jharper%euroies.ucd.ie%CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Jerry Harper) (05/15/89)
From: Jerry Harper <jharper%euroies.ucd.ie%CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> I found the short piece about Sgt. York very interesting and it called to mind a question which someone may care to answer concerning the maximum number of attack aircraft "manageable" in a battle situation by a missile carrier, e.g. Vincennes class. Also, is more than one missile launched for each incoming aircraft. Furthermore, since a successful hit by a missile is unlikely to cause the complete disintegration of an aircraft (the radar doesn't know if a plane is crippled or not) isn't there the possibility that rundant salvos will be directed at aircraft which are crippled and toppling into the ocean or wherever? BTW: Liddel is pronounced "Ly-dell" where I hail from - and we speak English over here :-) Jerry Harper jharper@euroies.uucp AI Research Centre tel: 353-1-693244 x 2484 Computer Science Department University College Dublin Dublin 4 IRELAND
brianb@cs.purdue.edu (Brian Bresnahan) (05/19/89)
From: bucsb!brianb@cs.purdue.edu (Brian Bresnahan) In article <6568@cbnews.ATT.COM> jharper%euroies.ucd.ie%CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Jerry Harper) writes: > >I found the short piece about Sgt. York very interesting and it called to >mind a question which someone may care to answer concerning the maximum >number of attack aircraft "manageable" in a battle situation by a >missile carrier, e.g. Vincennes class. Also, is more than one missile >launched for each incoming aircraft. Furthermore, since a successful >hit by a missile is unlikely to cause the complete disintegration of >an aircraft (the radar doesn't know if a plane is crippled or not) isn't >there the possibility that rundant salvos will be directed at aircraft which >are crippled and toppling into the ocean or wherever? The Vincennes is a member of the Tinconderoga Class of AEGIS CG, the class is currently divided into 2 main groups. The first group (which inlcludes the Vincennes) have the Mk26 dual launchers, that have been used on several classes of CG & CGN. The second group, which includes CG Bunker Hill and on have the Mk41 Vertical launch system. The key elements of the AEGIS system are the Radar/Targeting Computer and the missiles themselves. The Standard Missile 2(SM2) has guidance system that has many modes. It can be constantly directed by the ship as the SM1 and previous missiles were. It can also go on intertial guidance, with course corrections from the ship. It also has its own active Radar, which can be turned on by the ship, or can be programmed to come on after a specific amount of time. Since the missiles do not need a radar unit on the ship constantly directing it, more missile can be in the air. The Radar/Computer has several modes including a full automatic, in which the computer evaluates the threaty and launches at it sees fit. >From what I have seen the only limitations on the number of missiles the system is capable of managing is based of mechanical limitations. There are only 2 directors on the ship, and there were a large number of targets coming from many different direction, the system could not cover the sky with directing beams. The system is primary designed to protect from large numbers of missiles, the threa from aircraft is well covered by the older systems. From what I understand, the system tries to make best use of its resources, that is targeting the fastest and closest targets first. I am not sure if the system will double or triple target, it may if impact is immenent, but in other situations, I would suspect it wouldnt't launch a second missile at a target until the first has made its attack. The worst situation for the system is when there are more targets than missiles, in this case it just fires at what are perceived as the most threatening, until it runs out of missiles. It can then help control the SM2 missile carried by other ships. As for it going for cripples, if the the plane were leaving or crashing, the system would probably consider it less of a threat, since it is no longer moving at the ship at the same speed. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Brian Bresnahan brianb@bucsb.bu.edu engf0ic@BUACCA.bitnet
tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (ATW)) (05/20/89)
From: tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (ATW)) In article <6709@cbnews.ATT.COM> bucsb!brianb@cs.purdue.edu (Brian Bresnahan) writes: >... The Standard Missile 2(SM2) has >guidance system that has many modes. It can be constantly directed >by the ship as the SM1 and previous missiles were. It can also >go on intertial guidance, with course corrections from the ship. It >also has its own active Radar, which can be turned on by the ship, or >can be programmed to come on after a specific amount of time. All references I have seen to the SM2, indicate it has a SEMI-ACTIVE radar homing capability, *not* fully ACTIVE. Hence, the need for weapon directors in that mode of operation. By the way, the missiles go semi-active in the terminal phase when they actually make their attack run. > ... >From what I have seen the only limitations on the number of missiles >the system is capable of managing is based of mechanical limitations. >There are only 2 directors on the ship, and there were a large number >of targets coming from many different direction, the system could not >cover the sky with directing beams. I may be wrong, but on the Ticonderogas I thought there were 2 forward directors and 2 aft ones. On the Arleigh Burke, there are supposed to be 2 forward ones and one aft director. Just to elaborate on what's being said here, the problem of finding the maximum number of targets that can be engaged reduces to optimizing weapon director utilization. You need to know: 1. How long the semi-active terminal phase is (for reasonable accuracy). 2. How long it takes to switch weapon director targets. 3. How many weapon directors there are. Such things as processor power and ROF should not be limiting factors. If anyone can actually say something about this information, I would be very interested to know. One would think, it might be possible to adapt the SPY-1 so that it could illuminate the targets. If that were the case, then you would not have to worry to much about having enough directors. > ... >The worst situation for the system is when there are more targets >than missiles, in this case it just fires at what are perceived >as the most threatening, until it runs out of missiles. Number of missiles available is, of course, a limiting factor also. HARPOON puts the standard loadout at: Ticonderoga (Mk26 dual arm launcher) fwd: 26 SM2MR & 28 ASROC, aft: 44 SM2MR Bunker Hill (Mk41 VLS) fwd: 61 SM2MR, aft: 61 SM2MR (presumably some space will go to ASROC VLS when available) Ted Kim ARPAnet: tek@penzance.cs.ucla.edu UCLA Computer Science Department UUCP: ...!ucbvax!cs.ucla.edu!tek 3804C Boelter Hall PHONE: (213) 206-8696 Los Angeles, CA 90024 ESPnet: tek@ouija.board