RU2377493C2 - Method of hitting vulnerable ground targets by supersonic missile and device to this effect - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: weapons.

SUBSTANCE: cruise missile is guided, at its flight final stage, into flat dive trajectory and its supersonic speed is maintained until collision with ground surface with minus round from target geometrical center or with preset hitting point relative to target. Target is destructed by both ready hitting elements of missile warhead and missile casing and components fragments.

EFFECT: higher hitting efficiency due to enhanced splinter effect.

2 cl, 3 dwg

Description

The invention relates to rocket technology, and more specifically to systems designed to combat time-critical mobile targets, such as:

- combat aircraft at airfields based (in an open parking lot or on the runway),

- launchers, mobile command posts and radars of mobile missile systems,

- Unarmored or lightly armored vehicles and manpower on the march or in areas of concentration;

as well as stationary control and communication centers, radar stations, fuel-saturated facilities and other key elements of military bases and military-industrial facilities on the territory of the enemy.

Currently, the main means of combating such targets, most of which are related to the class of easily vulnerable ground targets, are fragmentation and high-explosive fragmentation munitions of aerial bombs, bomb guards with controlled dispersal of charges, which allow hitting a large area, guided aviation glide cartridges launched outside the area of air defense of the object, etc. The carriers of most of the above funds are tactical aircraft, their combat use involves participation in the selection of objects and the destruction and guided munitions to target the pilot or operator, on board the aircraft that enemy countermeasures conditions can lead to the loss of the aircraft and their crews.

There are also known weapons of this kind of destruction based on the principle of "shot-and-forget", for example cruise missiles with cluster warheads (KR "Tomahawk" BGM-109D). However, the great flying time, due to the subsonic speed of the missile, does not allow us to consider it as a means of dealing with time-critical mobile targets. Also, despite the low level of unmasking signs and low altitude, the Tomahawk CR is vulnerable in the face of modern air defense, such as fighter aircraft.

In this regard, the efforts of developers of missile weapons are aimed at creating supersonic and hypersonic weapons, which, in comparison with modern weapons, have significant combat advantages, such as:

- short flight time of weapons, significantly reducing the obsolescence time of target designation data and not allowing the enemy to take effective countermeasures (for example, removing mobile targets from under attack);

- relatively low vulnerability due to the minimum time of flight of zones of possible detection and interception by modern and promising air defense and missile defense systems;

- increased striking ability of warheads due to high kinetic energy.

As an example of such developments, we can cite the domestic supersonic KR “Yakhont” (“Yakhont” - a new generation anti-ship missile ”,“ Military Parade ”, No. 2, 1998, pp. 22-24, [1]) and American programs on supersonic ( RATTLRS) and SED-WR and HyFly hypersonic missiles.

Prospective supersonic and hypersonic missiles are planned to be equipped with various, as a rule, interchangeable warheads (warheads): penetrating, high-explosive fragmentation, cluster, etc. At the same time, within the framework of American programs, increased attention has been paid to the development of penetrating warheads - kinetic and active (equipped with explosive) (BB)). At present, the increased destructive ability of high-speed weapons has been confirmed in relation to armor-piercing warheads of anti-tank missiles (KEM, SKEM, NATM programs), and has also been demonstrated on ammunition designed to destroy deep-seated highly protected ground targets. At the same time, the penetrating ability of weapons, characterized by a meeting speed with a target of up to 1200 m / s, exceeded the corresponding parameters of existing concrete-breaking warheads by an order of magnitude greater mass (type BLU-113 / B and BLU-109 / B). At the same time, the analyzed sources do not contain data on the use of the “speed factor” (more precisely, kinetic energy) in the interest of increasing the efficiency of high-explosive fragmentation warheads.

According to the authors, the closest in technical essence to the claimed invention is supersonic Raman, developed in the framework of the program RATTLRS (Revolutionary Approach That Time-critical Long-Range Strike) ("Flight international)), 08/29 - 09/01/2006, p.30- 35, [2]). The device of this CD and the method of using a rocket equipped with a warhead cassette are considered as the closest analogue.

The cruise missile developed under the RATTLRS program is planned to be equipped with a warhead cassette with submunitions detachable at supersonic speed (see page 9 of the indicated source, for a photo of the experiment on supersonic separation of submunitions). It is known that the combat use of missiles in such equipment, for example, a Lance ballistic missile with a cluster warhead with homing submunitions developed under the Assault Vgeakeg program (International Defense Review), 1982, No. 9, pp. 1207-1211, [3]), provides for:

- flight of a rocket to a point with specified coordinates, lying in the region of a possible location, in this case, a mobile target;

- opening the missile body by triggering pyrotechnic devices, for example, detonating elongated or knock-out charges (see photo, p. 1209, [3]);

- ejection of submunitions (also by means of pyrotechnic devices) and their subsequent autonomous movement, during which the homing head (GOS) of each makes an overview of the area of the region of possible target location and provides subsequent guidance of the submunition to the detected target.

However, one of the characteristic features of supersonic (M> 3 ÷ 4) Raman - the closest analogue with a turbojet engine, is the use of an aerodynamic circuit with a frontal air intake (see. Fig., P.31, [2]). It is known that on missiles made according to a similar scheme, for example, KR “Yakhont” (p. 23, [1]), warheads are placed within the central body of the air intake, as a rule, in its rear part (behind the control system equipment), which provides the best penetrating ability of warheads when hitting basic typical targets, such as a large surface ship. At the same time, the lateral surface of the warhead rocket, made according to this scheme, is separated from its outer surface by several shells (a heat-insulated wall of the central body — the walls of the air intake channel — the outer shell of the rocket), which makes the “organized opening” of the rocket body necessary in case of use traditional cassette warhead. This circumstance limits the area covered by the warhead’s damaging elements, and in combination with the relatively small mass of the warhead itself (the declared warhead mass of the RATTLRS supersonic rocket is ~ 250 kg, which is almost 2 times smaller than the Tomahawk subsonic warhead), the missile’s low efficiency designed to defeat vulnerable ground targets.

The problem solved by the invention is to increase the effectiveness of the impact of a supersonic missile on vulnerable ground targets by enhancing high-explosive fragmentation of its warhead.

This goal is achieved by the fact that, in contrast to the known method of hitting a target, in which the opening of the missile body and the subsequent release of the damaging elements of its warhead (submunitions) are carried out by triggering special pyrotechnic devices on command from the control system (for example, when the missile reaches the target trajectory points), and the damaging elements of the rocket form due to the undermining of warheads, in the claimed invention it is proposed:

- transfer the rocket at the final stage of its flight to the trajectory of a gentle dive while maintaining high supersonic speed;

- open the missile body by impacting it with the earth's surface at a point with a programmed shortage to the geometrical center of the target location area or with a predetermined position relative to the target (for example, if there is a GOS missile in the control system);

- to form the damaging elements of the rocket both due to its warhead, and due to fragments of the hull and equipment formed as a result of the processes initiated by the collision of the rocket with the earth's surface and which afterwards retained high kinetic energy.

To implement this method of firing in a known device for hitting a target, which is a missile glider, equipped with an air-jet propulsion system, control system and warhead, according to the claimed invention, the warhead of the rocket is made in the form of a thin-walled body in which a large number of ready-made striking elements are placed for example steel balls.

The positive effect of the invention is achieved through the joint use of high-kinetic energy of the rocket and the potential energy of its propulsion system, which is “enclosed” as in a pressurized pressurized rocket fuel tank containing vapors and liquid phase of high-calorie hydrocarbon fuel, to enhance high-explosive fragmentation of the warhead , and in the combustion chamber of the engine containing compressed high-temperature combustion products.

The processes occurring during the release of this energy can be described as follows.

After the collision of a rocket moving at a high supersonic (M> 2) speed with the earth's surface with an angle of up to 10–15 °, it rebounds. Moreover, due to a sharp increase in stresses in the design of the rocket, its body, including the fuel tank, is opened. Depressurization of the tank, which even at the end of the flight contains pressurized vapors and fuel residues, is accompanied by their intense outflow with the formation in the surrounding space of an aerosol cloud with a high concentration of high-calorific fuel. The interaction of incandescent (t> 1500 ° C) structural elements of the jet engine and its high-temperature combustion products with an aerosol cloud causes an explosion accompanied by the release of a large amount of energy in the cloud volume and, as a result, leads to complete destruction of the rocket body, including the shell her warhead. Ready-made striking elements of warheads, as well as fragments of the design of the hull and rocket equipment that retained high kinetic energy after the rebound, fly apart over a considerable distance, forming a lesion zone in the form of an ellipse elongated in the direction of flight.

As a means of destruction, it is recommended to use a rocket equipped with a propulsion system with a ramjet (ramjet engine). Firstly, direct-flow engines use, as a rule, a combined pump displacing fuel supply with an overpressure in the tank of at least 3 atmospheres. Secondly, the internal air path of the ramjet from the air intake to the engine nozzle is a single volume, free from any intermediate devices (see, for example, figure 1). In the case under consideration, this leads to the initiation of an explosion precisely inside the missile body and, as a result, to the action of, first of all, tensile forces that contribute to its destruction into small fragments. Thirdly, the ramjet body, which is a cylinder about one meter in length and having a multilayer shell made of heat-resistant steel, forms fragments with high destructive ability upon explosion.

The implementation of the above positive effect is confirmed by the results of flight tests of a supersonic anti-ship missile launcher with ramjet in firing mode on a coastal target.

The proposed means of destruction of easily vulnerable ground targets, made, for example, on the basis of the circuit design of the KR “Yakhont”, can be implemented as follows (see figures 1 and 2).

Supersonic KR (1) with an interchangeable warhead (2) is made according to the normal aerodynamic scheme and is equipped with a propulsion system with ramjet (3), which has a frontal axisymmetric air intake (4). The main units of the fuselage of the Kyrgyz Republic (1) are the central body of the air intake (4), which contains the control system equipment (5) and the warhead (2), a fuel tank (6) of a torocylindrical shape and ramjet (3). CR (1) in a configuration designed to defeat easily vulnerable ground targets is equipped with a kinetic (not containing explosive) warhead (7), made in the form of a thin-walled body reinforced with steel balls weighing about several grams.

The combat use of the KR (1) with warhead (7) provides (see figure 3):

- flight of the Kyrgyz Republic (1) with high supersonic speed to the area of the designated target;

- gently sloping (angle θ ~ 10 ÷ 15 °) diving RS (1) with an operational ramjet (3) to a point (8) with an underflight (L) to the geometric center (9) of the area of location of the area easily vulnerable target (10);

- the collision and ricochet of the rocket (11) from the earth's surface and, as a result, the opening of the casing of the rocket engine (1), including the fuel tank (6);

- an explosion (12) of the resulting air-fuel mixture, accompanied by the complete destruction of the rocket body, including the warhead body, and the ejection of warhead warheads (7), which together with fragments of the body and equipment of the Kyrgyz Republic (1) hit the target (10).

Summarizing the foregoing, it should be noted that the invention allows due to small modernization to give new quality to existing (developed) missiles, while universal supersonic missiles can be created that use high kinetic energy to increase the efficiency of impact on both solid marine and ground objects in equipment traditional penetrating warheads, as well as easily vulnerable ground targets in the version of equipping kinetic (not containing explosives) warheads. It should also be noted that kinetic warheads are characterized by absolute operational safety and minimal side effects, which, for example, could be caused by unexploded submunitions of cluster warheads.

Claims (2)

1. A method of hitting easily vulnerable targets with a supersonic missile, including ensuring the flight of the rocket to a point with specified coordinates, lying in the area of the target and opening the rocket body with the formation of the striking elements of the rocket, characterized in that at the final stage of the flight the rocket is transferred to a gentle dive trajectory, into the process of movement along which its supersonic speed is supported, and the rocket body is opened by impacting the rocket with the earth’s surface at a point with a programmed underflight to the geometric center of the target location area or with a given position relative to the target, while the striking elements are formed both due to the warhead of the rocket made in the form of a thin-walled body in which a large number of finished striking elements are placed, and due to fragments of the rocket body and equipment formed when a rocket hits the earth’s surface. 2. A supersonic missile for hitting vulnerable targets, comprising a glider with an air-propelled propulsion system, a control system and a warhead, characterized in that the air-propelled propulsion system is made direct-flow, and the control system is configured to provide rocket transfer at its final stage of flight on the trajectory of a gentle dive, in the process of movement along which its supersonic speed is supported, and with the possibility of ensuring the collision of a rocket with the earth's surface at a point from with a programmed shortage to the geometric center of the target location area or with a predetermined position relative to the target, the missile warhead is made in the form of a thin-walled body in which a large number of ready-made striking elements are placed.

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