New combat systems

[Scarecrow]

Lets see what new combat systems are out there ready to make their debut or are on the drawing board.

http://www.futurefirepower.com/x-51-hypersonic-cruise-missile-fastest-cruise-missile


X-51 Hypersonic Cruise Missile - Fastest Cruise Missile (http://www.futurefirepower.com/x-51-hypersonic-cruise-missile-fastest-cruise-missile)


Compared with the Tomahawk Missile which travels at a mere 550 MPH, the X51 gives the US the ability to strike enemies quickly before they can evade. As U.S. Strategic Command’s deputy commander Lt. Gen. C. Robert Kehler puts it, the goal of the X51 is “to strike virtually anywhere on the face of the Earth within 60 minutes.”
The power of this weapon once it reaches its unfortunate target is amazing.
Traveling as fast as 13,000 mph, the warheads are filled with scored tungsten rods with twice the strength of steel. Just above the target, the warheads detonate, showering the area with thousands of rods-each one up to 12 times as destructive as a .50-caliber bullet. Anything within 3000 sq. ft. of this whirling, metallic storm is obliterated.
The X-51 Will be the most advanced cruise / long distance missile in the world when it is completed, although there have been protests that the X-51 could trigger a nuclear war. A test run of this weapon in 2008 could appear to be heading toward another nuclear power during portions of its flight pattern which could be provoking. More about this concept can be read at Popular Mechanics (http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4203874.html)

Boeing’s X-45B New Phantom Works UAV (http://www.futurefirepower.com/boeings-x-45b-new-effecient-uav-by-phantom-works)


Testing has Begun on the New (BA) X-45b which is sure to be the next generation of UAV technology. Development is under way for systems that will help the Boeing Phantom Works unmanned aerial vehicle acquire and track targets on its own. This truly is an awesome looking machine and sure to be the Future of unmanned Aeriel technology
Global Security (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/x-45b.htm) has a great article with a detailed review of this aircraft that is said to be “generations ahead of its time”.

http://www.futurefirepower.com/wp-content/photos/x_45b_uav_1.jpg

[Scarecrow]

Some more new systems.

This one from Israel and now the US is working with it as well.

http://www.futurefirepower.com/mthel-mobile-tactical-high-energy-laser-future-military-missile-defense
http://www.futurefirepower.com/wp-content/photos/MTHEL.jpg
The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) missile defense system is likely the most successful design for defeating high trajectory threats in theaters of operation. Under the constant threat from incoming projectiles, the nation of Israel designed this system using existing technologies; the main challenge being to incorporate them all together in a deployable package. The laser is a deuterium flouride beam, which operates on such a wavelength to deliver intense heat for up to 5 km. Upon detecting a launched threat, the system’s radar identifies and tracks the target, while the laser precisely lases the target to destruction. The weapon is really designed to defeat more primitive threats such as Katyusha and Qassam rockets typically used as terror weapons by groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. However, it has been surmised that multiple MTHEL units could bring down nearly any aerial threat including jets and ballistic missiles. The US has recognized the incredible utility of this system, and the program has thus been undertaken by Northrop Grumman (http://www.st.northropgrumman.com/index.html)to achieve full scale development of this incredible creation.

Watch the video on the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcmI6UnR4gg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efuturefirepower%2Ecom%2Fmthel%2Dmobile%2Dtactical%2Dhigh%2Denergy%2Dlaser%2Dfuture%2Dmilitary%2Dmissile%2Ddefense

[Scarecrow]

Now this system is very impressive.

http://www.futurefirepower.com/trophy-active-military-vehicle-defense

When armor just isn’t strong enough and munitions keep evolving such as the armor pier cing tandem rpg 27 (two shape charges), “active protection systems” are called upon. Currently in development for the Striker and the Israeli Merkava main battle tank is the TROPHY active protection system which promises to revolutionize military vehicle and armor defense. The U.S is not currently partaking in RAFAEL’s TROPHY weapon system as it has contracted a favorite , Raytheon (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RTN), to build an equivalent system for its vehicles.

TROPHY is being produced by RAPHAEL and maintains a 360 degree field of view with its radar. The TROPHY will pick up incoming threats using its radar and do some complicated physics and mathematics to find a bearing of the incoming threat. Once the threat is identified the TROPHY system calculates the best time and angle that it should fire its shotgun-like pellets which repel the incoming threat. The system is also capable of engaging multiple threats simultaneously from different directions

ROPHY is designed to work against all incoming anti-tank missiles and Rocket propelled grenades. Also the ability to fire upon incoming threats on the move gives infantry vehicles and tanks equipped with the TROPHY system the ability to evade the enemy while under attack. Another advantage is that vehicles equipped with the TROPHY weapon system won’t need heavy armor installments that slow them down like explosive reactive armor. (http://www.futurefirepower.com/reactive-armor-exploding-armor) The Trophy system may not completely alleviate the need for reactive armor installments as the new “active protection system” is not capable of defending againsty land mines, artillery, ant-tank guns, or IED attacks

http://www.futurefirepower.com/wp-content/photos/trophy1_.jpg

[Scarecrow]

More info on the X-51

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4203874.html?page=3

How the X-51 Works



While Trident II missiles with conventional warheads could be deployed in a few years, it may take a decade or more to develop the X-51 WaveRider. The WaveRider destroys targets by simply crashing into them at hypersonic speeds. But the technology in this remarkable missile may have wider applications, including ultrafast planes and new space vehicles. Designed by Boeing and Pratt & Whitney for the Air Force Research Laboratory, the X-51 uses just one moving part — the fuel pump — to hit Mach 5, or 3600 mph.
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/0107global_x51.jpg Rocket booster The X-51 is carried to 45,000 ft. by a B-52 bomber or a fighter jet, then released. A rear-mounted Army Tactical Missile Systems rocket kicks in to propel the 1600-pound missile to Mach 4.5 and 100,000 ft. The rocket then drops away and the X-51's engine takes over. Internal inlet The missile's sharp nose funnels shock waves produced at hypersonic speeds into a rectangular opening on the craft's belly. The shock waves compress the air, eliminating mechanical parts that normally do this. Isolator This component adjusts airflow — which can reach 2500 pounds per square foot — to a stable pressure for the combustor. Slowing airflow increases drag on the vehicle, but allows for more complete combustion. Combustor Thrust is created when the compressed air mixes with a mist of JP-7 jet fuel and is ignited. Because hypersonic speeds generate sustained temperatures of up to 4500 degrees, the propellant also acts as a coolant — and prevents the X-51’s engine walls from melting. http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/0107global_x51sm.jpgAirflow PM consulted NASA to estimate the fluid dynamics for external airflow around the nose, engine, stabilizers and tail of an X-51 traveling at Mach 5. The rear contour illustrates the engine exhaust plume shape.

On the coffee table in his cavernous office in the Pentagon's E Ring, Air Force chief scientist Mark J. Lewis has a model of such a machine, a 14-ft.-long missile called the X-51 WaveRider. With an angled nose, flaps in the middle and an inlet on the underbelly, the device looks like a cross between a spaceship and a futuristic cruise missile. It's designed to go nearly seven times faster than a Tomahawk — a flight from the Arabian Sea to eastern Afghanistan would take 20 minutes — and destroy targets with its own kinetic energy. Test flights are scheduled for 2008.

The pressure, drag and high temperatures associated with hypersonic speeds (typically, greater than Mach 5, or 3600 mph) used to be considered too extreme for an aircraft to handle in a controlled way. Only ballistic missiles and spacecraft burning rocket fuel, shooting into space and roaring back to Earth, could go that fast.

What the X-51 does is to turn some of the most brutal effects of hypersonic flight to its advantage. Take shock waves, for example. Bursting through the air at a hypersonic rate produces a train of waves, one after the other, which can drag down an aircraft. But the X-51 is a "wave rider," with a sharp nose shaped to make the waves break at precisely the right angle. All of the pressure is directed beneath the missile, lifting it up. The shock waves also compress the air to help fuel the X-51's combustion process.

The craft is the same size and shape as a Joint Air-to- Surface Standoff Missile, so it can be attached to a B-52 or fighter jet. It runs on standard JP-7 jet fuel, not on rocket fuel, so it fits in neatly with the military's existing logistical chain. The X-51 is made from a fairly standard nickel alloy, not from exotic materials. And the advanced engine technology is very real. In 2004, NASA broke speed records while testing its X-43A, a precursor to the X-51 (see "Breakthrough Awards 2005," Nov. 2005). In a final test flight, the 12-ft.-long aircraft hit 7000 mph — nearly Mach 10. In other words, the X-51 is not just some lab experiment; it's being designed from the start to deploy. "I've got tremendous confidence in it working," the Air Force's Mark J. Lewis says.

That doesn't mean the X-51 will be in competition with a conventional Trident. It will have a range of only 600 nautical miles. And it first needs to be lifted into the air by a plane, then accelerated by a rocket-fueled booster before its hypersonic engine kicks in. But if the 2008 test flight is a success, the X-51 will be the first weapon other than a ballistic missile to fly at hypersonic speeds.

As you can see the tests have already hit almost Mach 10.

[daisrael]

Wow, so I wonder how long before we have actual shields around our equipment.