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• Cruise Missile Basics

What is a cruise missile?

Cruise missiles, although similar to ballistic missiles in some regards, provide an alternate means to deliver a lethal payload rapidly and accurately to a target. Cruise missiles differ from ballistic missiles in that they fly towards their target at lower altitudes, remaining within the Earth’s atmosphere throughout their trajectory. Cruise missiles are defined as “an unmanned self-propelled guided vehicle that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path and whose primary mission is to place an ordnance or special payload on a target.” [1] Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned control-guided helicopters or aircraft can be included in this definition [2] , but will not be discussed on this page.

The cruise missile has its beginnings in World War I, when the U.S. Army developed the Kettering Bug, an unmanned aerial bomb designed to strike targets beyond the range of artillery and too dangerous for piloted aircraft. However, the Kettering Bug was never used in combat. [3] Instead, the modern cruise missile originates more from the V-1 Flying Bomb used by the Germany in the last months of World War II. [4]

Launch Platforms

Cruise missiles are capable of being launched from multiple ground, air, sea and submarine platforms. Both fighter and long-range bomber aircraft are capable of carrying and launching cruise missiles. [5] On the ground, cruise missiles are most commonly launched by road-mobile systems due to the inherent advantages of mobility, but they can also be launched from fixed platforms. [6]

Russian warships in the Caspian Sea launch Kalibr cruise missiles towards targets inside Syria.

At sea, various surface ships and submarines can launch cruise missiles. Submarines are capable of launching while surfaced or submerged using torpedo fixtures or vertical launch tubes. [7] In April 2010 Kontsern-Morinformsistema-Agat, a Russian company, began marketing a version of the Russian Kalibr cruise missile housed in and capable of being launched from a standard shipping container. [8] This would allow any vehicle capable of carrying a standard shipping container to become a discreet platform from which to launch cruise missiles. [9]

Propulsion and Flight

Cruise missiles utilize jet engines as their primary method of propulsion. Most cruise missiles are subsonic and use Turbofan and Turbojet engines. While less common, supersonic and hypersonic cruise missiles utilize Ramjet and Scramjet engines. [10] Some also use rocket motor propulsion as a booster in the first phase of flight [11]  or to accelerate to supersonic speeds in the terminal phase. [12]

Cruise missiles can fly to their targets at varying altitudes as long as they remain within the atmosphere. The trajectory of most remains close to the Earth’s surface, sometimes skimming just meters above the ground. Their low flight path makes it much harder for most radar and sensor systems to detect the missile, unless the radar or sensor system is airborne and directed towards the ground. [13] Some cruise missiles will fly only at high altitudes and dive sharply down once they reach their target. Flying at high altitude can extend the range of the missile because it’s more fuel-efficient than flying at lower altitudes. However, this also makes the missile more susceptible to missile defense systems since today’s radars and sensors are typically positioned to detect and track high altitude threats. [14] Cruise missiles can also mix their flight trajectory between high and low altitude in order to get the benefits of both. In this instance, cruise missiles will typically fly at a high altitude early in their flight to help extend their range, but as they approach their target, or missile defenses, they will fly down to a lower sea skimming/terrain hugging altitude to help it evade detection and defenses. [15]

Flight test of Pakistan’s Ra’ad cruise missile.

Cruise missiles can use multiple guidance methods in order to accurately place their ordinance on the desired target and avoid missile defense systems. One of the first methods used by cruise missiles was inertial guidance, which is still used today and allows the missile to fly along a flight path programmed prior to launch. [16] Another guidance method is terrain contour matching (TERCOM), which compares a terrain map to the current terrain the missile is flying over to ensure the missile is flying on the correct path. [17] Some use GPS systems, which require connection to either GPS or GLONASS satellite system, but can help ensure the missile follows the correct flight path and strikes the final target using specific coordinates with a high degree of accuracy. [18]

Other guidance methods are primarily used in the terminal phase of flight to increase accuracy. One is a laser guided system which uses a sensor to detect its target painted by a laser, however this can be unreliable because dust and smoke can interfere with the laser or the missile may not always be able to see the laser or painted target. [19] Another terminal guidance method is TV guidance, in which an operator uses a camera in the nose of the missile to visually identify and manually guide the missile to the target in its final phase. This method also gives the operator the option to abort the strike in the final phase if an anomaly is detected. [20]  A radar seeker is also used in the nose of some missiles to identify and/or keep the missile on target in the terminal phase. These radar seekers use either passive radar, which detect radar emissions of their target, or active radar, which emit their own radar to detect their target. [21] Infrared (IR) guidance – directing the missile towards heat emitting objects, such as engines [22] – may also be used by cruise missiles in the terminal phase. [23] However, because of its simplicity, IR guidance cannot differentiate between friendly, adversarial, or extraneous IR signals in a crowded battlefield, and is usually used in conjunction with other guidance systems. [24] The last guidance system used by cruise missiles is Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC), which uses a camera in the missile to find the desired target and match it to a stored image using an image correlator. [25]

Cruise missiles are typically armed with conventional or nuclear warheads, but can also be equipped with chemical or biological warheads. [26] The warhead weight and yield can vary widely, depending on the specific cruise missile and its mission.

[1] “Cruise Missiles.” Federation of American Scientists. http://fas.org/nuke/intro/cm/

[3] “Kettering Bug.” UAVGLOBAL. http://www.uavglobal.com/kettering-bug/ ; “War Machines: Cruise Missile.” National Geographic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD8Kr0f1tEY

[4] Hickman, Kennedy. “World War II: V-1 Flying Bomb.” About Education. http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/artillerysiegeweapons/p/v1.htm

[5] N.R.P. “Explained: How Cruise Missiles Work!” Defencyclopedia. https://defencyclopedia.com/2014/08/01/explained-how-cruise-missiles-work/

[8] Stott, Michael. “Deadly New Russian Weapon Hides in Shipping Container.” Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-weapon-idUSTRE63P2XB20100426

[9] Lewis, Jeffrey, Nikolai Sokov. “Sokov on Russian Cruise Missiles.” Arms Control Wonk. http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/207801/sokov-on-russian-cruise-missiles/

[11] Brain, Marshall. “How Cruise Missiles Work.” How Stuff Works. http://science.howstuffworks.com/cruise-missile.htm

[12] N.R.P. “Explained: How Cruise Missiles Work!” Defencyclopedia. https://defencyclopedia.com/2014/08/01/explained-how-cruise-missiles-work/

[22] Kopp, Carlo. “Heat-Seeking Missile Guidance.” Air Power Australia. http://ausairpower.net/TE-IR-Guidance.html

[23] N.R.P. “Explained: How Cruise Missiles Work!” Defencyclopedia. https://defencyclopedia.com/2014/08/01/explained-how-cruise-missiles-work/

[25] Brain, Marshall. “How Cruise Missiles Work.” How Stuff Works. http://science.howstuffworks.com/cruise-missile.htm

[26] “Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat.” Federation of American Scientists.   http://fas.org/irp/threat/missile/naic/part02.htm ; Norris, Robert S., Hans M. Kristensen. “Nuclear Cruise Missiles.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. http://bos.sagepub.com/content/63/6/60.full

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BrahMos: Everything you need to know about the cruise missile system

Defence iq talks to the jv’s general manager and marketing director praveen pathak on brahmos' current status and future plans..

Chasing the world’s fastest jet-launched cruise missile

BRAHMOS BrahMos first drop and launch from a Su-30 MK I

Defence IQ : Typically, a weapon of eight metres in length and close to three tons in weight is typically carried by bombers like the B-1B or Tu-160. This makes the Sukhoi Su-30MK very unique as it is able to carry the BrahMos… P. Pathak : Yes, this is only possible with a unique platform like the Indian Sukhois, itself a class of its own among the fighters. BrahMos is a huge achievement of Russian- Indian military and technical cooperation. These successful achievements from India’s DRDO. Defence Research & Development Organisation] and Russia’s Mashinostroyenia have spread progress and innovation across facilities in both nations. Defence IQ : After several years, tests and trials, can you tell us about the journey to where you currently are with the project? P. Pathak : I’ll start with a brief history. The missile was jointly developed in the late 1990s and 2000s by the Research & Production Association of Machine-Building [in the town of Reutov near Moscow] and our DRDO, thanks to an agreement between the governments of Russia and India, signed on February 12, 1998. BrahMos is a modification of Sovietera anti-ship missiles [Oniks, Yakont] developed by the Reutov Design Bureau in the late 1980s. The name derived from India’s Brahmaputra and Russia’s Moskva rivers. The first test launch was conducted on June 12, 2001, at the Chandipur range in Odisha, India, and subsequently, the missiles began production at enterprises in both countries. Development of these cruise missiles is a natural progression for India, in seeking to develop various platforms for its military arsenal, either on its own or with a partner – but nevertheless, in India. BrahMos is technically a ramjetpowered supersonic cruise missile with a solid propellant booster that can be launched from land-based canisters, submarines, ships and now aircraft. It travels at speeds of Mach 2.8 to 3.0 but is being upgraded in the future to travel at speeds faster than Mach 5.0. for the hypersonic variant.

"BrahMos is technically a ramjet-powered supersonic cruise missile with a solid propellant booster"

BRAHMOS Brahmos has been fired successfully from Indian submarines

Defence IQ : An Indian pilot in Bahrain stated that the latest developments have been particularly challenging and lengthy. Is that the experience you’ve had? P. Pathak : He’s right! Integration efforts onto the flying platform were very complex involving mechanical, electrical and software modifications of the aircraft. The Indian Air Force [IAF] was involved in the development process, as software development of the aircraft was undertaken by the IAF engineers. HAL [state-run Hindustan Aircraft Ltd.] carried out the mechanical and electrical modifications on the aircraft. In addition, the air-launched variant had to be made 500 kg lighter than the land/naval variants. One of the major challenges DRDO scientists had to overcome was the optimisation of transfer-alignment inertial sensors. Thankfully, the experience of the IAF flight test crew and the dedicated and synergetic efforts of the IAF, DRDO and HAL ensured that the integration was smooth. Altogether, it has proven India’s ability to undertake such complex integrations on its own.

"One of the major challenges DRDO scientists had to overcome was the optimisation of transferalignment inertial sensors"

Defence IQ : What tests were undertaken before serial production? P. Pathak : Serial production has been ongoing for the Army and Navy for more than 10 years. Regarding the air variant of BrahMos, there are two important dates. In June 2016, two test-pilots of the ASTE [Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment, a premier IAF, at Bengaluru] carried out the first flights and carriage-tests with a full weight test-vehicle of BrahMos on a Su-30MKI. RECOMMENDED: How capable is the S-400 missile system? And in November 2017, the IAF successfully fired the BrahMos-A in an anti-shipping configuration from the same frontline fighter aircraft, off the Eastern Coast in the Bay of Bengal. The launch was smooth; it fell for about 100 to 150 metres, ignited and followed the desired trajectory, before directly hitting the target ship. This only succeeded with dedicated support from the Indian Navy, by way of ensuring availability of the targets and a large number of monitoring ships to ensure data collection and range safety clearance. Defence IQ : Excellent! Can you tell us about the accuracy of the 3-tonne missiles? P. Pathak : Recently, a final phase steep dive test of the missile was conducted and it proved to have landed within a range of 10 metres of the targeted area, fired over a range of almost 300 km. Defence IQ : Impressive! With regards to ranges, there was a report that BrahMos now benefits from India’s access to the 34-nation Missile Technology Control Regime. Is this the case? P. Pathak: Yes. In June 2016 India was bound by restrictions that limited the range of the operational missile to less than 300km. We had already experimented with the range from 290km to 400km and then successfully first testfired a variant in March 2017. But, increasing the missile’s range from 400km to a further 800km is now possible after India’s induction into the MTCR. And that is being considered…

"The IAF wants two Squadrons of Su-30 MKIs to be modified to accommodate BrahMos, but HAL is proposing to build new aircraft"

BRAHMOS A Brahmos missile on a HAL Tejas fighter

Defence IQ : Interesting! What can you tell us about the current versions employed by the Army and Navy? P. Pathak : Currently, the Army is equipped with three regiments of Block-III BrahMos, with two fully operational. Last year there was a successful test-firing from a test range at Chandipur along the Odisha coast, to validate some new features like an indigenous Indian seeker. It was to conduct and validate life extension technologies, developed for the first time in India. Our Minister of Defence, Nirmala Sitharaman, congratulated the DRDO scientists for the successful launch with new technology. RECOMMENDED: The future of artillery and long range missile systems: Industry outlook This will result in huge savings in replacement missiles already in the inventory of Indian Forces. Regarding the Navy, induction of the first version of the missile system in the Indian Navy began on [destroyer] INS Rajput, back in in 2005. After two successful test trials from INS Kolkata in June 2014 and February 2015 and a test firing from INS Kochi in September 2015, the newly commissioned ship’s systems were validated. Additionally, we’re starting to see good results incorporating BrahMos into submarines with the first firings from a submerged platform having already taken place. Defence IQ : The two surface ships you mentioned – are they carrying BrahMos in launchers or vertically? P. Pathak : In both, actually. There are older vessels that carry them in side-launchers [INS Ranvir D54, a ‘Kashin’ Class Destroyer Project 61ME], but some have been fitted with a module of the ‘Universal Vertical Launcher’, which is very state-of-the-art. Last October, the Cabinet Committee on Security [through which all Indian defence procurement has to be approved by Prime Minister N. Modi], has cleared the procurement of four Krivak-class frigates from Russia. These will be BrahMos-armed in vertical launchers, two to be built in a Russian shipyard [at Yantar in Kaliningrad], and the other two in India [Goa Shipyard Ltd.]. Defence IQ : And what about the future? At AERO-INDIA there was a blue NG [Next Generation] version shown, under the much smaller LCA [light combat aircraft] Tejas fighter. Is that likely to appear soon? P. Pathak : Quite a lot of planning is ongoing right now. BrahMos- Aerospace is actually working on several future versions, which shouldn’t be confused. A smaller version of the missile, termed Mini BrahMos, will be half the weight of the present missile but with more speed. This is part of independent research by the company to explore if a missile with smaller size can be as effective. Then there is – or will come – BrahMos NG , the latest development that will be launched from submarine torpedo-tubes, and the NG-A, launching also from the Su-30MKI as well as from the LCA Tejas and MiG-29s. A big difference is that, on the Sukhoi, up to five BrahMos-NG missiles could be carried, with two missiles on each wing and one under the fuselage. The MiG-29 and the LCA would carry two. The digitized NG means it comes with a digital fuel injection system that will increase thrust, unlike the current versions that have a mechanical fuel injection system. It also will be even faster, up to Mach 3.5. Defence IQ : So it will be smaller, but will retain the same range? P. Pathak : Yes. BrahMos-NG will have same 290 km range, but it will weigh around 1.5 tons and be 5 meters in length and 50 cm in diameter, making it 50% lighter and three meters shorter than its predecessor. However, having a smaller radar cross-section makes it super fast and harder to detect by anti-missile systems. Defence IQ : Which means it can use smaller platforms and lighter vehicles? P. Pathak : The land variant of the NG missile will be hosted on 8x8 launch vehicles, unlike the older version which used 12x12 launch vehicles. We had earlier designed it for the Navy, but this time it could also develop into an air-to-air version, against slow manoeuvring force multipliers, deep within enemy territory. Defence IQ : Could it serve as an air-to-air AWACS killer even after being fired from the Indian side of the border? Similarly, one supposes it could target enemy refuelling aircraft or transports… P. Pathak : That is within the scope of the system and the engineers are quoting it as quite possible. Defence IQ : What is the current timeframe projected? P. Pathak : A first test firing of the sleeker, lighter NG version could take place within two years, with feasibility studies showing the way forward to integrate it onto the LCA. They have found what modifications need to be done to the LCA’s wing to carry the NG, as well as some changes to the missile. RECOMMENDED: How the APKWS is improving the Hydra-70: BAE Systems interview Full integration, which we think can be expected within four years, will also boost the export potential of the fighter jet, as it would resemble a potent indigenous weapon system that can take down land targets or ships at a distance of almost 300 km.

"Research and development are already on their path to developing the hypersonic variant, called BrahMos II"

Defence IQ : And what about the hypersonic capability? P. Pathak : Research and development are already on their path to developing the hypersonic variant, called BrahMos II. It is projected to double the speed of the current BrahMos, potentially up to Mach 7. Defence IQ : And that will also be named the ‘BrahMos ER’? P. Pathak : The abbreviation ‘ER’ refers to the extended-range version up to 800 km, but not the hypersonic BrahMos-II, which goes even further. We calculate that an 800 km version might be ready for testing by end of this year.

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Got cruise missile-armed cargo planes? The US Air Force is nearly there.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force conducted a test of its Rapid Dragon palletized munition system concept Nov. 3, which could one day pave the way to launching a barrage of cruise missiles out of the back of mobility aircraft.

The Air Force Research Laboratory said in a Tuesday release that it deployed a long-range cruise missile separation test vehicle — basically a cruise missile without its engine or warhead — from an MC-130J Commando II aircraft.

During the flight demonstration at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the MC-130′s crew — an operational group from Air Force Special Operations Command — obtained new targeting data for its onboard battle management system while it was flying to the drop zone, the release said. The battle management system then uploaded that new data to the weapon on the pallet, allowing it to find its new target.

This was the first time the battle management system, using a beyond line-of-sight command-and-control node, received and uploaded new targeting data into such a separation test vehicle, the Air Force said. The service’s previous beyond line-of-sight retargeting demonstrations had used a cruise missile emulator.

When the MC-130J neared the target, it airdropped the Rapid Dragon deployment system carrying the unarmed cruise missile, as well as three weights each simulating the mass and shape of cruise missiles. Within a few seconds, parachutes deployed to stabilize the pallet, and the cruise missile and the weights began to release sequentially to avoid collisions. The missile’s wings and tail popped out, it began to pull up, and then it glided toward its new target.

AFRL said this could lead to the first deployment of a live long-range cruise missile, operating under powered flight, from an MC-130J flown by Air Force Special Operations Command. And future programs following up on this effort will look at whether Rapid Dragon can handle other types of weapons and multiple effects capabilities.

An airdropped palletized munition system carrying a production long range cruise missile with no warhead or engine immediately after being airdropped from an MC-130J. (Air Force)

“In future conflict scenarios against strategic competitors, the ability to cost-effectively deliver long-range standoff weapons en masse from nontraditional platforms expands warfighting flexibility and introduces new deterrence options,” Rapid Dragon program manager Dean Evans said.

AFRL spokesman Bryan Ripple said the next test will be a live-fire event, expected to take place in December.

The Air Force Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation Office is leading the Rapid Dragon program. The other organizations that took part in the demonstration were the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, the Standoff Munitions Application Center, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Systima Technologies, and the Safran Electronics and Defense subsidiary Parachutes USA.

AFRL said in the release that the demonstration also showed previous successful tests could be replicated, such as conducting high-altitude airdrops, jettisoning multiple weapons from Rapid Dragon, and deconflicting weapons during their release by cleanly separating the unarmed cruise missile and the three other simulated missiles.

And AFRL said Rapid Dragon would be able to easily roll on and off of mobility aircraft without any modifications to the planes.

Once parachutes stabilized the falling palletized munition deployment system, the cruise missile and three weights were released sequentially. The photo shows a successful separation of the cruise missile following the weapon release, followed by the deployment of its wings and tail. (Air Force)

The Air Force has been looking for ways to arm its airlift planes with multiple weapons strapped to smart pallets, which could upload targeting information to the weapons. This “bomb bay in a box” concept, as the Air Force once termed it, is intended to allow aircraft such as the C-130 and C-17 to release several weapons that could strike enemies from a distance, while itself staying out of danger.

But while the Rapid Dragon program could represent an advancement in the way the Air Force launches palletized munitions from mobility aircraft, it would not be the first time weapons were delivered from those planes. In 2017, an MC-130 from a special operations unit at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico dropped a GBU-43/B known as the MOAB, or Massive Ordnance Air Blast, on a tunnel complex in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, used by the Islamic State Khorasan militant group.

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

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Scramjet-Powered Cruise Missile Emerges As New U.S. Priority

Fielding an operational scramjet-powered cruise missile has emerged as a new priority for the U.S. Defense Department’s proliferating portfolio of maneuvering hypersonic weapons.     

Senior defense officials are putting together a program to develop an operational follow-on to DARPA’s Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC), which currently supports competing scramjet-powered missile demonstrators designed by Lockheed Martin/Aerojet Rocketdyne and Raytheon/Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems teams. 

• Pentagon officials seek hypersonic air-breathing weapon follow-on
• Awareness of boost-glide challenges sinks in

“We are in the process of trying to figure out what [an operational program] would look like,” says Mike White, assistant director for hypersonics in the office of the under secretary of defense for research and engineering. 

As the U.S. military rushed after 2017 to respond to Russian and Chinese hypersonic advances, air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles fell to the bottom of the priority list. Funding for operational programs favored boost-glide technology over the seemingly less mature field of weapons powered by scramjets (supersonic combustion ramjets). 

But that assumption is being challenged. Along with the flight-test experience accumulated a decade ago by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) X-51 scramjet vehicle, recent ground tests and simulations indicate scramjet technology is more advanced than previously understood. In September, the AFRL announced it had achieved thrust levels over 13,000 lb. with a Northrop-designed engine at speeds “above Mach 4” in a hypersonic wind tunnel. In June, Raytheon reported the maturity of its scramjet-powered HAWC demonstrator had exceeded that of its boost-glide design.

In December 2018, Michael Griffin, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, described hypersonic cruise missiles as “further out” than boost-glide weapons. But the technology advanced so quickly that another official, Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper, concluded seven months later the HAWC program would be “a nearer-term not a far-term capability.”

“We’d like to see HAWC transition to a fully operational system,” says Mark Lewis, the Defense Department’s director of research and engineering for modernization. “It’s probably the issue that our hypersonic team is spending most time on right now.”

Awareness is also growing for the technical challenges still facing medium-range boost-glide missiles in the class of DARPA’s Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) missile demonstrators. The Air Force’s 2017 decision to launch the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), an operational follow-on to the TBG, helped legitimize the Defense Department’s revived interest in hypersonic weapons, White says. 

“I think people underestimate the importance of this decision of the Air Force [to launch ARRW] in the hypersonic community,” he says. “We’ve always been kind of stuck in the [research and development] realm. The Air Force in 2017, they were the first service that said: ‘Hey, we want hypersonic weapons.’”

But the TBG-derived ARRW represents a particularly difficult technical challenge. The design uses a higher lift-over-drag ratio wing shape, which has never been successfully tested by the U.S. government. By contrast, the axisymmetric shape of the lower lift-over-drag glider developed for the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB)—the front-end designed for the Air Force Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon, the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) and the Navy’s Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS)—has logged several successful flight tests since the late 1970s. The winged TBG’s greater maneuverability, albeit with shorter range, makes it far more challenging to design. 

“It’s DARPA-hard, and TBG is hard,” Lewis says.

Ongoing studies by the Air Force’s Warfighting Integration Capability are also starting to highlight the operational benefits of cruise missiles compared to medium-range boost-glide systems. A cruise missile still requires a booster rocket to accelerate to hypersonic speed, but it does not need to carry as much oxidizer and fuel as a boost-glide rocket because it remains within the atmosphere. Air-breathing cruise missiles’ smaller size means a single aircraft, such as a Boeing B-52, can carry them in much greater numbers.  

“For a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle you can get two, maybe four, on a B-52,” White says. “But you can get 15 or maybe 20 hypersonic cruise missiles [on a B-52] because the size is much smaller.So you can carry them internally in the rotary rack. There are significant advantages for the air breathers, but they offer different technical challenges.”

The smaller size and increased packaging advantages of air breathers would give the Air Force significant tactical advantage, Lewis adds. “The No. 1 question we should be asking is: ‘How do we deliver lots of these things?’ In my mind, one way to do that is to fit a lot of them in a weapons bay. Getting 15-20 per bomb bay is a lot, but if I’m [launching them from] a single mobile launcher, I’m not sure I can deliver the numbers I need. We are not interested in capability when we build two and declare it a success—that doesn’t do anything.”

The Pentagon’s hypersonic weapons portfolio emerged in a blur of bureaucratic activity between 2017 and 2018. The first step was the Air Force’s decision to launch the medium-range ARRW program in 2017 as the follow-on to TBG. Shortly afterward, the Air Force also decided to launch the longer-range HCSW. In November 2017, the Navy conducted a successful test of the proposed C-HGB, which prompted the Navy and the Army to support funding toward the operational prototypes of the IRCPS and LRHW—for submarine and ground launch, respectively.

As it stands now, the portfolio includes air-launched medium-range and long-range boost-glide systems, an intermediate-range submarine-launched missile and a long-range weapon launched from a tractor trailer. If an operational follow-on of the HAWC is approved, with Air Force and Navy concepts under consideration, new air- and surface-launched options for medium-range targets could become available. 

In addition to the offensive programs, the Defense Department’s road map also includes development of a counter-hypersonic system—starting with the Missile Defense Agency’s Regional Glide-Phase Weapon System as well as multiple programs for booster development and continued funding of basic science and technology. Additional DARPA programs include the ground-launched Operational Fires, which seeks to integrate a TBG front-end on a two-stage booster stack that includes a throttled upper stage, and the Advanced Full-Range Engine, a dual-mode ramjet that could power a future hypersonic aircraft. 

Such a diverse yet overlapping  road map has prompted criticism. In July, the chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee on defense, Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), warned defense officials that they “need to better define the strategy for the investment in these systems.” Visclosky’s committee proposed cutting some funding for the Army’s hypersonic program, but a joint conference committee of Congressional appropriators ultimately restored the funding and added more for other hypersonic programs. 

Lewis believes the development of a multitude of hypersonic missile programs is justified.

“Too many people think hypersonics is just one thing,” Lewis says. “They think, for example, [it’s just for the long-range, conventional prompt strike mission]. But no, it’s a range of capabilities.

“Even at the tactical level it’s, for lack of a better phrase, a high-low mix,” Lewis adds. “We should probably have a mix of air breathers and boost-glide systems. They probably have different capabilities, different ranges and so on. We have F-16s and F-15s, and they have different roles, and that should be the same with tactical hypersonic systems as well.”

Steve covers military aviation, missiles and space for the Aviation Week Network, based in Washington DC.

Guy is a Senior Editor for Aviation Week, covering technology and propulsion. He is based in Colorado Springs.

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The Simple Difference Between Ballistic Missiles and Cruise Missiles

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In 2017, North Korea unexpectedly staged a test launch of what was then a new ballistic missile , the Pukguksong-2. The launch took place when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was on a state visit to the United States . There have been many more test launches of ballistic missiles by North Korea since. Between May and October 2019, North Korea launched as many as 12 ballistic missiles or other projectiles. But they have all been just test launches.

Things got real, though, on Jan. 7, 2020, when Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops. This was not a test launch. It was Iran's retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Iran Gen. Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3, 2020. There were no casualties and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif defended the missile strike on the U.S. bases in Iraq, saying it was an act of "self-defense."

But for the non-military minded among us, these ballistic missile launches — both the constant test launches in North Korea and the intentional strikes on U.S. bases in Iraq — may raise a good question: What exactly is a ballistic missile, anyway? Is there something about the ballistic part that makes a missile even more dangerous? After all, when someone freaks out we say they've "gone ballistic."

According to the Federation of American Scientists , a ballistic missile is one that has a ballistic trajectory over most of its flight path. What that means is that once the missile burns up the fuel that propels it, the missile keeps moving, the same way that a bullet does after it's been fired out of a gun. Once the fuel is gone, the missile's direction can't be altered. It follows a path determined by the speed of its launch and the force of gravity trying to pull it back toward the Earth's surface. Eventually, gravity guides the missile — and its payload, which might be an explosive, a chemical or biological weapon, or a nuclear device — down toward its target.

Ballistic missiles are different than cruise missiles. Cruise missiles are self-propelled for the majority of their time in the air, flying in a relatively straight line and at lower altitudes thanks to a rocket propellant. Think of a ballistic missile's flight path as a large arc up and back down again, while that of a cruise missile — fired from a warship, for instance — is closer to a straight line.

Ballistic missiles first came into use during World War II, when the Germans used a ballistic missile called the V-2 to attack London. British air defenses designed to stop aircraft couldn't stop the V-2s, because the rockets traveled too high into the upper atmosphere and moved too fast.

After the war, the U.S., with the help of captured German technology and scientists, built its own arsenal of even more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of unleashing nuclear destruction upon targets on the other side of the world. The Soviet Union and China built ICBMs as well, setting up a world where a nuclear war was deterred by the prospect of mutual assured destruction.

The North Korean regime successfully tested intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in July and November 2017. Its Hwasong-15 ICBM reached an altitude of 2,780 miles (4,475 kilometers) and flew about 590 miles (1,000 kilometers) before landing in the sea off the coast of Japan. Analysts estimate the Hwasong-15 has a potential range of 8,100 miles (13,000 kilometers). If it's fired on a flatter trajectory, it could reach potentially reach anywhere on the U.S. mainland.

Which countries have intercontinental ballistic missiles?

What is meant by ballistic trajectory, what is difference between a ballistic and a cruise missile, how high do ballistic missiles fly, are ballistic missiles nuclear.

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Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

April 27, 2017

Fact Sheet: Ballistic vs. Cruise Missiles

Ballistic missiles are powered initially by a rocket or series of rockets in stages, but then follow an unpowered trajectory that arches upwards before descending to reach its intended target. Ballistic missiles can carry either nuclear or conventional warheads.

There are four general classifications of ballistic missiles based on their range, or the maximum distance the missile can travel:

• Short-range: less than 1,000 kilometers (approximately 620 miles), also known as “tactical” ballistic missiles.
• Medium-range: between 1,000 and 3,000 kilometers (approximately 620-1,860 miles), also known as “theater” ballistic missiles.
• Intermediate-range: between 3,000 and 5,500 kilometers (approximately 1,860-3,410 miles)
• Long-range: more than 5,500 kilometers (approximately 3,410 miles), also known as intercontinental or strategic ballistic missiles. Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) can fly much further than the minimum range; for example, Russia could hit Chicago with an ICBM launched from the Krasnoyarsk ICBM base, which is located 9,156 kilometers (5,689 miles) away.

Ballistic missiles have three stages of flight:

Boost Phase begins at launch and lasts until the rocket engine(s) stops firing and the missile begins unpowered flight. Depending on the missile, boost phase can last three to five minutes. Most of this phase takes place in the atmosphere.

Midcourse Phase begins after the rocket(s) stops firing. The missile continues to ascend toward the highest point in its trajectory, and then begins to descend toward Earth. This is the longest phase of a missile’s flight; for ICBMs, it can last around 20 minutes. During midcourse phase, ICBMs can travel around 24,000 kilometers per hour (15,000 miles per hour).

Terminal Phase begins when the detached warhead(s) reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and ends upon impact or detonation. During this phase, which can last for less than a minute, strategic warheads can be traveling at speeds greater than 3,200 kilometers per hour (1,988 miles per hour).

Cruise missiles remain within the atmosphere for the duration of their flight and can fly as low as a few meters off the ground. Flying low to the surface of the earth expends more fuel but makes a cruise missile very difficult to detect.

Cruise missiles are self-guided and use multiple methods to accurately deliver their payload, including terrain mapping, global positioning systems (GPS) and inertial guidance, which uses motion sensors and gyroscopes to keep the missile on a pre-programmed flight path. As advanced cruise missiles approach their target, remote operators can use a camera in the nose of the missile to see what the missile sees. This gives them the option to manually guide the missile to its target or to abort the strike.

To learn about missile defense, check out our fact sheet .

Sources: Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency, Federation of American Scientists .

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An F-16 Shot Down a Cruise Missile with a Rocket

But that was the easy part. Finding the missile was much, much harder.

• The weapon used to shoot down the cruise missile, APKWS, is a guided rocket much cheaper than existing air-to-air missiles.
• The exercise proves that a single fighter armed with inexpensive weapons can easily shoot down cruise missiles ... as long as it can find them.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet shot down a simulated cruise missile with a rocket, proving that downing cruise missiles isn't a difficult or expensive enterprise—as long as you can find it. The service used the guided version of a common 70-millimeter rocket to destroy the simulated threat in flight.

According to Air Force Magazine , the test was carried out on December 19 by the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron based at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. An F-16 used a GR-20A Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS, to shoot down a target drone. The weapon was fired from a rocket pod carried by the fighter jet and guided to the target by the airplane’s onboard targeting pod. The actual DoD footage of the test consists of just the rocket leaving the F-16, so here's a meatier video of APKWS deployed on a Marine Corps Harrier fighter striking ground targets.

APKWS was developed in the 2000s by adding a laser-seeking guidance system and maneuvering fins to the 70-millimeter Hydra 70 rocket. Hydra 70s are typically fired by aircraft in salvos of multiple rockets to ensure blanketing the target with explosive effects. A single rocket would likely disable an enemy light armored vehicle, but the Hydra 70 is an unguided weapon and a salvo has a better chance of hitting a vehicle than a single rocket. By adding a simple, relatively inexpensive guided weapons package, an aircraft carrying a pod of seven APKWS can attack seven different enemy targets instead of expending them on a single target.

Subsonic guided missiles like cruise missiles are relatively easy to shoot down. They fly in straight lines, follow predictable paths, and don’t take evasive action. In World War II, Allied fighters like the British Spitfire shot down Hitler’s V-1 missiles, an early example of the cruise missile, with simple machine guns—or even knocked them off course by nudging them with their wings.

APKWS costs about $25,000 a rocket —a bargain in today’s world of gold-plated defense equipment. The AMRAAM medium range air-to-air missile , on the other hand, costs upward of $1 million. AMRAAM is an excellent missile, but it’s also overkill for a non-maneuvering target. Another benefit of using APKWS: While a F-16 typically carries just four AMRAAMs, APKWS is carried in pods with up to 19 missiles per pod. An F-16 carrying two such pods could shoot down a dozen or more cruise missiles in a single flight.

Cruise missiles like the American Tomahawk have been around since the 1970s, but until very recently, the only cruise missiles used in action have been American missiles. Russia’s 2017 launch of Kalibr cruise missiles against targets in Syria and Iranian missiles launched just this year against Saudi Arabia alerted the West of the possibility that cruise missiles could someday be used against American forces.

Cruise missiles trade speed for the ability to fly low, under the beams of enemy radar systems. Many fly low enough that they are only detectable by conventional ground-based radars at distances of 30 miles or less—or about three minutes’ flight time. This gives defenders on the ground little time to react to their threat. The hard part of the cruise missile threat is actually detecting them. As last week’s test demonstrates, shooting them down is the easy—and relatively inexpensive—part.

Source: Air Force Magazine

Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News , and others. He lives in San Francisco.

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North Korea says it tested ‘super-large’ cruise missile warhead and new anti-aircraft missile

Korean Central News Agency released photos showing at least two missiles being fired off launcher trucks on a runway. The missiles in the image were not identified. State media said North Korea’s missile administration on Friday conducted a ‘power test’ for the warhead designed for the Hwasal-1 Ra-3 strategic cruise missile and a test-launch of the Pyoljji-1-2 anti-aircraft missile.

The South Korean and U.S. air forces held joint air drills in Gunsan, South Korea on Friday, where they practiced ways to detect and counter enemy threats.

A TV screen shows an image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 20, 2024. North Korea said Saturday it tested a “super-large” cruise missile warhead and a new anti-aircraft missile in a western coastal area as it expands military capabilities in the face of deepening tensions with the United States and South Korea. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

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South Korean army soldiers pass by the barbed-wire fence in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A U.S. Army soldier from the Eighth Army and South Korean army soldiers throw simulated grenades during the Expert Soldier, Infantry, and Medic Badge (E3B) competition at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

U.S. Army soldiers from the Eighth Army compete during the Expert Soldier, Infantry, and Medic Badge (E3B) competition at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Saturday it tested a “super-large” cruise missile warhead and a new anti-aircraft missile in a western coastal area as it expands military capabilities in the face of deepening tensions with the United States and South Korea.

North Korean state media said the country’s missile administration on Friday conducted a “power test” for the warhead designed for the Hwasal-1 Ra-3 strategic cruise missile and a test-launch of the Pyoljji-1-2 anti-aircraft missile. It said the tests attained an unspecified “certain goal.”

Photos released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency showed at least two missiles being fired off launcher trucks at a runway.

North Korea conducted a similar set of tests Feb. 2, but at the time did not specify the names of the cruise missile or the anti-aircraft missile, indicating it was possibly seeing technological progress after testing the same system over weeks.

KCNA insisted Friday’s tests were part of the North’s regular military development activities and had nothing to do with the “surrounding situation.”

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest in years, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dialing up his weapons demonstrations, which have included more powerful missiles aimed at the U.S. mainland and U.S. targets in the Pacific. The United States, South Korea and Japan have responded by expanding their combined military training and sharpening their deterrence strategies built around strategic U.S. assets.

Cruise missiles are among a growing collection of North Korean weapons designed to overwhelm regional missile defenses. They supplement the North’s vast lineup of ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles aimed at the continental United States.

Analysts say anti-aircraft missile technology is an area where North Korea could benefit from its deepening military cooperation with Russia , as the two countries align in the face of their separate, intensifying confrontations with the U.S. The United States and South Korea have accused North Korea of providing artillery shells and other equipment to Russia to help extend its warfighting in Ukraine.

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‘It’s simple and cheap’: the volunteers making Ukraine’s Trembita bomb

Known as the ‘people’s missile’, the bomb costs about £2,300 to build and can be transported in a car boot

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

A t an industrial estate near Kyiv, a group of engineers stand next to a tube. The metal device is part of a homemade rocket. After twiddling with an ignition cable, the engine sparks into flame. There is a terrifying, ear-splitting roar. Two dogs that guard the compound slink away and hide; swallows fly off. The centre of the pipe glows red. After a minute, the awful din stops.

Welcome to the Trembita , also known as the “people’s missile” . The prototype is Ukraine’s 21st-century answer to the V-1 flying bomb , or doodlebug, the long-range missile used by Nazi Germany during the second world war against targets in south-east England.

The Ukrainian version has a range of 140km (87 miles). It can carry 25kgs of explosives, and it runs on diesel or petrol that you can buy in the local garage.

Best of all for Ukraine’s armed forces, the Trembita is cheap. It costs about $3,000 (£2,300) to build the rocket and another $7,000 to equip it with a modern navigation system. The price is a fraction of the cost of Russia’s hypersonic and cruise missiles, Kinzhal and Kalibr, estimated to cost $1m to $2m each. Moscow has used dozens of them in regular attacks on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv.

The project’s chief engineer, Akym Kleymenov, says his low-tech bomb can be transported in the boot of a car. It is launched by pneumatic catapult or with a solid-fuel booster. Trembita uses a jet pulse engine and carries 30l of fuel. This is enough to send the rocket on a half-hour journey into enemy territory, though not quite far enough to hit the bridge connecting Russia with occupied Crimea.

According to Kleymenov, the purpose of Ukraine’s first native cruise missile is to overwhelm Russia’s defences. “It’s simple, cheap, and good at exhausting enemy air defence systems,” he explains, standing in a garage full of welding equipment, metal cylinders and an old car missing a wheel. Asked if he is a Ukrainian Q, the gadget master from the James Bond films, he replies: “Probably, yes.”

Further tests will be carried out soon at a military training base. The plan is to launch the Trembitas in a battery, with 20 or 30 fired simultaneously. Not all will carry explosives. Targets will include ammunition dumps, and command and control centres. The rockets have a “negative psycho-emotional” effect on Russian soldiers, exposing them to a deafening 100db noise, its designer says.

The project’s organiser, Viktor Romaniuk, is a former member of Ukraine’s parliament, the Rada. He started working as a military volunteer in 2014, when Russian annexed Crimea and began a covert war in the eastern Donbas region. Romaniuk is appealing for donations. He wants to crowdfund production of up to 1,000 limited-range cruise missiles a month. This will cost $350,000 to $600,000, he estimates.

Romaniuk says the missile is named after a long wooden alpine horn played by Ukrainian shepherds in the western Carpathian highlands. His research and development team consists of eight people, working full-time, he says. They have additionally constructed drones and a new type of mortar with a highly accurate targeting system. It can be fired more speedily than a regular mortar and then packed away.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly asked western partners to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles. In summer 2022, the Biden administration delivered high-precision Himars rocket launchers. These have a range of 70-80km and were heavily employed by Kyiv in its successful counteroffensives last autumn in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions. Russia responded by moving its logistics depots away from the line of contact.

In May, the UK sent Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine, infuriating Moscow. They have a range of “in excess of 250km”, according to its manufacturer. Ukraine’s armed forces have used Storm Shadows to hit Russian logistics centres in occupied territory that was previously unreachable, including the eastern city of Luhansk, close to the Russian border, and the port of Berdiansk.

The White House has so far refused to give Kyiv ATACMS artillery, which can be deployed in Himars systems and have a 300km range.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Washington was on the brink of agreeing to hand over ATACMS, as part of a new package of security assistance.

The delivery – if it happens – comes more than 16 months after Vladimir Putin embarked on a full-scale invasion, and as Ukraine’s latest counteroffensive makes slow progress.

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In the meantime, Trembita’s developers have set up their own mini- production line. In one corner of the workshop are faulty Ukrainian Grad missiles, stacked up next to Russian Grads captured on the battlefield.

These are used as a source of valuable missile fuel accelerant. Nearby is a rusting machine gun. Asked if this makeshift production facility is safe, engineer Serhii Biriukov replies: “For us, yes. For the Russians, no.”

Yuriy Sak , an adviser to Ukraine’s defence ministry, says the Trembita is one of several interesting grassroots projects being carried out by volunteer groups, in parallel to government enterprises. “We can’t rely forever on our western partners for military assistance and supplies. This is an example of Ukraine thinking strategically and implementing ideas that build up our defence industrial base,” he says. Will Trembita work? “Fingers crossed, yes,” he replies.

Sak acknowledges the war may go on for some time. He says he is confident Ukraine will win in the end because it encourages and welcomes individual initiatives and bottom-up technical creativity. Ukrainian society is networked and horizontal, in contrast to the feudal and repressive system that exists in totalitarian Russia, where everyone defers to the boss, out of cowardice and fear, he says.

Back at the workshop, the engineers are preparing for another ear-splitting test. “The dogs start barking whenever Russia attacks us with Iranian drones,” Biriukov says. “Our weapon is more powerful. When we start up the Trembita, they always run away.”

Invasion by Luke Harding (Guardian Faber Publishing, £10.99). To support The Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply.

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Israeli F-35 “Adir” fighter destroys cruise missile in flight: video

For the first time, an Israeli Air Force (IAF) F-35 “Adir” (“Mighty One”) fighter jet shot down a cruise missile mid-flight.

A cruise missile, launched from Yemen, presumably by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, was detected by the IAF heading towards Israeli airspace. While the precise date of the incident remains undisclosed by the IAF, multiple missile launches from Yemen were reported on October 31, 2023.

After detecting the incoming threat, the IAF scrambled fighter jets to intercept the missile. Cockpit footage of the interception was released, showing what likely is a Hoveyzeh (or Soumar) cruise missile being shot down in flight by an air-to-air missile, likely an AIM-9X Sidewinder.

Later that same day, the IAF reported that the “Arrow” Aerial Defense System came into play when it intercepted a surface-to-surface missile in the area of the Red Sea.

Back in May 2018, the IAF made headlines when it disclosed having used its F-35 for targeted attacks in Syria and Lebanon, making Israel the first nation to employ this aircraft in a combat operation.

USS Carney intercepts Houthi missiles and drones ‘potentially’ aimed at Israel

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Turbine Products

Kratos’ Turbine Technology division (KTT) is focused on the development and production of small, affordable, high-performance jet engines for cruise missiles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Kratos also provides turbomachinery and propulsion-related solutions across a broad range of industry applications.

Kratos has been providing innovative solutions to the propulsion community for over 20 years through its Florida Turbine Technologies (FTT) subsidiary. Today, Kratos provides engineering services, testing services, and material solutions for military and commercial engines, space propulsion, and industrial power producing applications. Kratos leverages cross-industry capabilities to deliver innovative, cost-saving solutions for customers.

Kratos is developing several types of small engines including turbojets in the 100-300lb thrust class, turbofan engines in the 600-900lb thrust class, and turbo-alternators in the 5kW to 50kW power class. Engine concepts range from subsonic to hypersonic propulsion systems.

Spotlight: Kratos is Developing a New Turbofan with AFRL

Kratos has been awarded a $54M task order contract to develop a low cost, limited life engine for attritable and expendable systems.

The contract is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Aerospace Systems Directorate, Turbine Engine Division (AFRL/RQT), Attritable Cost Optimized Limited Life Engine Technologies (ACOLLET) program.

Under prior and existing contracts, KTT has completed component rig and core engine testing and has recently begun full engine ground testing.

Kratos' KTT Turbojet

Kratos has been awarded a $12.7 million task order under its Advanced Turbine Technologies for Affordable Mission (ATTAM) ID/IQ contract. The program will be managed by the Turbine Engine Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL/RQT). The award follows the successful ground testing of an affordable turbojet designed for use in future low-cost cruise missiles and attritable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The design and test of the 200lb thrust-class turbojet engine was completed in under 18 months, demonstrating Kratos’ ability to meet the needs of today’s warfighter. Testing included characterization of the engine from ignition to overspeed conditions, characterization of engine performance including thrust, fuel efficiency and electrical power output, and engine durability. Testing was performed at the recently commissioned Kratos engine-test facility in Indiantown, Florida. The video below shows testing of Kratos’ smaller turbojet engine.

Advanced Turbine Technologies for Affordable Mission (ATTAM)

Kratos’ Florida Turbine Technologies subsidiary has been awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Advanced Turbine Technologies for Affordable Mission (ATTAM)- capability Phase I. The mission of the ATTAM Phase I program is to develop, demonstrate, and transition advanced turbine propulsion, power and thermal technologies that provides improvement in affordable mission capability. Work will be performed in Jupiter, Florida, and is expected to be completed by December 2026. FTT has been a member of the ATTAM steering committee since 2016.

New Engine Test Facility

Kratos has begun the first engine tests at its X-58 test facility. The newly commissioned test facility is used to carry out demonstrator engine development testing, allowing Kratos to grow its offering of low cost and high-performance small jet engines. The fully mobile test facility can accommodate fully instrumented engines up to 3000-lb thrust. Inlet and exhaust noise suppression is provided to reduce environmental impacts. All connections are designed to reduce test article set-up time thereby reducing program costs. The state-of-the-art data acquisition system and communications allow for high speed remote monitoring and real time data processing. Kratos is introducing several engines to support the need for low cost and high-performance engines for cruise missiles, powered munitions and UAVs.

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Kratos designs, builds, and tests space and derivative technologies, including liquid rocket engine turbopumps, turbo-generators, boost pumps, electric pumps, oil-less turbochargers, as well as coatings and additive technologies. We have extensive experience with liquid hydrogen, methane, oxygen, RP-1 & RP-2, as well as hypergolic and super critical CO2 systems. Kratos’ capabilities range from hydraulic turbines, to extreme pressure and temperature gas turbines. We develop electrically driven pumps with submerged cryogenic motors, such as an in-line liquid hydrogen boost pump, designed to be submerged in the liquid hydrogen tank and deliver sub-cooled hydrogen to the main engine. The power density and resultant pressures in these products is what sets them apart.

All analysis is conducted in-house using well-calibrated codes. We can model every aspect of the turbopump, including: pump and turbine flow path, rotordynamics, bearings (rolling element and hydrostatic), thrust balance and secondary flows, structural and heat transfer, steady state and transient modeling, as well as mechanical design and product definition. From prototypes to production units, Kratos is capable of manufacturing all turbopump components, including assembly, instrumentation, and support testing.

Sonic Infrared (IR) Inspection System

Kratos is now offering its revolutionary Sonic Infrared (IR) Inspection System to commercial aerospace customers. Sonic IR uses vibroacoustic thermography to detect dangerous defects, such as surface cracks, cracks undercoatings, kissing bonds, and de-laminations. Decades of research and application development have shown this automated nondestructive testing method to be highly reliable and cost-effective.

Sonic IR works on a wide range of part sizes and geometries that can be momentarily excited with low levels of high-frequency vibration. Crack-like defects create heat due to friction along the crack tip and faces. This very small heat release is detected with an extremely sensitive infrared camera, positioned to monitor a broad area. A video clip of the thermal event is recorded and post-processed to immediately display suspect defect locations to the operator or the results of an automated accept or reject call. The electronic data can be saved, allowing for review and evaluation of the inspection process.

Sonic IR offers several practical advantages over conventional nondestructive testing. There is minimal need for pretest cleaning and coating removal is unnecessary. The complete inspection cycle typically takes under a minute to load or unload, inspect, post-process and display. The process is also environmentally-friendly, requiring no developer powders, and no special surface penetrants.

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Israel hit Iran with a half-ton supersonic 'Rampage' missile, report says

• Israeli media reported that Israel used a "Rampage" missile in its strike on Iran.
• The supersonic missile is designed to strike ground targets such as military bases.
• However, officials and independent analyses are giving a range of other possibilities.

Israel used a long-range, supersonic missile in its strike on Iran last week, Israeli broadcaster Kan reported, per The Times of Israel .

US officials said Israel carried out a missile strike on a military base near the city of Isfahan on Friday.

Israel has not confirmed the reports, while Iran has sought to downplay the incident, only referencing small drones used in the attack, which, in an interview with NBC News , its foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said were "like toys our children play with."

While it remains unclear what weapons were used in the strike, Israel's national broadcaster Kan reported that Israel used a "Rampage" air-to-surface missile, claiming it was identified in photos and that damage caused by the attack was consistent with a Rampage strike, per The Times of Israel.

The Rampage was designed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for use against targets such as "communication and command centers, air forces bases, maintenance centers and infrastructure," according to the company's website.

The company describes the missile, which weighs 1,250 pounds, as "a long-range, air-to-ground, seekerless, precision strike weapon."

Other reports, however, have pointed to another type of missile being used in the attack.

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Analyses by the BBC and the Financial Times , based on images of wreckage that landed in Iraq, suggest that the attack involved Israel's Blue Sparrow missile.

The wreckage was likely the missile's booster system that detached mid-journey, Justin Crump, a veteran and risk intelligence CEO, told the BBC.

Israel's Sparrow missile is an air-launched ballistic missile with a range of up to 1,240 miles, per the FT. It is normally used to test Israel's air defenses, per The War Zone .

A person briefed on the situation, who was not named, said that the Pentagon also believes the Blue Sparrow may have been involved, the FT reported.

Two Western officials said that the Israeli strike on Iran, which was launched in response to Iran's attack on Israel last week, was intended to show Tehran that it easily could evade its air-defense systems, The New York Times reported.

A much larger attack was considered, but was scaled back after discussions with President Joe Biden and British and German foreign ministers, the newspaper reported.

This was done to encourage Iran not to respond in kind, but still send a message about Israel's abilities, officials told the outlet.

Business Insider contacted the IDF and the IAI for comment.

It was reported last year that the UK's Royal Air Force was considering buying Rampage missiles to replenish its missile stocks after having donated many of its own Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine.

The Rampage is considered an economical alternative, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars each, compared with the $3 million price tag of each Storm Shadow, according to The National .

The missile has the ability to fly at 1,250 mph with a range of up to 190 miles. It can be fired from an aircraft or as a stand-alone system and uses GPS/INS guidance navigation and anti-jamming capabilities, according to the company, and has a blast fragmentation or general-purpose warhead.

A video shared on the company's YouTube channel simulates a strike by the missile.

Watch: Israel bombards Lebanon and Gaza in retaliatory attack

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