tborge@viewlogic.com (Tom Borge) (02/04/91)
From: tborge@viewlogic.com (Tom Borge) I seem to recall 3 or 4 years ago I heard or read about the FOG-M (Fiber Optic Guided Missle). As I recall, it was developed privately and was touted as far superior to the TOW. It was larger than the TOW, but like the TOW it trailed a control cable, but this one was a fiber optic cable. Also, it was controled remotely, the "flyer" did not have to stand ( and be exposed ) at the launch site. It was demonstrated as a tanker killer and supposedly scored quite well during tests. The Army then said they had a very good tank killer in the Apache or possibly the Cheyenne at that time. Well, the developer supposedly asked for a mixed tank and heliocopter test and then killed both the tanks and the heliocopters. The Army said thanks we'll look into it and promptly filed it under NIH. Does anyone else remember the FOG-M, and if so do you know whatever happened to it? Just another question from Tom Borge tborge@buck.viewlogic.com The opinions expressed do not represent the opinions of Viewlogic.
carmi@ipla01.hac.com (Aviram Carmi) (02/05/91)
From: carmi@ipla01.hac.com (Aviram Carmi) In article <1991Feb4.053534.16085@cbnews.att.com> tborge@viewlogic.com (Tom Borge) writes: > > >From: tborge@viewlogic.com (Tom Borge) >I seem to recall 3 or 4 years ago I heard or read about the FOG-M (Fiber Optic >Guided Missle). As I recall, it was developed privately and was touted as far >superior to the TOW. > ... >Does anyone else remember the FOG-M, and if so do you know whatever >happened to it? The Non-Line of Sight (NLOS), earlier known as FOG-M, was part of the Army's Forward Area Air Defense System (FAADS). The missile system was designed to allow Army gunners to attack and destroy enemy helicopters and armored vehicles masked by terrain or hidden from direct line-of-sight by sending commands through a fiber optic link. In December 1988, following a technical competition in which the competitors submitted cost proposals, the Army awarded a cost-type development contract to the team of Boeing and Hughes Aircraft Missile System Group (MSG). MSG has been a pioneer in the development of fiber optics for missile guidance and NLOS was the fruit of this pioneering effort. The MSG and Boeing team received word from the Army in December 1990 that the NLOS program is being terminated. In the announcement, the Army said it is taking this action because of the program's unanticipated cost growth. The Army said it suspected that the proposals were unrealistically low. According to the Army the award was well below the government's estimate of the cost to complete the full-scale development of the NLOS system. -- Avi Carmi EMail: carmi@ipla01.hac.com Phone: (818) 702-3179
alfalfa@hardy.u.washington.edu (Corey Lawson) (02/06/91)
From: alfalfa@hardy.u.washington.edu (Corey Lawson) I hate to say this, but... Boeing is notoriously bad at military contracts... FOG-M, Tacit Rainbow (I think...), and many other Boeing programs have a tendancy to run way over budget and way under expectations...They do have some successes, like the ALCM, but... Anyways...I don't mean to make Boeing look bad. That's just the way it is. -alfalfa alfalfa@milton.u.washington.edu
ASISKIND@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU (The Frosh) (02/07/91)
From: The Frosh <ASISKIND@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU> X-VMS-News: eagle.wesleyan.edu sci.military:6556 > From: tborge@viewlogic.com (Tom Borge) > I seem to recall 3 or 4 years ago I heard or read about the FOG-M (Fiber Optic > Guided Missle). As I recall, it was developed privately and was touted as far > superior to the TOW. It was larger than the TOW, but like the TOW it trailed > a control cable, but this one was a fiber optic cable. Also, it was controled > remotely, the "flyer" did not have to stand ( and be exposed ) at the launch > site. stuff deleted > Does anyone else remember the FOG-M, and if so do you know whatever > happened to it? I read an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about one week before the war broke out about the FOG-M (all the details are from memory, so please forgive any mistakes). The FOG-M was cancelled by the U.S. Army after a "much improved" version had a disasterous flight test in front of top Army brass. The FOG-M was originally conceived as a daytime, manually guided weapon (with an optical site with a fibre optic cable connecting it with the launcher) with a range of about three miles and a cost per unit of about $20000. The U.S. Army then decided that it wanted a weapon that could be used day or night and (I assume) with some adverse weather capability, so an infra-red seaker head was used (I'm assuming that it replaced the optical head). The missle was subject to so many "improvements" that its cost rose to about $75000 per missle without a corresponding increase in performance, and after the test firing (where, if I remember correctly, the first launch was a dud or a failure and when the soldier firing the missle attempted to destroy it remotely, he accidently crossed the wires, and blew up the second test missle) the missle was finally cancelled, which is a real shame because if the missle was available in its original, "unimproved" form, it would certainly make life much easier for our troups in Saudi Arabia (by making it easier to destroy the Iraqui tanks buried in the desert).