scott%sting.Berkeley.EDU@ (Scott Silvey) (07/18/90)
From: scott%sting.Berkeley.EDU@ (Scott Silvey) Are air to air missiles ever mounted on multiple weapon racks to increase the missile carrying capacity of combat aircraft? I'm thinking of the weapon racks that allow 2 or 3 weapons to be carried on each hardpoint. Is this even feasable? Do these racks require that all their weapons be released simul- taneously? I've seen configurations with multiple Mavericks per hardpoint, so I don't THINK they require simultaneous release. I just can't think of any reason why I haven't noticed multiple Sparrows or Sidewinders per hardpoint (excluding special cases like the F-14 or F-15 which can carry 2 Sidewinders on the inboard mounts in addition to a standard weapon load). Thanks for your help ... Scott
shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) (07/24/90)
From: Mary Shafer <shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov> Scott Silvey (scott%sting.Berkeley.EDU@) writes: >Are air to air missiles ever mounted on multiple weapon racks > to increase the missile carrying capacity of combat aircraft? > I'm thinking of the weapon racks that allow 2 or 3 weapons to > be carried on each hardpoint. Is this even feasable? Do > these racks require that all their weapons be released simul- > taneously? >I've seen configurations with multiple Mavericks per hardpoint, > so I don't THINK they require simultaneous release. I just > can't think of any reason why I haven't noticed multiple > Sparrows or Sidewinders per hardpoint (excluding special cases > like the F-14 or F-15 which can carry 2 Sidewinders on the > inboard mounts in addition to a standard weapon load). The F-18 routinely carries two Sidewinders on a pylon at each of the outermost inboard (i.e. not at the wing tip, but under the wing) stations. They are launched independently. In fact, if you have missiles on both stations and fire more than one, they alternate sides automatically. You're not allowed to mix different models on a pylon, however (either AIM-9Ls or AIM-9Ms, but not both). The pylon which holds two Sidewinders is a standard device used by all the services. I know it's used on the F-15. The F-18 doesn't carry Sparrows on a multiple pylon. I don't think that there is a multiple Sparrow pylon or they'd hang them on the F-18. Sparrows are bigger than Sidewinders and may not have the proper separation characteristics for a dual pylon. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all"--Unknown US fighter pilot
gwh%monsoon.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) (07/24/90)
From: gwh%monsoon.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) >From: scott%sting.Berkeley.EDU@ (Scott Silvey) >Are air to air missiles ever mounted on multiple weapon racks > to increase the missile carrying capacity of combat aircraft? > I'm thinking of the weapon racks that allow 2 or 3 weapons to > be carried on each hardpoint. Is this even feasable? Do > these racks require that all their weapons be released simul- > taneously? Yes, though not commonly. The Brits have a 2-Sidewinder rack that the Harrier uses. It was introduced _just_ before the Falklands conflict. >I've seen configurations with multiple Mavericks per hardpoint, > so I don't THINK they require simultaneous release. I just > can't think of any reason why I haven't noticed multiple > Sparrows or Sidewinders per hardpoint (excluding special cases > like the F-14 or F-15 which can carry 2 Sidewinders on the > inboard mounts in addition to a standard weapon load). The reason you don't see a lot of these is simple; it's bad for missiles to trip over each other's fins on launch, and getting them far enough apart to keep this from happening usually leads to 'well, it's just as easy to add another hardpoint, and then we have more flexibility' reasoning in the engineering staff. What the F-14 and F-15 (and for you astute aircraft weaponeers out there, F-111 8-) and F-4 even do is just get multiple uses from a single hardpoint. Making a hardpoint big enough for a MER (Multiple Ejector Rack) means that you can, quite neatly, fit a pair of sidewinders on the sides of the rack, meaning that you've only got one rack to carry most of the time, which makes a lot of sense. == George William Herbert == * Warning: This person contains chemicals * == JOAT for Hire: Anything, == ** known to cause Cancer, Birth Defects, ** =======Anywhere, My Price.======= ************ and Brain Damage! ************ == gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu == == ucbvax!ocf!gwh == The OCF Gang: Making Tomorrow's Mistakes Today