Re: [GZG] Revised Salvo Missiles Update

[Zoe and Carmen Brain <aebrain@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John K Lerchey wrote:

> Also, there is the fact that they are PSB'd as HOMING missiles.  
> Missiles today can be directed at a specific target, and for the most 
> part, don't zip off and hit something that's kind of nearby if the 
> target happens to move.  They *home* on the target that they are 
> directed towards.

As a Naval Combat Systems Designer, who has dealt with a variety of 
missiles and homing torpedos, I must disagree.

For most of such a weapon's lifetime after firing, it merely goes to a 
pre-planned point, whereupon it activates its homing mechanism, and 
starts looking for a target that matches its pre-programmed parameters. 
Usually these are pretty simple, as the more selective they are, the 
more likely it is that smart decoys will look more attractive than a 
heavily stealthed and jammin target.

In a high EW environment, with decoys and such like, it's by no means 
certain that the missile or torpdeo will home in on the intended target.

Example: Atlantic Conveyor - a missile was decoyed from the Illustrious 
(IIRC) and found another target - in 1983.

Anti-aircraft missiles are usually "homing all the way", but the longer 
range ones can't be. For example, the Standard SM-2 fired from the AEGIS 
cruisers flies under autopilot, the cruiser's radar then guiding it in 
in the last few seconds. This way one radar can control a large number 
of missiles in flight, each one only takes a few seconds of the radar's 
"attention" instead of a minute or more.

Wire-guided torpedos, whose speed is comparable to that of their targets 
(less than double) are steered by the launching submarine to 
*approximately* the target's location, whereupon they go "active" and 
self-home. The wire then is usually cut, as the weapon requires all the 
speed and agility it can get to hit a manouvering target. But at close 
range, with plenty of wire and lots of fuel, they can be manually 
steered in to ignore decoys and make multiple attacks.

What I'm saying is that the existing SM mechanics correspond pretty well 
to that of long-range anti-ship missiles, and the proposed heavy missile 
 mechanics with multiple turns correspond reasonably well with 
"wire-guided" torpedos. PSB is that there is a data-link to the missile 
from the target ship, but that with EW and the interference caused by 
manouver drives, it's low data rate.

Zoe
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