Onno Meyer wrote:
I doubt that AWACS could designate for many SARH SAMs, they're
more for mid-course corrections of homing cruise missiles. But
then I'm explicitly talking about the post-AEGIS case here.
It doesn't need to - you lets you get the missiles in the air and
pointing the right way, so that they can engage as soon as your systems
can see the target. That buys time for another attempt at shooting down
the missiles. It also buys you faster lockons, and means everything is
pointing in the right direction.
The speed is a bit of a problem. Clancy says 900 mph, but
Wikipedia gives it as Mach 3.5. Did the writer guess wrong,
was it Soviet deception, or are we talking about different
models?
According to Vehicles, the engine could maintain 1,250 yps
for 425 seconds, for almost exactly 300 miles range. This
falls into the range given by Wikipedia. 450 yps would be
possible for 1,600 seconds. That sounds more like a real
cruise missile.
I doubt the Kingfish is good for mach 3.5. That seems very fast for
that generation of Soviet missile (while they were supersonic, unlike
western anti-shipping missiles, they weren't *that* supersonic).
Googling accurate stats seems to be difficult. A diameter
of 340mm and a modest HEPF warhead are 160 lbs., which is a
bit high but within tolerances. The guidance seems to be
BSARHMU, and skill is hard to determine since I don't know
when the missile switches over from command guidance to
SARH.
On command, I thought. So the operator waits until the missile has a
lock, and then tells it to switch.
So start with the rated power, which is supposed to be 6 MW
(presumably for all four antennas). That would be 6,000 mi.
nominal range, and 60 tons of radar gear, a bit high.
Naval radar ranges are limited by considerations other than power, and
always have been. Line of Sight, sea conditions, and technical
considerations (in particular, beam width vs the amout of the sky to be
covered).
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