NASA looks at new use for old Phoenix missiles

Valley Press on ^ | Sunday, March 18, 2007. | ALLISON GATLIN

[BenLurkin]

EDWARDS AFB - NASA Dryden Flight Research Center is studying using surplus Navy Phoenix missiles as hypersonic test platforms. The missiles, with the explosives and targeting systems removed, would be launched from the center's F-15 at speeds nearing Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound. The missile, carrying a test article, would then speed to Mach 5, the threshold of hypersonic speeds.

The project is intended to provide a new capability to flight test research payloads at hypersonic speeds, Dryden project manager Tom Jones said.

It will bridge the gap between wind tunnel and ground model tests and full-scale vehicles.

"For this speed regime, there is no test platform, no test capability for flight," he said.

The Dryden project is in the feasibility study stage, with the early captive-carry flights of the missile beneath the F-15 expected this summer, Jones said. A live launch is not likely until the end of 2008.

The launch concept itself is similar to Dryden's earlier Hyper-X program, in which the X-43 scramjet test vehicle was pushed to hypersonic launch speeds by the Pegasus booster. The booster and research vehicle were carried aloft by the center's workhorse B-52.

The difference in this case is that attached to the Phoenix booster will be a smaller test article, not an entire research vehicle with all the component systems, Jones said. It will focus on specific technologies, parts rather than the entire vehicle system.

The Phoenix platform may be used to test materials exposed to the extremely high heat at hypersonic speeds, or part of an engine or control software, he said.

[river rat]

I hope they ask me.....
I'd have no problem coming up with a target list.

Semper Fi

[FormerACLUmember]

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

It is disappointing to know that in this day and age, our military will no longer have an inventory of these missiles.....I'd prefer that we had more of them, rather than none......

AIM-54 Phoenix Missile

The AIM-54 Phoenix Long-range air-to-air missile, carried in clusters of up to six missiles on the F-14 Tomcat. The Phoenix missile is the Navy's only long-range air-to-air missile. It is an airborne weapons control system with multiple-target handling capabilities, used to kill multiple air targets with conventional warheads. The weapon system consists of an AIM-54 guided missile, interface system, and a launch aircraft with an AN/AWG-9 weapon control system. The AIM-54 is a radar-guided, air-to-air, long-range missile consisting of a guidance, armament, propulsion, and control section, interconnecting cables, wings and fins. The total weapon system has the capability to launch as many as six AIM-54 missiles simultaneously from the F-14 aircraft against an equal number of targets in all weather and heavy jamming environments.

The AIM-54 Phoenix Missile was developed in the 1970s as the principle long-range, air-to-air, defense armament of the F-14 Aircraft. The AIM-54 Phoenix Missile is a fielded weapon currently in Phase III, the Production, Fielding/Deployment, and Operational Support Phase of the Weapon System Acquisition Process.

The three versions of the AIM-54 Phoenix Missile currently being used are the AIM-54A, AIM-54C, and the AIM-54 ECCM/Sealed. The AIM-54 is a radar-guided, air-to-air, long-range missile consisting of a guidance, armament, propulsion, and control section, interconnecting cables, wings and fins. The AIM-54A was the original version to become operational. The improved Phoenix, the AIM-54C, can better counter projected threats from tactical aircraft and cruise missiles. The AIM-54C (sealed) missile is the most recent version and contains improved electronic counter-countermeasure capabilities and does not require coolant conditioning during captive flight. The AIM-54C and AIM-54C (sealed) contains built-in self test and additional missile on-aircraft test capability. The AIM-54C missile has also been designed for greater reliability, longer serviceable in-service time, and a 15 percent reduction in parts..................snipped

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/aim-54.htm

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Is that what would happen? If you launch a mach-3 capable missile from a jet going mach-2, sure, on paper the speeds would theoretically add. But in real life I somehow doubt that would be the result.

[Sergio]

It sounds weird, but yeah, that's the way it works. The solid fuel accelerates the missile at a constant rate until the fuel is spent. Think of it this way, the solid fuel adds Mach 3 to what ever speed the missile is at, at the time of launch.

The real issue to me is if they can get the F-15 to Mach 2 with the missile slung under it.

I've heard of many jets that have low Mach or even subsonic speed limits when they are carrying external stores.

[RunningWolf]

The real issue to me is if they can get the F-15 to Mach 2 with the missile slung under it.

At that altitude I think they could. I would be much more worried about the SRB motors. My guess is those are replaced with new ones.

[Sergio]

At that altitude I think they could. I would be much more worried about the SRB motors. My guess is those are replaced with new ones.

Good point, I had forgotten about the thinner air at high altitude. I would thing they would check the viability of the SRB before test firing, but then again, the SRBs on the Challenger were checked as well.

Here's to a successful test.

[dighton]

From your link, the human scale. Those buggers are big.

[RunningWolf]

From what I have read, one reason the Phoenix was retired was that that the SRB (as all do eventually) is develop cracks in the propellant. This makes for an uncontrolled environment and sometimes it goes 'boom' rather than 'push'

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I guess my tacit question is whether the body of the missile would remain in one piece at Mach 5. There's bound to be some serious heating from air-friction at such a speed and as others have pointed out, those things aren't exactly needles.

[Sergio]

and sometimes it goes 'boom' rather than 'push'

I could see where this would ruin a test. Thanks for the updated information.

[RunningWolf]

There's bound to be some serious heating from air-friction at such a speed.

Actually it is not from friction like they thought, but from 'the heat of compression' as the hard surface meets the air mass. I learned of this and understood the concept quite well in 1981, but calculus knocked me out the degree game back then :-)

[Sergio]

My understanding, and I may be wrong, is that the Phoenix is a modified, airborne version of the Navy's Standard Missile. The unclassified speed for the Standard Missile is Mach 3+. Don't know how much over Mach 3 the "+" is good for, this may be part of the test, to see how fast they can get the missile going.