Posted on 03/23/2003 11:32:16 AM PST by knighthawk
British Tornado warplanes have dropped new bunker busting missiles named Storm Shadow on key targets in Iraq, senior officers said.
The airborne long-range cruise missile was rushed into service early in a classified operation and first indications suggest it worked, piercing reinforced installations used by Iraq's high command and exploding inside.
Tornado GR4 aircrews based at Ali Al Salem, close to the Iraqi border in northern Kuwait, were handed the mission on the 60th anniversary of their squadron's formation to deliver bouncing bombs -- Dambusters -- to breach dams on the Ruhr during World War II.
"It was an historic mission for us," said Wing Commander Dave Robertson, 45.
Two of his aircraft came under missile attack and were forced to take evasive action. One was forced to drop its fuel tanks in order to out-manoeuvre a surface to air missile and completed the mission running close to empty.
Storm Shadow, an Anglo-French production, was delivered under cover of darkness to Ali Al Salem and offered to US battle planners.
"We were concerned about satellite detection and were determined that no one should know it was here," said Group Captain Simon Dobb, the Royal Air Force detachment commander at Ali Al Salem.
"It was not due to enter service until later in the year. 617 Squadron was the lead squadron and had been flying with dummies from their base at RAF Lossiemouth.
Dam Busters.
(And they give their ships cool names, too!)
Does my heart good to think how much this will p!ss off the Froggies.
So9
Good. Very, very good.
Regards, Ivan
They were far better than the Bunker Busters of today. Heavier and deeper penetrating. We simply have nothing that could drop them today in combat. With complete air superiority, we could drop them out the back of a C-141 or C-17 like a Daisy Cutter or MOAB, but that won't make it over Baghdad right now.
SO9
The next dog I get I am going to name him Storm Shadow
The Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD) Storm Shadow missile system has been selected for the RAF to meet SR (A) 1236, the Conventionally Armed Stand Off Missile (CASOM). The contract was awarded to MBD in February 1997 after an international competition with six other companies. The Storm Shadow missile system proposed by MBD is based on the flight-proven Apache air vehicle, and is optimised to meet UK requirements. The Storm Shadow system will provide long range firepower for the Royal Air Force's Tornado, EF 2000 and Harrier GR7 aircraft, ensuring aircrews no longer to enter heavily defended enemy airspace in order to destroy high value targets.
The French SCALP EG (Emploi Général / General Purpose) is the same weapon as Storm Shadow apart from national aspects related to both countries. The two similar, but not identical, Government technical requirements have been fully harmonised into a single common technical solution. The design was selected by the French government in December 1994 (APTGD programme) after a competition between Matra Défense and Aérospatiale. In January 1998 Matra BAe Dynamics (a subsidiary of the Lagardère and British Aerospace groups) received a major contract from the French Ministry of Defence for the mass-production of 500 SCALP cruise missiles. The SCALP E.G. will give Mirage 2000, Rafale and Eurofighter aircraft unprecedented stand-off fire power.
The Storm Shadow is a stealth cruise missile of around 1,300 kg carrying a powerful conventional warhead. Storm Shadow is an air-launched, conventionally-armed, long-range, stand-off, precision weapon, which is deployable at night or day, in most weather and operational conditions. It will be able to destroy sensitive and highly protected targets (command bunkers, communications centers, etc.) with very great accuracy, with a range of over 250 kilometres after an entirely autonomous terrain-following flight at very low altitude. It is being developed to attack and destroy a wide spectrum of static, high value targets as listed below:
C3 (Command, Control and Communication) facilities
airfield facilities
port facilities
ASM/ammo storage
ships/submarines in port
bridges.
Storm Shadow will be integrated onto Tornado GR4/4A, Harrier GR7/T10 and Eurofighter. It will be capable of employment in all theatres of conflict, and the warhead is optimised for use against hardened targets.
The Storm Shadow missile requirement embodies the following key features:
very long range
fire and forget, with fully autonomous guidance
low level terrain following
stealth design
effective penetrator warhead
high reliability
all up round [ensures high system readiness]
low cost of ownership.
The Storm Shadow weapon system comprises:
The operational missile and its All Up Round Container (AURC)
Mission Planning Infrastructure
Data Programming System
the Ground/Air Training missile (GATM) and its AURC.
The Storm Shadow missile is derived from the Apache Anti Runway missile. Key elements of this proven technology have been retained for Storm Shadow, but the following major modifications are being introduced to meet the particular Storm Shadow requirements:
new guidance and navigation based on TERPROM [TERrain PROfile Matching] terrain navigation with an integrated GPS;
terminal guidance using imaging infra-red sensor and autonomous target recognition system; the high lethality of the system is achieved by the use of a BROACH [Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented CHarge] unitary warhead.
The missile weighs approximately 1,300 kilograms and is just over five metres long. Its maximum diameter is under one metre, and with its wings deployed, under three metres.
The first phase of the mission planning regime ensures that the missile navigates to the target with maximum survivability and then enters a robust target acquisition and terminal guidance phase. For complex and pre-determined missions, much of this data would have been pre-prepared earlier at the Command Headquarters. Following an Air Tasking Order, the Squadron would prepare the mission data file with the pre-planned data, together with the latest operational intelligence.
On approaching the terminal phase, the missile will initiate a bunt manoeuvre, pre-selected during mission planning, to obtain the best combination of acquisition probability and lethality against the target. As the missile climbs, it will jettison its nose cover, thereby enabling the missile high resolution imaging infra-red sensor to view the target area ahead.
The missile’s image processor will compare the actual image features with a reference set of features, determined during mission planning. When a feature match is achieved the target will be acquired and the required aim point selection tracked and used as the reference for the missile terminal guidance. As the missile closes in on the target the acquisition process will be repeated with a higher resolution data set to refine the aim point. Tracking will continue against this refined aim point until the precise target location is identified.
When engaging hard targets, such as Hardened Aircraft Shelters or bunkers, the missile will strike the target at the estimated optimum dive angle, selected during mission planning. On impact the detonation sequence commences. The precursor charge will perforate the target structure, and any soil covering, and the follow through penetrator warhead will continue to penetrate inside the target to be detonated after a pre-selectable fuse delay.
Should the mission be against a target with potential high collateral damage, the mission will be aborted if the target identification and acquisition process is unsuccessful. In this case the missile will fly to a predetermined crash site.
Major milestones in the future are:
air carriage clearance - July 1999
first guided firing - July 2000
design freeze - January 2001
In Service Date - Late 2001
More info Here.
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