A ground attack Sidewinder missile.
Someone in the US thought of this idea a few years ago but it seems to have dropped off the radar of both the defense contractors and the Dept of Defense. Looks like the Germans are going to give it a try now. Read about it at Military Technology Magazine.
I don't quite get it why you would want to do ATGM Sidewinder when you have Brimstone what is half the weight Unless there is a cheap stock pile of old Aim-9s and cheap conversion kit in question ,but i dubt that is the case..
ReplyDeleteAIM-9 is quite out of the box for ATGM at mach 3+ speeds and light warhead
Well it wont blow off the turret off an 50 ton MBT if thats what you mean but for sure can disable it , and for APC and all other vehicles it should be good.
ReplyDeleteAnd being a cheap upgrade kit is the exact idea of this i suppose. If you have a 1000 of AIM-9 L/M s or so why not turn them in ground attack weapons instead of trowing them away and save some buck on the way.
I seriously doubt this would scratch an MBT. Remember that it's just a seeker change and the warhead is optimized for shredding aircraft, not piercing armor.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't be the first time. See AGM-122.
ReplyDeleteThe AGM-122 (derived from the AIM-9C) was an anti-radiation missile (read: mini-HARM). The biggest difference in it's capabilities over the AIM-9L/M is that the 9C had a Blast-Fragmentation warhead where the shrapnel would spread out in all directions. Its target was also the radar antennas themselves which were very fragile.
ReplyDeleteThe 9L/M has a annular blast frag warhead which means that the shrapnel is focused sideways and creates an expanding ring of shrapnel which is 90 degrees to the angle of impact. You can see why this would not be good for anti-armor work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous-rod_warhead
The way defence industry works have my doubts in cheap conversions ,as so far track record of conversions be it Brimstone,Pave Way or Hydra has been anything but cheap (70mm hydra APKWS guidance section costs at 30k$)
ReplyDeleteActually, the Israelis used the old AIM-9B (the Vietnam-era) Sidewinder very effectively for ground attack during the Six-Day War in 1967. Their targets (on the first day of the war) were Egyptian MiG's and Sukhoi's taxiing to take off, or having just started their engines. Some Israeli AF pilots noticed that as they came in for a strafing run, the seeker heads of the AIM-9B's would start to emit the 'warbling' tone that signified they'd locked on to a target. One quick-thinking pilot realized what was happening, launched both his Sidewinders, and let them take out two Egyptian jets on the ground while he clobbered a third with the twin DEFA 30mm. cannon on his Mirage IIICJ. He reported his success when he got back to base and it was flashed to all the other IAF squadrons, many of whose pilots used the trick to good effect over the next few days. It didn't count for score as an air-to-air 'kill', but since the planes concerned never got into the air in the first place, the IAF wasn't complaining.
ReplyDelete