Posted on 03/10/2015 6:57:09 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
DH-10 Launch
Xinhui, via China Defense Forum
This clear image of a TEL vehicle launching a DH-10 provides us with a detailed look at the cruise missile; while the tailfins have deployed, the air intake and wings have not. The debris is from the breaking open of the canister, while the short cylinder attached to the missile's rear is its integrated rocket booster that brings the missile into flight before the turbofan engine starts.
A DH-10 land attack cruise missile (LACM) launches out of its canister, heading for parts unknown. Weighing about 1-1.5 tons (about the same size as the American Tomahawk cruise missile), it can be launched from land on a three missile transport erector launch (TEL) vehicle, as shown here. Shortly after ejection from the canister, the DH-10's two retractable wings, four tailfins and belly mounted engine air intake will all unfold as it flies as far as 2,500km away. Reportedly able to hit a garage door sized target, In addition to carrying a 500kg high explosive warhead toward a target with accuracy the DH-10's payload can either be a 500kg high explosive warhead or submunitions for attacking fighters on runways and tank columns, nuclear warheads and fuel air explosives. Notably, DH-10s use several guidance modes, including satellite navigation, inertial navigation, and terrain following, making it hard to jam or deceive.
Despite all the attention lavished on Chinese ballistic missiles like the DF-15 and DF-21, its cruise missiles are some of the most flexible, stealthy and deadly weapons that the PLA has at its disposal. Cruise missiles have several advantages over ballistic missiles; they can be updated during flight on battlefield changes, their low flight altitude makes them very stealthy against air defense radars, and fuel efficient turbofan engines allow cruise missiles to be lighter and cheaper than their ballistic counterparts.
The DH-10 was first displayed in public during the 2009 National Day Parade, China is estimated to have at least several hundred DH-10 cruise missiles. The flexibility of the DH-10 is its greatest strength. The 2,500km ranged H-6K bomber can carry 7 KD-20s (the DH-10's air launched variant), giving the PLAAF the ability to reach Pacific targets distant as Hawaii. The Type 052D guided missile destroyer and Type 093A nuclear attack submarines can carry DH-10s in their vertical launch systems; sea launched DH-10s can cover over 90% of all global land mass. the next generation of this family will be the YJ-100, a proposed DH-10 antiship variant that will have an onboard radar and 800km range, potentially China's answer to the U.S. Long Range Anti-ship Missile.
More broadly, future Chinese cruise missiles are likely to branch off into two families, one optimized for stealth, and the other focused on hypersonic flight. China is already investing large amounts of money into hypersonic engines and stealth technology; stealthy cruise missiles would be used to achieve operational surprise while hypersonic missiles would run past heavy enemy defenses. Other advancements would likely include electromagnetic attack technology, datalinks and distributed sensors/networks and improved AI to autonomously hunt targets in denied environments.
When that happens, we’ll literally have Star Wars. They’ll be after our GPS and recon satellites and we’ll be after BeiDou-2, their recon, and possibly Russian GLONASS.
Looks like Chinese weapon designers are getting their money’s worth from their U.S. engineering degrees.
Lasers can be used but they require so much power and chemicals, they can work against ballistic missiles but for cruise missile, I’d favor the use of the Phalanx Gatling gun or some sort of anti-aircraft gun based system much like World War II, better than nothing. I think maybe a SAM can knock them down. Perhaps barrage balloons can help.
A ballistic missile must survive, what? Oh yeah, lots of heat. Gee, what does a laser bring to the fight? Figure it out and get back to the discussion.
CIWS needs some thought as to end game as well, particularly with super/hyper-sonic missiles.
OK, you blew the missile into pieces. But, now, instead of a missile with warhead, you have a shotgun blast coming at you at supersonic speed, in your thin skinned aluminum ship.
I saw pics of what an unarmed target drone did to an aluminum destroyer. These modern ships are not the WWII ships as far as ability to take hits.
Standoff missile defense is all the navy has, and unfortunately, they cannot carry that many missiles. The Russians figured that out decades ago the trick was to come up with 360° attack swarm to swamp defenses.
Sucks, but defending a ship these days is a dismal task against the Russians/Chicoms. Once out of missiles, out of luck.
Laser are getting much cheaper than missiles and drones ....well drones with lasers will be floating around our ships like bees around the hive.
OTOH, drones with some Davy Crockets would be interesting too......its gonna be a mess.
Lasers vs ballistic missiles are only useful (at current tech levels) during boost and cruise phases of flight. Once the ballistic missile begins re-entry, it’s kinetic or explosive kills only because the warhead or MIRV bus is heavily armored against thermal/laser.
Ping.
Our cruise missiles: Designed in the 1970s.
Their cruise missiles: Based on the canceled successor to our 1970s missiles.
But hey, we’re always going to win no matter what, right?
Ping
They designed it when hired by the companies that built our missiles because they worked cheaper than American workers.
$366K doesn’t go as far as it used to!
Once something is invented and operational people know it’s possible to build. They don’t need the plans, just some good engineers.
The target drone hit an Aegis CG (Cruiser), which is aluminum. The DDG-51 Class Destroyers are all steel.
ARMOR VS LASER....hummm. Laser is the up and coming star...no pun intended. This next war is going to be plenty cutting edge. Thanks.
Why wait? How much you figure the sadistic little Jap corksoakers would charge to stage one of their patented sneak attacks next month?
Maybe Taiwan could help, with its cadre of 75 year-old F-16 pilots and 85 year-old NCOs leading the charge, after the usual pay-offs, of course?
Hey wait ... another brilliant thought. How about press-ganging some of the better-looking illegal aliens and home-grown Fergusonite Gangstas and forming our very own Foreign Legion? 10-year enlistment. Survivors get their choice of a green card or a pimped-out '84 Cadillac full'o'crack.
Trayvon Brigade, Ho! Mike Brown, Tony Robinson Charge! (Since were going against the CHICOM, this time maybe they can remember to bring guns to the fight?)
At the current level of tech, armor wins. Lasers are subject to the inverse-square law and quite frankly aren’t yet powerful enough to pierce a re-entry heat shield at orbital or even suborbital altitude.
The USS Ponce has a laser on it that is encouraging ....how does it stack up?
The LaWS system on the Ponce is basically a 33kW CIWS replacement. It’s six laser welding units in an array. Effective range is 1-3 miles depending on target.
It cannot damage a high flying aircraft other than maybe blinding some optical sensors, and it definitely cannot do anything to a re-entering MIRV.
To give you an idea of the power - it’s only capable of mission killing patrol boats, it’s not able to reliably penetrate the hull.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.