suffering from corrosion is aluminium. There are plenty of data to follow the corrosion as a function of the environmental conditions, mainly on the sensitivity with sodium chloride, Relative Humidity, film thickness, etc... [2][3]. The maintenance efficiency on helicopters is dependent on the environmental severity. The U.S. armed forces estimate $10.2 billion in corrosion costs for their aviation and missile fleets during 2016 [4] [5] [6]. The aim of the present analysis consists of defining the Condition Based Maintenance related to corrosion risk to better apply a maintenance program when it is really needed.
The development of hypersonic missiles represents the most significant advancement of defense weaponry since the 1960s. However, they also pose unique challenges for both design and technology. The term “hypersonic” refers to any speed faster than five times the speed of sound, or above Mach 5. Modern hypersonic missile systems require extensive communications interconnects within a highly confined space. This space requirement creates a demand for solutions combining small form factor with reduced weight and rugged construction to withstand high vibration and impact conditions from deployment to target. Currently there are two types of hypersonic weapons. Hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), also known as boost-glide vehicles, typically launch from ballistic missiles and are released at a specific altitude, speed, and with the flight path tailored to a target without being powered. Hypersonic cruise missiles (HCMs) are powered all the way to their targets, flying at lower altitudes than HGVs and launched from rockets or jet aircraft. Power for HCMs comes from air-breathing scramjet engines, which have been in development since the 1950s and most successful since the 2000s.
L3Harris Technologies Melbourne, FL 585-465-3592
In 2023, Parry Labs was awarded two tasks under the Aviation and Missile Technology Consortium's (AMTC) Other Transactions Agreement to lead a multi-vendor team to collaboratively define the Army's Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) requirements for computing and software operating environments for all future Army Aviation procurements. This relatively new approach for the Army and industry drove collaboration and allowed U.S. Government (USG) to make key modularity and openness decisions relative to Aviation Mission Computing Environment (AMCE). This unique opportunity provided a platform for industry to openly inform requirements at a much more granular level than previously possible, providing assurances that such detailed requirements wouldn't be an overreach or constrain innovation and disrupt industry business models. Solicited to the entire AMTC, which represents the vast majority of the aviation industrial base, the AMTC and USG team selected the most qualified vendors to work together with USG subject matter experts to develop a Component Specification Model (CSM) for the AMCE. The real-time collaboration that occurred as a result of this arrangement helped surface new technologies to the USG, and a clear mechanism for industry members from across the consortium to see the progressing requirements and raise any concerns, especially regarding the insertion of proprietary design patterns.
Raytheon Arlington, VA 202-384-2474
During her recent remarks at the National Defense Industrial Association's (NDIA) Emerging Technologies for Defense conference, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks outlined the agency's new “Replicator” initiative. Under the new Replicator initiative, over the next 18 to 24 months, the Defense Department will deploy thousands of low cost autonomous systems across multiple domains. DoD officials are limiting the amount of information they will release around technology or platform specifics for Replicator. Hicks did confirm however that Replicator has been established to counter the rapid buildup of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) armed forces, weapons and new technologies.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace selected a radar test setup from Rohde & Schwarz based on the R&S SMW200A vector signal generator for multi-channel phase-coherent radar signal generation. Kongsberg is Norway's premier supplier of defense and aerospace-related technologies. The joint strike missile (JSM) is a fifth generation long range precision strike missile. Using advanced sensors, the JSM can locate targets based on their electronic signature. Qualification of the JSM is under way with the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF). Kongsberg's JSM must operate autonomously in highly contested environments. To increase mission success, the missile has a passive RF sensor that can locate and identify radio frequency emitters. To test and verify this RF direction finding capability in a laboratory, Kongsberg required a multi-channel phase coherent vector signal generator that could be linked to existing test environments.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace selected a radar test setup from Rohde & Schwarz based on the R&S SMW200A vector signal generator for multi-channel phase-coherent radar signal generation. Kongsberg is Norway’s premier supplier of defense and aerospace-related technologies. The joint strike missile (JSM) is a fifth generation long range precision strike missile. Using advanced sensors, the JSM can locate targets based on their electronic signature. Qualification of the JSM is under way with the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF).
RF cable assemblies might appear to be a minor component in system design, but they can make all the difference between success and failure, especially in mission-critical industries such as defense and space. The RF interconnect is the vital bridge between many critical systems, including payload, communications, signal transport, and processing. This article will primarily focus on hypersonic missile systems and satellites to illustrate these concepts, as they jointly highlight the importance of RF cable assembly design in extreme environments.
The U.S. Air Force has completed the functional configuration audit (FCA) of the latest variant of Raytheon Technologies' Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). The AMRAAM AIM-120D-3 is on-track toward fielding by both the Air Force and Navy this year.
Today, defense organizations in several countries are attempting to expand military capabilities by investing in hypersonic missile development. Since these missiles travel at Mach 5, or nearly 4,000 mph, there are naturally a variety of challenges for developing both the actual weapons systems and the corresponding detection systems. While challenges span nearly every aspect of developing these missiles, in this article we will focus specifically on the key challenges associated with the embedded electronics and communication systems. We will also look at how aerospace and defense engineers working on hypersonic missiles can ensure they are selecting supplier partners that are well positioned to meet these unique challenges by looking into their space heritage and history developing high-reliability radiofrequency (RF) components.
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