1.
Air-to-air missile
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An air-to-air missile is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft. AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid fueled, ramjet engines, as used on the Meteor are emerging as propulsion that will enable future medium-range missiles to maintain higher average speed across their engagement envelope. Air-to-air missiles are broadly put in two groups, most use infrared guidance and are called heat-seeking missiles. In contrast, medium- or long-range missiles, which fall under the category of beyond visual range missiles, tend to rely upon radar guidance. Some modern ones use inertial guidance and/or mid-course updates to get the missile close enough to use an active homing sensor, the air-to-air missile grew out of the unguided air-to-air rockets used during the First World War. Le Prieur rockets were attached to the struts of biplanes and fired electrically, usually against observation balloons, by such early pilots as Albert Ball. Post-war research led the Royal Air Force to introduce Fairey Fireflash into service in 1955, the US Navy and US Air Force began equipping guided missiles in 1956, deploying the USAFs AIM-4 Falcon and the USNs AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder. The Soviet Air Force introduced its K-5 into service in 1957, as missile systems have continued to advance, modern air warfare consists almost entirely of missile firing. The use of Beyond Visual Range combat became so pervasive in the US that early F-4 variants were armed only with missiles in the 1960s. High casualty rates during the Vietnam War caused the US to reintroduce autocannons and traditional dogfighting tactics, in the Falklands War British Harriers, using AIM-9L missiles were able to defeat faster Argentinian opponents. Since the late 20th century all-aspect heat-seeking designs can lock-on to a target from angles, not just from behind. Other types rely on radar guidance, a conventional explosive blast warhead, fragmentation warhead, or continuous rod warhead is typically used in the attempt to disable or destroy the target aircraft. Warheads are typically detonated by a proximity fuze or by an impact if it scores a direct hit. Less commonly, nuclear warheads have been mounted on a number of air-to-air missile types although these are not known to have ever been used in combat. Guided missiles operate by detecting their target, and then homing in on the target on a collision course, although the missile may use radar or infra-red guidance to home on the target, the launching aircraft may detect and track the target before launch by other means. Radar guidance is used for medium- or long-range missiles, where the infra-red signature of the target would be too faint for an infra-red detector to track. There are three types of radar-guided missile – active, semi-active, and passive. Radar-guided missiles can be countered by rapid maneuvering, deploying chaff or using electronic counter-measures, active radar -guided missiles carry their own radar system to detect and track their target
2.
United States Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
3.
Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
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The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force is the aviation branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army. The present Air Force came into being in the early 1980s when the former Imperial Iranian Air Force was renamed, the Air Force has attempted with some success to maintain in service the large number of American-built aircraft which Iran acquired during the Shahs regime. The Air Force has turned to purchases of Soviet and Chinese aircraft, as well as pressing ex-Iraqi aircraft into service, and indigenously built aircraft, in order to maintain a capable force. As of June 2016, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force possesses 348 fighters, making it the ninth most powerful air arm in the world, on paper. The IRIAF came into being when the former Imperial Iranian Air Force was renamed following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, due to strained relations with the west, Iran had to procure new equipment from Brazil, Russia and the Peoples Republic of China. Since the Revolution, the composition of the IRIAF is hard to determine. Many aircraft belonging to the Iraqi Air Force took refuge in Iran during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and many were put into service with the IRIAF or taken apart for spare parts. Due to the spare parts shortages faced by the air force. In 2002, Iran with the co-operation of Ukraine, successfully started the manufacture of the Iran-140, simultaneously, Iran began construction of two domestically produced fighters, upgraded using technology from the F-14 Tomcat and the F-5 Tiger II. The fighters have been named the Azarakhsh and the Shafaq, since then the country has also become self-sufficient in the manufacture of helicopters. The country claims that it is capable of producing the old U. S. AH-1 Cobra gunship, additionally, Iran also produces Bell Helicopter Bell 212 and Bell 206 helicopters in serial production. These are known respectively as the Shabaviz 2-75 and the Shabaviz 206, a series of purges and forced retirements resulted in the manpower of the service being halved between February 1979 and July 1980, leaving the IRIAF ill-prepared for the Iran–Iraq War. The Iranians retaliated with operation Kaman-99 which involved 206 F-4, F-5, on 23 September 1980, Iran launched Operation Kaman 99 as 40 F-4 Phantoms, armed with Mark 82, Mark 83 and Mark 84 bombs and AGM-65 Maverick missiles, took off from Hamadan. After refueling in mid-air the Phantoms reached the Iraqi capital Baghdad, meanwhile, eight More F-4s took off from Tehran and launched a second attack on the al-Rashid airbase. Iran proceeded to launch 58 F-5E Tiger IIs from Tabriz, which were sent to attack Mosul Airbase, after the attack on Mosul Airbase, another 50 F-5Es were dispatched to strike Nasiriyah Airbase, which was heavily damaged. As all 146 Iranian F-4s and F-5s had been sent for a raid on Iraq,60 F-14 Tomcats were scrambled to defend Iranian airspace against a possible Iraqi retaliation. Iranian F-14s managed to down 2 Iraqi MiG-21s and 3 Iraqi MiG-23s, Iraqi MiG-23s managed to down 2 F-5Es, while Iraqi MiG-21s also downed 2 F-5Es. Iraqis also by mistake shot down one of their own Il-76MD strategic airlifters with a SA-3 SAM, saddam Hussein and the Iraqi military were dealt a heavy blow when Iranian Air Force vulnerabilities failed to materialize
4.
Hughes Aircraft Company
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The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company. During World War II the company designed and built prototype aircraft at Hughes Airport. These included the famous Hughes H-4 Hercules, better known by the nickname for it, the Spruce Goose, the H-1 racer, D-2. At the start of the war Hughes Aircraft had only four full-time employees—by the end the number was 80,000. Hughes Aircraft was one of many aerospace and defense companies which flourished in Southern California during, by the summer of 1947 certain politicians had become concerned about Hughes alleged mismanagement of the Spruce Goose and the XF-11 photo reconnaissance plane project. They formed a committee to investigate Hughes which culminated in a much-followed Senate investigation. Despite a highly critical report, Hughes was cleared. In 1948 Hughes created a new division of the company, the Aerospace Group, two Hughes engineers, Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge, had new ideas on the packaging of electronics to make complete fire control systems. Their MA-1 system combined signals from the radar with a digital computer to automatically guide the interceptor aircraft into the proper position for firing missiles. At the same time other teams were working with the newly formed US Air Force on air-to-air missiles, delivering the AIM-4 Falcon, the MA-1/Falcon package, with several upgrades, was the primary interceptor weapon system of the USAF for many years, lasting into the 1980s. The company became TRW in 1965, another company and a major competitor to Hughes Aircraft. In 1951 Hughes Aircraft Co. built a plant in Tucson. By the end of year, the U. S. Air Force had purchased the property. This Tucson plant is still in operation under the ownership of Raytheon Co, Howard Hughes donated Hughes Aircraft to the newly formed Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1953 allegedly as a way of avoiding taxes on its huge income. Pat Hyland was hired as president and general manager of Hughes Aircraft, he would ultimately become company president. Under Hylands guidance, the Aerospace Group continued to diversify and become massively profitable, the company developed radar systems, electro-optical systems, the first working laser, aircraft computer systems, missile systems, ion-propulsion engines, and many other advanced technologies. The Electronic Properties Information Center of the United States was hosted at the Hughes Culver City library in the 1970s, EPIC published the multi-volume Handbook of Electronic Materials as public documents. Greg Jarvis and Ronald McNair, two of the astronauts on the last flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger, were Hughes alumni, Hughes Aircraft Ground Systems Group was located in Fullerton, California
5.
Raytheon
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The Raytheon Company is a major U. S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007, Raytheon is the worlds largest producer of guided missiles. Established in 1922, the company reincorporated in 1928 and adopted its present name in 1959, the company has around 63,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of approximately US$25 billion. More than 90% of Raytheons revenues were obtained from military contracts and, as of 2012, as of 2015, it is the third largest defense contractor in the United States by defense revenue. Raytheons headquarters moved from Lexington, Massachusetts, to Waltham, Massachusetts and its focus, which was originally on new refrigeration technology, soon shifted to electronics. The companys first product was a rectifier that was based on Charles Smiths earlier astronomical research of the star Zeta Puppis. The electron tube was christened with the name Raytheon and was used in a battery eliminator and this made it possible to convert household alternating current to direct current for radios and thus eliminate the need for expensive, short-lived batteries. In 1925, the changed its name to Raytheon Manufacturing Company and began marketing its rectifier, under the Raytheon brand name. In 1928 Raytheon merged with Q. R. S, Company, an American manufacturer of electron tubes and switches, to form the successor of the same name, Raytheon Manufacturing Company. In 1933 it diversified by acquiring Acme-Delta Company, a producer of transformers, power equipment, by the 1930s, it had already grown to become one of the worlds largest vacuum tube manufacturing companies. Within a few months of being awarded the contract, Raytheon had already begun to mass manufacture magnetron tubes for use in radar sets, at wars end in 1945 the company was responsible for about 80 percent of all magnetrons manufactured. During the war Raytheon also pioneered the production of radar systems. Raytheon ranked 71st among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts, Raytheons research on the magnetron tube revealed the potential of microwaves to cook food. In 1945, Raytheons Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven by discovering that the magnetron could rapidly heat food, in 1947, the company demonstrated the Radarange microwave oven for commercial use. In 1945, the company expanded its electronics capability through acquisitions that included the Submarine Signal Company, with its broadened capabilities, Raytheon developed the first guidance system for a missile that could intercept a flying target. In 1948, Raytheon began to manufacture guided missiles, in 1950, its Lark missile became the first such weapon to destroy a target aircraft in flight. Raytheon then received military contracts to develop the air-to-air Sparrow and ground-to-air Hawk missiles—projects that received impetus from the Korean War, in later decades, it remained a major producer of missiles, among them the Patriot antimissile missile and the air-to-air Phoenix missile. In the same year, it changed its name to Raytheon Company, in the 1950s, Raytheon began manufacturing transistors, including the CK722, priced and marketed to hobbyists
6.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
7.
Explosive material
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An explosive charge is a measured quantity of explosive material, which may be composed of a single ingredient or a combination of two or more. Materials that detonate are said to be high explosives and materials that deflagrate are said to be low explosives, Explosives may also be categorized by their sensitivity. Sensitive materials that can be initiated by a small amount of heat or pressure are primary explosives. A wide variety of chemicals can explode, a number are manufactured specifically for the purpose of being used as explosives. The remainder are too dangerous, sensitive, toxic, expensive, unstable, in contrast, some materials are merely combustible or flammable if they burn without exploding. The distinction, however, is not razor-sharp, though early thermal weapons, such as Greek fire, have existed since ancient times, the first widely used explosive in warfare and mining was black powder, invented in 9th century China. This material was sensitive to water, and it produced copious amounts of dark smoke, the first useful explosive stronger than black powder was nitroglycerin, developed in 1847. Since nitroglycerin is a liquid and highly unstable, it was replaced by nitrocellulose, TNT in 1863, smokeless powder, dynamite in 1867, World War I saw the adoption of TNT trinitrotoluene in artillery shells. World War II saw a use of new explosives. In turn, these have largely replaced by more powerful explosives such as C-4. However, C-4 and PETN react with metal and catch fire easily, yet unlike TNT, C-4 and PETN are waterproof, the largest commercial application of explosives is mining. In Materials Science and Engineering, explosives are used in cladding, a thin plate of some material is placed atop a thick layer of a different material, both layers typically of metal. Atop the thin layer is placed an explosive, at one end of the layer of explosive, the explosion is initiated. The two metallic layers are forced together at high speed and with great force, the explosion spreads from the initiation site throughout the explosive. Ideally, this produces a metallurgical bond between the two layers and it is possible that some fraction of the surface material from either layer eventually gets ejected when the end of material is reached. Hence, the mass of the now welded bilayer, may be less than the sum of the masses of the two initial layers, there are applications where a shock wave, and electrostatics, can result in high velocity projectiles. Thus, explosives are substances that contain an amount of energy stored in chemical bonds. Consequently, most commercial explosives are compounds containing -NO2, -ONO2 and -NHNO2 groups that
8.
Proximity fuze
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A proximity fuze is a fuze that detonates an explosive device automatically when the distance to the target becomes smaller than a predetermined value. Proximity fuzes are designed for such as planes, missiles, ships at sea. They provide a sophisticated trigger mechanism than the common contact fuze or timed fuze, it is estimated that it increases the lethality by 5 to 10 times. British military researchers Sir Samuel Curran and W. A. S. Butement invented a proximity fuze in the stages of World War II under the name VT. The system was a small, short range, Doppler radar, however, Britain lacked the capacity to develop the fuze, so the design was shown to the United States during the Tizard Mission in late 1940. The fuze needed to be miniaturized, survive the acceleration of cannon launch. Development was completed under the direction of physicist Merle A. Tuve at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, over 2000 American companies were mobilized to build some 20 million shell fuzes. The proximity fuze was one of the most important technological innovations of the war and it was so important that it was a secret guarded to a similar level as the atom bomb project or D-Day invasion. Adm. Lewis L. Strauss wrote that, One of the most original and effective military developments in World War II was the proximity, or VT and it was of incalculable value to both the Army and Navy, and it helped save London from obliteration. While no one won the war, the proximity fuze must be listed among the very small group of developments, such as radar. The fuze was later found to be able to detonate artillery shells in air bursts, the Germans were supposedly also working on proximity fuzes in the 1930s, based on capacitive effects rather than radar. Research and prototype work at Rheinmetall were halted in 1940 to devote resources to projects deemed more necessary. In the post-World War II era, a number of new proximity fuze systems were developed, including radio, optical, a common form used in modern air-to-air weapons uses a laser as an optical source and time-of-flight for ranging. Before the proximity fuzes invention, detonation was induced by direct contact, all of these earlier methods have disadvantages. The probability of a hit on a small moving target is low. A time- or height-triggered fuze requires an accurate prediction, if the setting is wrong, with a proximity fuze, the shell or missile need only pass close by the target at some time during its trajectory. The proximity fuze makes the problem simpler than the previous methods, Proximity fuzes are also useful for producing air bursts against ground targets. A contact fuze would explode when it hit the ground, it would not be effective at scattering shrapnel
9.
Mach number
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In fluid dynamics, the Mach number is a dimensionless quantity representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound. M = u c, where, M is the Mach number, u is the flow velocity with respect to the boundaries. By definition, Mach 1 is equal to the speed of sound, Mach 0.65 is 65% of the speed of sound, and Mach 1.35 is 35% faster than the speed of sound. The local speed of sound, and thereby the Mach number, depends on the condition of the surrounding medium, the Mach number is primarily used to determine the approximation with which a flow can be treated as an incompressible flow. The medium can be a gas or a liquid, the boundary can be the boundary of an object immersed in the medium, or of a channel such as a nozzle, diffusers or wind tunnels channeling the medium. As the Mach number is defined as the ratio of two speeds, it is a dimensionless number, if M <0. 2–0.3 and the flow is quasi-steady and isothermal, compressibility effects will be small and simplified incompressible flow equations can be used. The Mach number is named after Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach, as the Mach number is a dimensionless quantity rather than a unit of measure, with Mach, the number comes after the unit, the second Mach number is Mach 2 instead of 2 Mach. This is somewhat reminiscent of the modern ocean sounding unit mark, which was also unit-first. In the decade preceding faster-than-sound human flight, aeronautical engineers referred to the speed of sound as Machs number, never Mach 1, Mach number is useful because the fluid behaves in a similar manner at a given Mach number, regardless of other variables. As modeled in the International Standard Atmosphere, dry air at sea level, standard temperature of 15 °C. For example, the atmosphere model lapses temperature to −56.5 °C at 11,000 meters altitude. In the following table, the regimes or ranges of Mach values are referred to, generally, NASA defines high hypersonic as any Mach number from 10 to 25, and re-entry speeds as anything greater than Mach 25. Aircraft operating in this include the Space Shuttle and various space planes in development. Flight can be classified in six categories, For comparison. At transonic speeds, the field around the object includes both sub- and supersonic parts. The transonic period begins when first zones of M >1 flow appear around the object, in case of an airfoil, this typically happens above the wing. Supersonic flow can decelerate back to only in a normal shock. As the speed increases, the zone of M >1 flow increases towards both leading and trailing edges
10.
Semi-active radar homing
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Semi-active radar homing is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only a passive detector of a radar signal – provided by an external source — as it reflects off the target, semi-active missile systems use bistatic continuous-wave radar. The NATO brevity code for a semi-active radar homing missile launch is Fox One, the basic concept of SARH is that since almost all detection and tracking systems consist of a radar system, duplicating this hardware on the missile itself is redundant. The weight of a transmitter reduces the range of any flying object, additionally, the missile will listen rearward to the launch platforms transmitted signal as a reference, enabling it to avoid some kinds of radar jamming distractions offered by the target. The SARH system determines the closing velocity using the flight path geometry shown in Figure 1, the closing velocity is used to set the frequency location for the CW receive signal shown at the bottom of the diagram. Antenna offset angle of the antenna is set after the target is acquired by the missile seeker using the spectrum location set using closing speed. The missile seeker antenna is a radar receiver that produces angle error measurements using that fixed position. Flight path is controlled by producing navigation input to the system using angle errors produced by the antenna. This steers the body of the missile to hold the target near the centerline of the antenna while the antenna is held in a fixed position, the offset angle geometry is determined by flight dynamics using missile speed, target speed, and separation distance. Techniques are nearly identical using jamming signals, optical guidance video, maximum range is increased in SARH systems using navigation data in the homing vehicle to increase the travel distance before antenna tracking is needed for terminal guidance. Navigation relies on data, gyroscopic data, and global positioning data. This maximizes distance by minimizing corrective maneuvers that waste flight energy, in the SARH system the missile listens for the reflected signal at the nose, and is still responsible for providing some sort of “lead” guidance. The disadvantages of beam riding are twofold, One is that a signal is “fan shaped”, growing larger. Reduced accuracy means the missile must use a large warhead to be effective. Another requirement is that a beam riding system must accurately track the target at speeds, typically requiring one radar for tracking. The SARH system needs only one set to a wider pattern. Modern SARH systems use continuous-wave radar for guidance, even though most modern fighter radars are pulse Doppler sets, most have a CW function to guide radar missiles. A few Soviet aircraft, such as versions of the MiG-23 and MiG-27
11.
Active radar homing
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Active radar homing is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver and the electronics necessary for it to find and track its target autonomously. NATO brevity code for an active radar homing missile launch is Fox Three. Active radar homing missiles have some of the best kill probabilities and this is often referred to as fire-and-forget capability and is a great advantage that modern air-to-air missiles have over their predecessors. This makes such missiles practically immune to noise jamming, active radar homing is rarely employed as the only guidance method of a missile. It is possible for an other than the launching platform to provide guidance to the missile before it switches its radar on, This may be other. Most anti-ship missiles use active radar homing for terminal guidance, many ARH missiles with targets on land or sea use millimeter wave guidance. S. Navys Bat radar-guided glide bomb of World War II, worlds earliest munition design known to use an active homing system
12.
Grumman F-14 Tomcat
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The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navys Naval Fighter Experimental program after the collapse of the F-111B project, the F-14 was the first of the American teen-series fighters, which were designed incorporating air combat experience against MiG fighters during the Vietnam War. The F-14 first flew in December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U. S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise, replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The F-14 served as the U. S. Navys primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor, the Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night pod system were added in the 1990s and the Tomcat began performing precision ground-attack missions. In the 1980s F-14s were used as land-based interceptors by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War, where they saw combat against Iraqi warplanes. Iranian F-14s reportedly shot down at least 160 Iraqi aircraft during the war, while only 12 to 16 Tomcats were lost, the Tomcat was retired from the U. S. Navys active fleet on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The F-14 remains in service with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, the U. S. Navy needed a Fleet Air Defense aircraft with a more powerful radar and longer range missiles than the F-4 Phantom II carried to intercept both enemy bombers and missiles. The Navy was directed to participate in the Tactical Fighter Experimental program with the U. S. Air Force by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The Navy strenuously opposed the TFX as it feared compromises necessary for the Air Forces need for an attack aircraft would adversely impact the aircrafts performance as a fighter. Weight and performance issues plagued the U. S. Navy F-111B variant for TFX, the F-111 manufacturer General Dynamics partnered with Grumman on the Navy F-111B. With the F-111B program in distress, Grumman began studying improvements, in 1966, the Navy awarded Grumman a contract to begin studying advanced fighter designs. Grumman narrowed down these designs to its 303 design, the Navy studied the need for VFAX, an additional fighter that was agiler than the F-4 Phantom for air-combat and ground-attack roles. Grumman continued work on its 303 design and offered it to the Navy in 1967, the company continued to refine the design into 1968. In July 1968, the Naval Air Systems Command issued a request for proposals for the Naval Fighter Experimental program, VFX called for a tandem two-seat, twin-engined air-to-air fighter with a maximum speed of Mach 2.2. It would also have a built-in M61 Vulcan cannon and a close air support role. The VFXs air-to-air missiles would be either six AIM-54 Phoenix or a combination of six AIM-7 Sparrow, bids were received from General Dynamics, Grumman, Ling-Temco-Vought, McDonnell Douglas and North American Rockwell, four bids incorporated variable-geometry wings. McDonnell Douglas and Grumman were selected as finalists in December 1968, Grumman was selected for the contract award in January 1969. Upon winning the contract for the F-14, Grumman greatly expanded its Calverton, Long Island, much of the testing, including the first of many compressor stalls and multiple ejections, took place over Long Island Sound
13.
AN/AWG-9
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The AN/AWG-9 and AN/APG-71 radars are all-weather, multi-mode X band pulse-Doppler radar systems used in the F-14 Tomcat. It is a very long-range air-to-air system with the capability of guiding several AIM-54 Phoenix or AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles at the time using its track while scan mode. The primary difference between the AWG-9 and APG-71 is the replacement of the analog electronics with all-digital units. Both the AWG-9 and APG-71 were designed and manufactured by Hughes Aircraft, the AWG-9 was originally developed for the failed Naval F-111B program. This function was designed to allow the Tomcat to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. Their first attempt was the F6D Missileer, which combined Westinghouses AN/APQ-81 pulse doppler radar with the Bendix AAM-N-10 Eagle missile, at the same time, the U. S Air Force had been working on a similar long-range interceptor project of their own, the XF-108 Rapier. The Rapier had much better performance than the Missileer, although its AIM-47 Falcon and AN/ASG-18 radar, the entire system was also very expensive, and the Rapier was canceled, replaced by the hopefully less-expensive Lockheed YF-12 adapted from the Lockheed A-12 spy plane. This project was canceled as the strategic threat moved from bombers to ICBMs. The same was not true for the Navy, where the threat remained manned aircraft, the result was the AN/AWG-9 radar and Phoenix missile. All that was needed was an airframe, which led to the Navys involvement in the F-111B program. Although the radar and missile systems started to mature the F-111B proved to be overweight and had marginal performance. This should not be surprising given the F-111s genesis as a tactical bomber, after many years in development and arguing with Congress, the Navy finally started development of a new aircraft specifically tailored to their needs. The new aircraft emerged as the F-14, armed with the same AWG-9/AIM-54 outfit originally intended for the F-111B, on the F-14, the AWG-9 is capable of detecting bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 100 miles, and its doppler system allows it to have look-down, shoot-down capabilities. Track-while-scan capability is provided by an Intel 8080 8-bit microprocessor, programming it is accomplished using an 8-bit Assembly code, Hughes delivered enough AWG-9 systems and spares to equip approximately 600 F-14A/B aircraft for the Navy, and an additional 78 aircraft for the Iranian Air Force. All of the Navy systems have been retired, the status of the Iranian systems is unknown, the APG-71 was a 1980s upgrade of the AWG-9 for use on the F-14D. The system features an antenna, a sidelobe-blanking guard channel. The system itself is capable of a 460-mile range, but the design limits this to only 230 miles. Use of datalinked data allows two or more F-14Ds to operate the system at its maximum range, Hughes delivered enough APG-71 radars and spares to equip 55 F-14Ds before the program was scaled back as a cost-cutting measure and eventually canceled
14.
AIM-120 AMRAAM
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The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, is a modern beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. When an AMRAAM missile is being launched, NATO pilots use the brevity code Fox Three, the AIM-7 Sparrow medium range missile was purchased by the US Navy from original developer Howard Hughes in the 1950s as its first operational air-to-air missile with beyond visual range capability. It was effective at visual to beyond visual range. S, Navy, U. S. Marine Corps, and early U. S. Air Force versions. The F-4 carried up to four AIM-7s in built-in recesses under its belly, together with the short-range, infrared-guided AIM-9 Sidewinder, they replaced the AIM-4 Falcon IR and radar guided series for use in air combat by the USAF as well. A disadvantage to semi-active homing was that only one target could be illuminated by the fighter plane at a time. Also, the aircraft had to remain pointed in the direction of the target which could be difficult or dangerous in air-to-air combat. An active-radar variant called the Sparrow II was developed to address these drawbacks, the Royal Canadian Air Force, which took over development in the hopes of using the missile to arm their prospective CF-105 Arrow interceptor, soon followed in 1958. The electronics of the time simply could not be miniaturized enough to make Sparrow II a viable working weapon and it would take decades, and a new generation of digital electronics, to produce an effective active-radar air-to-air missile as compact as the Sparrow. The US Navy later developed the AIM-54 Phoenix long-range missile for the air defense mission. It was a large 1,000 lb, Mach 5 missile designed to cruise missiles. A full load of six Phoenix missiles and its 2,000 pounds dedicated launcher exceeded a typical Vietnam-era bomb load. Its service in the US Navy was primarily as a deterrent, as its use was hampered by restrictive rules of engagement in such as Operations Desert Storm, Southern Watch. The US Navy retired the Phoenix in 2004 in light of availability of the AIM-120 AMRAAM on the F/A-18 Hornet and this joint test and evaluation was designated Air Combat Evaluation/Air Intercept Missile Evaluation. What was needed was Phoenix-type multiple-launch and terminal active capability in a Sparrow-size airframe and this led to a memorandum of agreement with European allies for the US to develop an advanced, medium-range, air-to-air missile with the USAF as lead service. The MOA also assigned responsibility for development of an advanced, short-range, air-to-air missile to the European team, this would become the British ASRAAM. By the 1990s, the reliability of the Sparrow had improved so much from the days of Vietnam that it accounted for the largest number of aerial targets destroyed in Desert Storm. But while the USAF had passed on the Phoenix and their own similar AIM-47/YF-12 to optimize performance, they still needed a multiple-launch fire-and-forget capability for the F-15. AMRAAM would need to be fitted on fighters as small as the F-16, the European partners needed AMRAAM to be integrated on aircraft as small as the Sea Harrier
15.
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet
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The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a twin-engine supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole combat jet, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft. Designed by McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, the F/A-18 was derived from the latters YF-17 in the 1970s for use by the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The Hornet is also used by the air forces of other nations and, since 1986, by the U. S. Navys Flight Demonstration Squadron. The F/A-18 has a top speed of Mach 1.8 and it can carry a wide variety of bombs and missiles, including air-to-air and air-to-ground, supplemented by the 20-mm M61 Vulcan cannon. It is powered by two General Electric F404 turbofan engines, which give the aircraft a high thrust-to-weight ratio, the F/A-18 has excellent aerodynamic characteristics, primarily attributed to its leading edge extensions. The fighters primary missions are fighter escort, fleet air defense, Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses, air interdiction, close air support, the Hornet first saw combat action during the 1986 United States bombing of Libya and subsequently participated in the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 Iraq War. The F/A-18 Hornet provided the design for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, its larger. In August 1973, Congress mandated that the Navy pursue a lower-cost alternative to the F-14, grumman proposed a stripped F-14 designated the F-14X, while McDonnell Douglas proposed a naval variant of the F-15, but both were nearly as expensive as the F-14. That summer, Secretary of Defense Schlesinger ordered the Navy to evaluate the competitors in the Air Forces Lightweight Fighter program, the Air Force competition specified a day fighter with no strike capability. On 2 May 1975, the Navy announced its selection of the YF-17, since the LWF did not share the design requirements of the VFAX, the Navy asked McDonnell Douglas and Northrop to develop a new aircraft from the design and principles of the YF-17. On 1 March 1977, Secretary of the Navy W. Graham Claytor announced that the F-18 would be named Hornet. Northrop had partnered with McDonnell Douglas as a contractor on NACF to capitalize on the latters experience in building carrier aircraft. On the F-18, the two agreed to evenly split component manufacturing, with McDonnell Douglas conducting final assembly. McDonnell Douglas would build the wings, stabilators, and forward fuselage, while Northrop would build the center and aft fuselage and vertical stabilizers. McDonnell Douglas was the contractor for the naval versions. The F-18, initially known as McDonnell Douglas Model 267, was modified from the YF-17. For carrier operations, the airframe, undercarriage, and tailhook were strengthened, folding wings and catapult attachments were added, and the landing gear widened. To meet Navy range and reserves requirements, McDonnell increased fuel capacity by 4,460 pounds, by enlarging the dorsal spine, a snag was added to the wings leading edge and stabilators to prevent an Aeroelastic flutter discovered in the F-15 stabilator
16.
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
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The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are twin-engine carrier-capable multirole fighter aircraft variants based on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are larger and more advanced derivatives of the F/A-18C, the Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm M61 rotary cannon and can carry air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface weapons. Additional fuel can be carried in up to five fuel tanks. Designed and initially produced by McDonnell Douglas, the Super Hornet first flew in 1995, full-rate production began in September 1997, after the merger of McDonnell Douglas and Boeing the previous month. The Super Hornet entered service with the United States Navy in 1999, replacing the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, which was retired in 2006, the Super Hornet serves alongside the original Hornet. The Royal Australian Air Force, which has operated the F/A-18A as its main fighter since 1984, RAAF Super Hornets entered service in December 2010. The Super Hornet is a redesign of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The Super Hornets unique wing and tail configuration can be traced back to an internal Northrop project P-530,1965, this had started as a substantial rework of the lightweight F-5E with a larger wing, twin tail fins and a distinctive leading edge root extension. The Hornet proved to be effective but limited in combat radius, the concept of an enlarged Hornet was first proposed in the 1980s, which was marketed by McDonnell Douglas as Hornet 2000. The Hornet 2000 concept was an advanced F/A-18 with a larger wing, the end of the Cold War led to a period of military budget cuts and considerable restructuring. At the same time, U. S. Naval Aviation faced a number of problems, the McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II was canceled in 1991 after the program ran into serious problems, it was intended to replace the obsolete Grumman A-6 Intruder and LTV A-7 Corsair II. The Navy considered updating an existing design as an attractive approach to a clean-sheet program. The next-generation Hornet design proved more attractive than Grummans Quick Strike upgrade to the F-14 Tomcat, at the time, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat was the Navys primary air superiority fighter and fleet defense interceptor. In 1992, the Navy canceled the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter, the Super Hornet was first ordered by the U. S. Navy in 1992. The Navy retained the F/A-18 designation to help sell the program to Congress as a low-risk derivative, the Hornet and Super Hornet share many characteristics, including avionics, ejection seats, radar, armament, mission computer software, and maintenance/operating procedures. The initial F/A-18E/F retained most of the systems from the F/A-18C/Ds configuration at the time. The design would be expanded in the Super Hornet with an empty weight slightly greater than the F-15C, the Super Hornet first flew on 29 November 1995. Initial production on the F/A-18E/F began in 1995, flight testing started in 1996 with the F/A-18E/Fs first carrier landing in 1997
17.
Tupolev Tu-4
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The Tupolev Tu-4 was a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was a copy of the American-made Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Toward the end of World War II, the Soviet Union saw the need for a bombing capability similar to that of the United States Army Air Forces. The U. S. regularly conducted bombing raids on Japan, Joseph Stalin ordered the development of a comparable bomber. The U. S. twice refused to supply the Soviet Union with B-29s under Lend Lease, however, on four occasions during 1944, individual B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory and one crashed after the crew bailed out. In accordance with the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviets were neutral in the Pacific War, despite Soviet neutrality, America demanded the return of the bombers, but the Soviets refused. Three repairable B-29s were flown to Moscow and delivered to the Tupolev OKB, one B-29 was dismantled, the second was used for flight tests and training, and the third one was left as a standard for cross-reference. The aircraft included one Boeing-Wichita −5-BW, two Boeing-Wichita −15-BWs and the wreckage of one Boeing-Renton −1-BN – three different models from two different production lines, only one of the four had de-icing boots as used on the Tu-4. Stalin told Tupolev to clone the Superfortress in as short a time as possible instead of continuing with his own comparable ANT-64, the reverse-engineering effort involved 900 factories and research institutes, who finished the design work during the first year,105,000 drawings were made. By the end of the year, the Soviet industry was to produce 20 copies of the aircraft. The Soviet Union used the system, so sheet aluminium in thicknesses matching the B-29s imperial measurements were unavailable. The corresponding metric-gauge metal was of different thicknesses, alloys and other materials new to the Soviet Union had to be brought into production. Each component made and each alteration was scrutinized and was subject to a bureaucratic process. Differences were limited to the engines, the weapons, the radio. The B-29s remote-controlled gun turrets were redesigned to accommodate the harder hitting, kerber, Tupolevs deputy at the time, recalled in his memoirs that engineers needed authorization from a high-ranking general to use Soviet-made parachutes. Additional changes were made as a result of problems encountered during testing, related to engine and propeller failures, the Tu-4 first flew on 19 May 1947, piloted by test pilot Nikolai Rybko. Serial production started immediately, and the type entered service in 1949. Some attempts to develop midair refueling systems were made to extend the bombers range, the aircraft was first displayed during a flyover at the Aviation Day parade on 3 August 1947 at the Tushino Airport in Moscow
18.
Anti-ship missile
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Anti-ship missiles are guided missiles that are designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good number of other anti-ship missiles use infrared homing to follow the heat that is emitted by a ship, the first anti-ship missiles, which were developed and built by Nazi Germany, used radio command guidance. A variant of the HS293 had a TV transmitter on board, the bomber carrying it could then fly outside the range of naval AA guns and use TV guidance to lead the missile to its target by radio control. The term surface-to-surface missile is used when appropriate, the longer-range anti-ship missiles are often called anti-ship cruise missiles. A typical abbreviation for the phrase anti-ship missile is ASM, but AShM can also be used to avoid confusion with air-to-surface missiles, anti-submarine missiles, Anti-ship missiles were among the first instances of short-range guided missiles during World War II in 1943–44. These all used radio command-guidance from the bombardiers of the warplanes that launched them, some of these hit and either sank or damaged a number of ships, including warships offshore of amphibious landings on western Italy. These radio-controlled missiles were used successfully until the Allied navies developed missile countermeasures—principally radio jamming, the Allies also developed some of their own similar radio-guided AShMs, starting with the U. S. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union turned to a sea-denial strategy concentrating on submarines, naval mines, one of the first products of the decision was the SS-N-2 Styx missile. Further products were to follow, and they were loaded onto the Soviet Air Forces Tu-95 Bear and Tu-22 Blinder bombers. In 1967, the Israeli Navys destroyer Eilat was the first ship to be sunk by a ship-launched missile – a number of Styx missiles launched by Egyptian Komar-class missile boats off the Sinai Peninsula. In the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 the Indian Navy conducted two raids using OSA 1-class missile boats employing the Styx on the Pakistani Naval base at Karachi and these raids resulted in the destruction or crippling of approximately two thirds of the Pakistani Navy. Major losses included two destroyers, an oiler, an ammunition ship, approximately a dozen merchant ships. Major shore based facilities, including fuel storage tanks and naval installations were also destroyed, the Osas returned to base without loss. The Battle of Latakia in 1973 was the scene of the worlds first combat between missile boats, in this battle, the Israeli Navy destroyed Syrian warships without suffering any damage, using electronic countermeasures and ruses for defense. Anti-ship missiles were used in the 1982 Falklands War, the British warship HMS Sheffield, a 4,820 ton Type 42 Destroyer, was struck by a single air-launched Exocet AShM, she later sank as a result of the damage that she sustained. The container ship Atlantic Conveyor was also sunk by an Exocet, in 1987, a US Navy guided-missile frigate, the USS Stark, was hit by an Exocet anti-ship missile fired by an Iraqi Mirage F-1 fighter plane. Stark was damaged, but she was able to steam to a port for temporary repairs
19.
Tupolev Tu-16
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The Tupolev Tu-16 was a twin-engined jet strategic bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has flown for more than 60 years, and the Chinese licence-built Xian H-6 remains in service with the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force, in the late 1940s, the Soviet Union was strongly committed to matching the United States in strategic bombing capability. The Soviets only long-range bomber at the time was Tupolevs Tu-4 Bull, the development of the extremely powerful Mikulin AM-3 turbojet led to the possibility of a large, jet-powered bomber. The Tupolev design bureau began work on the Tu-88 prototypes in 1950, the Tu-88 first flew on 27 April 1952. After winning a competition against the Ilyushin Il-46, it was approved for production in December 1952, the first production bombers entered service with Frontal Aviation in 1954, receiving the service designation Tu-16. It received the NATO reporting name Badger-A and it had a new, large swept wing and two large Mikulin AM-3 turbojets, one in each wing root. It could carry a single massive FAB-90009, 000-kg conventional bomb or various nuclear weapons for a range of around 4,800 km, although the Tu-16 began as a high-altitude, free-fall bomber, in the mid-1950s it was equipped to carry early Soviet cruise missiles. The Tu-16KS-1 version could carry AS-1 missiles over a radius of 1,800 km. These very large weapons were similar to the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter, fitted with either a nuclear or conventional warhead. They were intended for use primarily against US Navy aircraft carriers, subsequent Tu-16s were converted to carry later, more advanced missiles, while their designations changed several times. A versatile design, the Tu-16 was built in numerous specialized variants for reconnaissance, maritime surveillance, electronic intelligence gathering, a total of 1,507 aircraft were constructed in three plants in the Soviet Union, in 1954–1962. A civilian adaptation, the Tupolev Tu-104, saw service with Aeroflot. The Tu-16 was also exported to Indonesia, Egypt, and Iraq and it continued to be used by the Air Forces and naval aviation of the Soviet Union and subsequently Russia, until 1993. Delivery of the Tu-16 to China began in 1958, and the Xian Aircraft Industrial Corporation was license-produced under the Chinese designation Xian H-6, at least 120 of these aircraft remain in service. On 14 May 1965, one of the PLAAF Tu-16 bombers carried out the first airborne nuclear weapon test inside China, individual aircraft could be modified several times, with designations changed, especially concerning missile-carrying aircraft. Aircraft 97 - Twin-engined long-range bomber development project of Tu-16 with two RD-5 engines, Aircraft 103 - Supersonic bomber development project of Tu-16 with four VD-7 AM-13 engines. Badger A – This is the configuration of the Tu-16 bomber deployed in 1954 to replace the Tu-4. Several modified models of this variant existed, all of which were known as Badger A in the West, tu-16A – Modified Tu-16s designed to carry nuclear bombs, one of main versions, with 453 built
20.
Tupolev Tu-22M
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The Tupolev Tu-22M is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau. According to some sources, the bomber was believed to be designated Tu-26 at one time, during the Cold War, the Tu-22M was operated by the Soviet Air Force in a strategic bombing role, and by the Soviet Naval Aviation in a long-range maritime anti-shipping role. Significant numbers remain in service with the Russian Air Force, in 1962, with the introduction of the Tu-22, it became increasingly clear that the aircraft was considerably inadequate in its role as a bomber. In addition to widespread unserviceability and maintenance issues, the Tu-22’s handling characteristics proved to be dangerous and its landing speed was some 100 km/h greater than previous bombers and it had a tendency to pitch up and strike its tail upon landing. It was difficult to fly, and had poor all-round visibility, in 1962, Tupolev commenced work on major update of the Tu-22. Initially, the bureau planned to add a wing and uprated engines into the updated design. The design was tested at TsAGI’s wind tunnels at Zhukovsky, during this time, Sukhoi, traditionally a designer of fighter aircraft, developed the T-4, a four-engine titanium aircraft with canards. A response to the XB-70, it was to have a speed of 3,200 km/h. Not to be outdone, Tupolev, whose expertise is with bombers, compared to the T-4, it was an evolutionary design, and thus its appeal laid in its simplicity and low cost. However, the Soviet government was sceptical about the need to approve the development of a replacement aircraft so soon after the Tu-22 had just entered service, the aircraft was designated Tu-22M, given the OKB code Aircraft 45, and an internal designation of AM. Their effort was successful as the government approved the design on 28 November 1967, and decreed the development of the main weapon. The T-4 itself would make its first flight in 1972, but was later cancelled, US intelligence had been aware of the existence of the aircraft since 1969, and the first satellite photograph of the bomber would be taken in 1970. The existence of the aircraft was a shock to US intelligence as Nikita Khrushchev, the result was a new swing wing aircraft named Samolyot 145, derived from the Tupolev Tu-22, with some features borrowed from the abortive Tu-98. The Tu-22M was based on the Tu-22s weapon system and used its Kh-22 missile, the Tu-22M designation was used to help get approval for the bomber within the Soviet military and government system. The Tu-22M designation was used by the Soviet Union during the SALT II arms control negotiations, some suggested that the designation was deliberately deceptive, and intended to hide the Tu-22Ms performance. Other sources suggest the deception was internal to make it easier to get budgets approved, according to some sources, the Backfire-B/C production variants were believed to be designated Tu-26 by Russia, although this is disputed by many others. The US State and Defense Departments have used the Tu-22M designation for the Backfire, production of all Tu-22M variants totalled 497 including pre-production aircraft. The two prototypes Tu-22M0 were delivered to Long Range Aviation’s 42nd Combat Training Centre at Dyagilevo air base, near Ryazan, the aircraft began practice sorties in March
21.
Electronic countermeasures
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An electronic countermeasure is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar or other detection systems, like infrared or lasers. It may be used offensively and defensively to deny targeting information to an enemy. The system may make many separate targets appear to the enemy and it is used effectively to protect aircraft from guided missiles. Most air forces use ECM to protect their aircraft from attack and it has also been deployed by military ships and recently on some advanced tanks to fool laser/IR guided missiles. It is frequently coupled with stealth advances so that the ECM systems have an easier job, offensive ECM often takes the form of jamming. Defensive ECM includes using blip enhancement and jamming of missile terminal homers, first example of electronic countermeasures being applied in a combat situation took place during the Russo-Japanese war. The spark-gap transmitters in the Russian stations generated senseless noise while the Japanese were making attempts to coordinate their efforts in the bombing of a Russian naval base. Germany and United Kingdom interfered with enemy communications along the front during World War I while the Royal Navy tried to intercept German naval radio transmissions. There were also efforts at sending false radio signals, having shore stations send transmissions using ships call signs, World War II ECM expanded to include dropping chaff, jamming and spoofing radar and navigation signals. German bomber aircraft navigated using radio signals transmitted from ground stations, cold War developments included anti-radiation missiles designed to home in on enemy radar transmitters. In the 2007 Operation Orchard Israeli attack on a suspected Syrian nuclear weapons site, Israeli electronic warfare systems took over Syria’s air defense systems, feeding them a false sky-picture while Israel Air Force jets crossed much of Syria, bombed their targets and returned. Basic radar ECM strategies are radar interference, target modifications, interference techniques include jamming and deception. Jamming is accomplished by a friendly platform transmitting signals on the frequency to produce a noise level sufficient to hide echos. The jammers continuous transmissions will provide a clear direction to the enemy radar, deception may use a transponder to mimic the radar echo with a delay to indicate incorrect range. Transponders may alternatively increase return echo strength to make a small decoy appear to be a larger target, target modifications include radar absorbing coatings and modifications of the surface shape to either stealth a high-value target or enhance reflections from a decoy. Dispersal of small aluminium strips called chaff is a method of changing the electromagnetic properties of air to provide confusing radar echos. ECM is practiced by all modern military units—land, sea or air. Aircraft, however, are the weapons in the ECM battle because they can see a larger patch of earth than a sea or land-based unit
22.
Interceptor aircraft
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An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to prevent successful missions by enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. For daytime operations, conventional fighters normally fill the interceptor role, few aircraft can be considered dedicated daytime interceptors. Night fighters and bomber destroyers are, by definition, interceptors of the heavy type, examples of classic interceptors of this era include the F-106 Delta Dart, Sukhoi Su-15 and English Electric Lightning. Dedicated interceptor designs became rare, with the widely used examples designed after the 1960s being the Tornado F3, Mikoyan MiG-25 Foxbat. The first dedicated interceptor squadrons were formed up during World War I in order to defend London against attacks by Zeppelins, early units generally used aircraft withdrawn from front-line service, notably the Sopwith Pup. They were told about their targets prior to take-off from a centralized command center in the Horse Guards building. The Pup proved to have too low performance to intercept the Gotha G. IV bombers. Before Second World War started, offensive bomber speeds had improved so much that it appeared that the mission would be effectively impossible. The visual and acoustic detection had a range on the order of a few miles. This could be addressed by a cover of aircraft. The conclusion at the time was that the bomber will always get through, the introduction of radar upset this equation. Radar was able to detect aircraft at long range, on the order of 100 miles even for early systems and this provided enough time for fighters to start up, climb to altitude and chase down their targets. The introduction of jet power increased speeds from perhaps 200 miles per hour to 600 miles per hour in a single step, although radars also improved in performance, the gap between offense and defense was dramatically reduced. Large attacks could so confuse the defenses ability to communicate information to the pilots that the method of manual ground controlled interception was increasingly seen as inadequate. In the United States, this led to the introduction of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment to computerize this task. In the 1950s, during the Cold War, an interceptor force was crucial for the great powers. Hence for a period of time they faced rapid development. Thus, the doctrine of mutually assured destruction replaced the trend of defense strengthening and their utility waned as the role became blurred into the role of the heavy air superiority fighters dominant in military thinking at the time
23.
Carrier battle group
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A carrier battle group consists of an aircraft carrier and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The first naval task forces built around carriers appeared just prior to, the Imperial Japanese Navy, IJN, was the first to assemble a large number of carriers into a single task force, known as Kido Butai. This task force was used with devastating effect in the Imperial Japanese Navys Attack on Pearl Harbor, Kido Butai operated as the IJNs main carrier battle group until four of its carriers were sunk at the Battle of Midway. In contrast, the United States Navy deployed its large carriers in separate formations and these single-carrier formations would often be paired or grouped together for certain assignments, most notably the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway. By 1943, however, large numbers of fleet and light became available. These groups eventually formed the Fast Carrier Task Force, which became the primary unit of the U. S. With the construction of the large carriers of the Cold War era. Because the Soviet Union had no large carriers of its own, however, a primary mission of the Soviet Navys attack submarines was to track every allied battle group and, on the outbreak of hostilities, sink the carriers. Understanding this threat, the CVBG expended enormous resources in its own anti-submarine warfare mission, British and French carrier battle groups were involved in the 1956 Suez Crisis. During the Cold War, an important battle scenario was an attack against a CVBG using a number of antiship missiles. The first attempted use of missiles against a carrier battle group was part of Argentinas efforts against British Armed Forces during the Falklands War. This was the last conflict so far in which two belligerents employed aircraft carriers, although Argentina made little use of its carrier, originally built in the United Kingdom. During the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 India used its carrier strike group centered on INS Vikrant to impose a naval blockade upon East Pakistan, air strikes were carried out initially on shipping in the Chittagong and Coxs Bazar harbours, sinking or incapacitating most ships there. Further strikes were carried out on Coxs Bazar from 60 nautical miles offshore, on the evening of 4 December, the air group struck Chittagong Harbour. Later strikes targeted Khulna and the Port of Mongla, air strikes continued until 10 December 1971. The United States Sixth Fleet assembled a force of three battle groups and a battleship during the Lebanese Civil War in 1983. Daily reconnaissance flights were flown over the Bekaa Valley and a strike was flown against targets in the resulting in loss of an A-6 Intruder. During the 1986 clashes, three battle groups deployed to the Gulf of Sidra and ultimately two of them conducted strikes against Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon
24.
Douglas F6D Missileer
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The Douglas F6D Missileer was a proposed carrier-based US Navy fleet defense fighter aircraft, designed by Douglas Aircraft Company in response to a 1959 US Navy requirement. Since the enemy would be fired on long before they reached visual range, when doubts were expressed about the Missileers ability to defend itself after firing its missiles, the value of the project was questioned, leading to its cancellation. Portions of the Missileer continued development in spite of the cancellation, eventually emerging on the ill-fated General Dynamics–Grumman F-111B and successful Grumman F-14 Tomcat years later. Through the later part of the 1950s and into the 1960s and this changed the basic requirements for a fighter design considerably. The pilots would be expected to fight primarily through their radar and fire control systems, because of this, the emphasis was on head down combat and an all-round view was considered unimportant. Radar systems were so complex that a pilot could not be expected to both the aircraft and the radar, so a second crewman, the radar intercept officer or RIO became a common fixture. For instance, given a 100 mi range on the shipboard radars, in this time, an interceptor would have to launch, climb to altitude, maneuver into position, and fire. The solution to this problem is to keep the interceptors in the air at all times, but given the short loiter times of high-performance aircraft like the F-4 Phantom, this would require huge fleets of fighters in order to keep a top cover in place while others were refueling. An aircraft with dramatically improved loiter times would be needed to make this approach practical, another solution would be to increase the detection range, allowing more time for an interception. However, detection range is largely a function of the horizon as seen from the radar mast. The solution here would have been to mount the radar on aircraft. In 1957, the Navy began the process of ordering what they referred to as a fleet defense fighter. They envisioned an aircraft with loiter times on the order of six hours. In order to get the loiter times they wanted, the aircraft had to carry a fuel load and was thus very large. The complex radar required dedicated operators, which resulted in a three-man crew, since dogfighting was out of the question, the aircraft was strictly subsonic and did not require all-round visibility, suggesting a cockpit layout similar to the Grumman A-6 Intruder. The process formally started in December 1958 when Bendix was awarded a contract to develop the AAM-N-10 Eagle missile system. After launch, the Eagle was boosted to Mach 3.5 by a large solid-propellant rocket booster, and then after a glide period, using a lofted trajectory that flew up and over the targets at high altitudes, the missile had an effective range of 160 nmi. On final approach the missile activated its AN/DPN-53 radar, adapted from the Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc, at the same time, Westinghouse won the contract to develop the AN/APQ-81 radar for the aircraft
25.
AIM-7 Sparrow
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Sparrow and its derivatives were the Wests principal beyond visual range air-to-air missile from the late 1950s until the 1990s. It remains in service, although it is being phased out in aviation applications in favor of the more advanced AIM-120 AMRAAM, the Self-Defence Forces of Japan also employ the Sparrow missile, though it is being phased out and replaced by the Mitsubishi AAM-4. NATO pilots use the brevity code Fox One in radio communication to signal launch of a Semi-Active Radar Homing Missile such as the Sparrow. The Sparrow was used as the basis for a missile, the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow. Fired at low altitude and flying directly at its target though the lower atmosphere, with the retirement of the Sparrow in the air-to-air role, a new version of the Sea Sparrow was produced to address this concern, producing the much larger and more capable RIM-162 ESSM. The Sparrow emerged from a late-1940s United States Navy program to develop a rocket weapon for air-to-air use. In 1947 the Navy contracted Sperry to build a beam riding version of a standard 5-inch HVAR, the weapon was initially dubbed KAS-1, then AAM-2, and, from 1948 on, AAM-N-2. The airframe was developed by Douglas Aircraft Company, the diameter of the HVAR proved to be inadequate for the electronics, leading Douglas to expand the missiles airframe to 8-inch diameter. The prototype weapon began unpowered flight-tests in 1947, and made its first aerial interception in 1952, after a protracted development cycle the initial AAM-N-2 Sparrow entered limited operational service in 1954 with specially modified Skyknights all weather carrier night fighters. And in 1956, they were carried by the F3H-2M Demon, compared to the modern versions, the Sparrow I was more streamlined and featured a bullet-shaped airframe with a long pointed nose. Sparrow I was a limited and rather primitive weapon, the limitations of beam-riding guidance restricted the missile to attacks against targets flying a straight course and made it essentially useless against a maneuvering target. Only about 2,000 rounds were produced to this standard, as early as 1950 Douglas examined equipping the Sparrow with an active radar seeker, initially known as XAAM-N-2a Sparrow II, the original retroactively becoming Sparrow I. In 1952 it was given the new code AAM-N-3, the active radar made the Sparrow II a fire and forget weapon, allowing several to be fired at separate targets at the same time. By 1955 Douglas proposed going ahead with development, intending it to be the weapon for the F5D Skylancer interceptor. It was later selected, with controversy, to be the primary weapon for the Canadian Avro Arrow supersonic interceptor. For Canadian use and as a source for US missiles. The small size of the forebody and the K-band AN/APQ-64-radar limited performance. After considerable development and test firings in the U. S. and Canada, Canadair continued development until the Arrow was cancelled in 1959
26.
Douglas A-3 Skywarrior
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The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior was designed as a strategic bomber for the United States Navy and was among the longest serving carrier-based aircraft in history. It entered service in the mid-1950s and was retired in 1991, throughout its service, it was the heaviest operational aircraft to operate from aircraft carriers, earning its nickname, The Whale. Its primary function for much of its service life was as an electronic warfare platform, tactical air reconnaissance platform. The Skywarrior is one of only two U. S. Navy attack aircraft intended as a bomber to enter full-scale service. S. Navys strategic nuclear deterrence mission to the Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine force, a modified derivative, the B-66 Destroyer, served in the U. S. Air Force until the early 1970s as a tactical bomber, electronic warfare aircraft, and reconnaissance platform. Early in World War II, the U. S. Navy began to explore the concept of an aircraft operating from aircraft carriers. In January 1948, the Chief of Naval Operations issued a requirement to develop a long-range, the aircraft was planned to operate from the proposed United States-class supercarriers, much larger than existing carriers, and the specification set a target loaded weight of 100,000 lb. The contract that the U. S. Navy awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company on 29 September 1949 led to the development, the prototype XA3D-1 first flew on 28 October 1952. Considerable development problems, largely with the engines, delayed the introduction of the Skywarrior until spring 1956. Because of its size, and less-than-slender profile, it was nicknamed The Whale. The Skywarrior had a 36° degree swept wing and two Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engines, early prototypes had used the intended Westinghouse J40, a powerplant that proved to be disastrous and subsequently canceled. The turbojets could be supplemented by a provision for twelve 4,500 lbf thrust JATO bottles, the aircraft had a largely conventional semi-monocoque fuselage, with the engines in underwing nacelles. Flight controls were hydraulic, and for storage below deck, the A-3s wings folded outboard of the engines, lying almost flat, capacious internal fuel tanks provided long range. The early A-3 variants had a crew of three, pilot, bombardier/navigator and crewman/navigator, an unusual cockpit configuration was incorporated with the three crew sitting under a framed canopy. In the raised compartment, the pilot and bombardier/navigator sat in an arrangement with the pilots station on the port side having full flight controls. The third crewman station had the sextant for navigation and the defensive electronic counter measures equipment. Efforts to reduce weight had led to the deletion of ejection seats during the process for the Skywarrior. A similar arrangement with a tunnel had been used on the F3D Skyknight
27.
United States Air Force
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The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U. S. military to be formed, the U. S. Air Force is a military service organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for surface forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2015, the service more than 5,137 military aircraft,406 ICBMs and 63 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget with 313,242 active duty personnel,141,197 civilian employees,69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,500 Air National Guard personnel. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF and it shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The stated mission of the USAF today is to fly, fight, and win in air, space and we will provide compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance, Reach and it should be emphasized that the core functions, by themselves, are not doctrinal constructs. The purpose of Nuclear Deterrence Operations is to operate, maintain, in the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD, and the means to deliver them, moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. Nuclear strike is the ability of forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level, post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations, the Air Force, in conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements, adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Forces ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission, positive nuclear command, control, communications, effective nuclear weapons security, and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. OCA is the method of countering air and missile threats, since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source
28.
North American XF-108 Rapier
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To limit development costs, the program shared engine development with the North American XB-70 Valkyrie strategic bomber program, and used a number of elements of earlier interceptor projects. Had it flown, the F-108 would have been the heaviest fighter of its era. Prior to the cancellation, the President of the United States Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower noted that raising the F-108 interceptor force would have cost the U. S. taxpayer $4 billion. During the early 1950s, the USAF proposed a very high-performance, on 20 July 1955, formal development of what became known as the Long-Range Interceptor, Experimental was approved, planned as a F-102 Delta Dagger/F-106 Delta Dart replacement. The specification was laid down on 6 October 1955, calling for an interceptor that could fly at 60,000 ft at a speed of Mach 1.7 (1,122 mph and it was to have a two-man crew and at least two engines. A further consideration was that an integrated system would be fitted, allowing the interception of a bomber at 60 nmi. Of the eight interested companies, contracts for preliminary studies were issued to North American Aviation, Lockheed and Northrop on 11 October 1955, of the paper designs, the North American proposal, dubbed NA-236, seemed the most promising. The NA-236 shared some similarities with the XF-108, although the most obvious differences were the additions of two finlets at the midspan of the stabilizers, and canards. Political and budgetary difficulties led to the cancellation of the program on 9 May 1956, after considerable confusion, the program was reinstated on 11 April 1957 with North American awarded a contract for two prototypes. The designation F-108 was issued, also known as Weapon System 202A, North Americans company designation was NA-257, although it was basically identical to the NA-236. At the time, Air Defense Command anticipated an order for 480 aircraft, the resulting design went through considerable evolution, owing to both its cutting-edge technology and continual redefinition of the USAF requirements. Early revisions prominently featured canards, with a span of 19 ft 10 in, the aircraft in this configuration would have had a maximum takeoff weight of 99,400 lb with a 72,550 feet operational ceiling. In addition to the F-108s interceptor role, North American proposed it as a fighter for its own B-70 Valkyrie supersonic bomber prototype. Commonality between the B-70 bomber and the F-108 included the escape capsule and General Electric YJ93 engines. Another role considered was for the F-108 to be gap-fillers for the Distant Early Warning system, because of its great speed, from September 1958, substantial engineering and design changes were implemented, however, SAC had lost interest in the escort fighter concept. To accompany the B-70 all the way to its target and back, on 30 December 1958, YF-108A preproduction aircraft on order were reduced from 31 to 20 test aircraft and the first test flight was delayed from February to April 1961. The eventual design, which was built as a full-sized XF-108 mockup, was displayed to Air Force officials on 17–20 January 1959, the project was given the name Rapier on 15 May 1959, following a contest by the Air Defense Command asking airmen for suggestions. Even as the XF-108 program was progressing well, there were signs that would lead to its eventual cancellation
29.
Lockheed YF-12
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The Lockheed YF-12 was an American prototype interceptor aircraft evaluated by the United States Air Force. The YF-12 was a version of the secret single-seat Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft. The YF-12 set and held speed and altitude records of over 2,000 mph and over 80,000 ft. In the late 1950s, the United States Air Force sought a replacement for its F-106 Delta Dart interceptor, as part of the Long Range Interceptor Experimental program, the North American XF-108 Rapier, an interceptor with Mach 3 speed, was selected. However, the F-108 program was canceled by the Department of Defense in September 1959, during this time, Lockheeds Skunk Works was developing the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft for the Central Intelligence Agency under the Oxcart program. Kelly Johnson, the head of Skunk Works, proposed to build a version of the A-12 named AF-12 by the company, the AF-12s took the seventh through ninth slots on the A-12 assembly line, these were designated as YF-12A interceptors. The modifications changed the aircrafts aerodynamics enough to require ventral fins to be mounted under the fuselage, the four bays previously used to house the A-12s reconnaissance equipment were converted to carry Hughes AIM-47 Falcon missiles. One bay was used for fire control equipment, the first YF-12A flew on 7 August 1963. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the existence of the aircraft on 24 February 1964, on 14 May 1965 the Air Force placed a production order for 93 F-12Bs for its Air Defense Command. However, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara would not release the funding for three years due to Vietnam War costs. Updated intelligence placed a priority on defense of the continental US. Then in January 1968, the F-12B program was officially ended. During flight tests the YF-12As set a record of 2,070.101 mph and altitude record of 80,257.86 ft. Six successful firings of the AIM-47 missiles were completed, the last one was launched from the YF-12 at Mach 3.2 at an altitude of 74,000 ft to a JQB-47E target drone 500 ft off the ground. One of the Air Force test pilots, Jim Irwin, would go on to become a NASA astronaut, the program was abandoned following the cancellation of the production F-12B, but the YF-12s continued flying for many years with the USAF and with NASA as research aircraft. The initial phase of the test program included objectives aimed at answering questions about implementation of the B-1. Air Force objectives included exploration of its use in a tactical environment, the Air Force portion was budgeted at US$4 million. The NASA budget for the 2. 5-year program was US$14 million, of the three YF-12As, AF Ser
30.
AIM-47 Falcon
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The Hughes AIM-47 Falcon, originally GAR-9, was a very long-range high-performance air-to-air missile that shared the basic design of the earlier AIM-4 Falcon. It was developed in 1958 along with the new Hughes AN/ASG-18 radar fire-control system intended to arm the Mach 3 XF-108 Rapier interceptor aircraft and, after its cancellation and it was never used operationally, but was a direct predecessor of the AIM-54 Phoenix. In the early 1950s, the United States Air Force developed requirements for a speed, high performance interceptor aircraft. In 1957, Hughes won the contract to supply the system for this aircraft. This system consisted of the GAR-X missile and the YX-1 radar, the original missile design had a range of 15 to 25 miles, and could be equipped with a conventional warhead or a 0.25 kiloton version of the W42 nuclear warhead. When the North American XF-108 Rapier was announced as the winner of the LRI-X contest in April 1958, the F-108 was cancelled in September 1959, but the Air Force decided to continue development of the missile system with both warheads. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously, growing much larger, the missiles range was extended to 100 miles, using the Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active radar homing and this seeker was a powerful system of its own, with no effective maximum range and the resolution to be able to lock onto a 100-square-foot target at 63 nm. Even the seeker was changed at one point, with the addition of an infrared homing seeker to improve terminal performance. However, that would have required the missile to grow by 180 lb, the W-42 nuclear version was dropped in 1958 in favor of a 100-pound high-explosive design. Problems with the motor during development led to the consideration of using a storable liquid-fuel rocket design. This lowered the top speed from Mach 6 to Mach 4, in this form the GAR-9 started ground firings in August 1961. For air-launch testing at supersonic speeds the Republic XF-103 had originally proposed as a test platform. Instead, B-58 Hustler s/n 55-665 was modified to house the AN/ASG-18 radar in a large protruding radome that gave it the nickname Snoopy, in 1960 Lockheed started development of the Lockheed YF-12 interceptor, as a lower-cost replacement for the F-108. The GAR-9/ASG-18 were moved to this project, the F-12 would have featured four flip-open internal weapons bays on the chines behind the cockpit, one of these filled with electronics. The F-12B bays were too small for the GAR-9, so the GAR-9B was developed with flip-out fins to reduce its diameter, test firings of the GAR-9A from the prototype F-12As resulted in six kills from seven launches, the lone miss due to a missile power failure. The missile was renamed AIM-47 in late 1962 as part of the transition to common naming for aerospace vehicles across the U. S. Department of Defense in 1962. The last launch was from a YF-12 flying at Mach 3.2, in 1966, the F-12 project was cancelled just as the F-108 had been
31.
AIM-9 Sidewinder
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The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a short-range air-to-air missile developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s. Entering service in 1956, variants and upgrades remain in service with many air forces after six decades. The United States Air Force purchased the Sidewinder after the missile was developed by the United States Navy at China Lake, the majority of Sidewinder variants utilize infrared homing for guidance, the AIM-9C variant used semi-active radar homing and served as the basis of the AGM-122 Sidearm anti-radar missile. The Sidewinder is the most widely used missile in the West, with more than 110,000 missiles produced for the U. S. and 27 other nations and it has been built under license by some other nations including Sweden. The AIM-9 is one of the oldest, least expensive, and most successful air-to-air missiles, when firing a Sidewinder, American and NATO pilots use the brevity code FOX-2. In addition to fixed-wing aircraft, some helicopters, such as the AH-1 SuperCobra. The missile was designed to be simple to upgrade, the United States Navy hosted a 50th anniversary celebration of its existence in 2002. Boeing won a contract in March 2010 to support Sidewinder operations through to 2055, the AIM-9 is made up of a number of different components manufactured by different companies, including Aerojet and Raytheon. The missile is divided into four sections, guidance, target detector, warhead. The guidance and control unit contains most of the electronics and mechanics that enable the missile to function. At the very front is the IR seeker head utilizing the rotating reticle, mirror, and five CdS cells or pan and scan staring array, electric motor, and armature, all protruding into a glass dome. Directly behind this are the electronics that gather data, interpret signals, an umbilical on the side of the GCU attaches to the launcher, which detaches from the missile at launch. To cool the head, a 5,000 psi argon bottle is carried internally in Air Force AIM-9L/M variants. The AIM-9X model contains a Stirling cryo-engine to cool the seeker elements, two electric servos power the canards to steer the missile. At the back of the GCU is a gas generator or thermal battery to provide electrical power. The AIM-9X features high off-boresight capability, together with JHMCS, this missile is capable of locking on to a target that is in its field of regard said to be up to 90 degrees off boresight. Next is a detector with four IR emitters and detectors that detect whether the target is moving farther away. When it detects this action taking place, it sends a signal to the warhead safe, versions older than the AIM-9L featured an influence fuze that relied on the targets magnetic field as input
32.
Situation awareness
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Lacking or inadequate situation awareness has been identified as one of the primary factors in accidents attributed to human error. Thus, situation awareness is especially important in work domains where the flow can be quite high. As outlined below, three facets of SA have been in focus in research, namely SA States, SA Systems, SA States refers to the actual awareness of the situation. SA Systems refers to the distribution of SA in teams and between objects in the environment, and to the exchange of SA between system parts, SA Processes refers to the updating of SA States, and what guides the moment-to-moment change of SA. Having complete, accurate and up-to-the-minute SA is essential where technological and situational complexity on the human decision-maker are a concern. Although the term itself is recent, the concept has roots in the history of military theory—it is recognizable in Sun Tzus The Art of War. The term itself, can be traced also to World War I, situation awareness appears in the technical literature as early as 1983 when describing the benefits of a prototype touch-screen navigation display. During the early 1980s, integrated “vertical-situation” and “horizontal-situation” displays were being developed for aircraft to replace multiple electro-mechanical instruments. Before being widely adopted by human scientists in the 1990s. They identified having good SA as the factor in air combat engagements—the ace factor. Survival in a dogfight was typically a matter of observing the current move and anticipating his next move a fraction of a second before he could observe. USAF pilots also came to equate SA with the observe and orient phases of the famous observe-orient-decide-act loop or Boyd cycle, losing ones own SA, in contrast, equates to being out of the loop. Clearly, SA has far reaching applications as it is needed for individuals, thus, we are beginning to see SA going beyond the field of aviation and work being conducted in a wide variety of domains. Currently, SA is now being studied in such areas as air traffic control, nuclear power plant operation, vehicle operation. Several cognitive processes related to situation awareness are briefly described in this section, the matrix shown below attempts to illustrate the relationship among some of these concepts. Sensemaking and achieving understanding are more commonly found in industry and the psychology literature. Situation awareness is sometimes confused with the term situational understanding, situational understanding is the same as Level 2 SA in the Endsley model—the comprehension of the meaning of the information as integrated with each other and in terms of the individuals goals. It is the so what of the data that is perceived, in brief, situation awareness is viewed as a state of knowledge, and situational assessment as the processes used to achieve that knowledge
33.
Naval flight officer
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A naval flight officer is a commissioned officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps who specializes in airborne weapons and sensor systems. NFOs are not pilots per se, but they may perform many co-pilot functions, until 1966, their duties were performed by both commissioned officer and senior enlisted naval aviation observers. NFOs in the US Navy all begin their careers as unrestricted line officers, eligible for command at sea and ashore in the various naval aviation aircraft type/model/series communities. Such officers are graduates of the U. S. Naval Test Pilot School and/or the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School with advanced academic degrees in aerospace engineering or similar disciplines. The counterpart to the NFO in the United States Air Force is the combat systems officer, encompassing the previous roles of navigator, weapon systems officer and electronic warfare officer. The United States Coast Guard had a short-lived NFO community in the 1980s and 1990s when it temporarily operated E-2C Hawkeye aircraft on loan from the Navy. Training for Student NFOs starts starts out the same as for Student Naval Aviators, with the academic requirements. The only real distinction is in physical requirements, where SNFOs may have less than 20/20 uncorrected distant vision, in fact, it is this 20/20 distant visual acuity requirement that typically routes prospective Naval Aviators into the Naval Flight Officer training track. Both SNAs and SNFOs go through the same introductory flight screening, the SNFO program has continued to evolve since the 1960s. Upon graduation from their respective advanced squadron, students receive their wings of gold and are designated as Naval Flight Officers. After winging, students conduct training at their respective fleet replacement squadron. All SNFOs and SNAs start their training with introductory flight screening. IFS consists of 2 phases, ground school and flight training, the ground school portion lasts about two weeks and culminates with the student completing the FAA private pilot exam. Afterwards, every student enrolls in one of several flight schools located near NAS Pensacola. Students complete approximately 14 hours of training in a single engine aircraft. IFS is normally waived for students entering training with a pilot license. SNFOs will train with Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard SNAs along with NATO and allied students in the SNA and SNFO tracks, aviation preflight indoctrination consists of academic instruction, hands-on interaction and aviation physiology, water survival, and land survival skills. Students selected for land-based platforms will continue on to the advanced maritime command and those that select carrier aviation will continue to Primary 2 training and remain at VT-10
34.
Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye
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The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning aircraft. The fourth major version of the Hawkeye is the E-2D, which first flew in 2007, the E-2 was the first aircraft designed specifically for its role, as opposed to a modification of an existing airframe, such as the Boeing E-3 Sentry. Variants of the Hawkeye have been in production since 1960. The E-2 also received the nickname Super Fudd because it replaced the E-1 Tracer Willy Fudd, in recent decades, the E-2 has been commonly referred to as the Hummer because of the distinctive sounds of its turboprop engines, quite unlike that of turbojet and turbofan jet engines. In addition to U. S. Navy service, smaller numbers of E-2s have been sold to the forces of Egypt, France, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Singapore. Continual improvements in airborne radars through 1956 led to the construction of AEW airplanes by several different countries, the functions of command and control and sea & air surveillance were also added. The first carrier-based aircraft to perform missions for the U. S. Its design, initially designated W2F-1, but later redesignated the E-2A Hawkeye, was the first carrier plane that had been designed from its wheels up as an AEW and command and control airplane. These ‘smaller’ carriers were built during World War II and later modified to allow them to operate jet aircraft, consequently, various height, weight and length restrictions had to be factored into the E-2A design, resulting in some handling characteristics which were less than ideal. The E-2A actually never operated from the modified Essex class carriers, the first prototype, acting as an aerodynamic testbed only, flew on 21 October 1960. The first fully equipped aircraft followed it on 19 April 1961, by 1965 the major development problems delaying the E-2A Hawkeye got so bad that the aircraft was actually cancelled after 59 aircraft had already been built. Particular difficulties were being experienced due to cooling in the closely packed avionics compartment. Early computer and complex avionics systems generated considerable heat, without proper ventilation this would lead to system failures and these failures continued long after the aircraft entered service and at one point reliability was so bad the entire fleet of aircraft was grounded. The airframe was also prone to corrosion, a problem in a carrier based aircraft. The unreliable rotary drum computer was replaced by a Litton L-304 digital computer, in total,49 of the 59 E-2As were upgraded to E-2B standard. These aircraft replaced the E-1B Tracers in the various US Navy AEW squadrons, although the upgraded E-2B was a vast improvement on the unreliable E-2A, it was an interim measure. The US Navy knew the design had much greater capability and had yet to achieve the performance, in April 1968 a reliability improvement program was instigated. In addition, now that the capabilities of the aircraft were starting to be realized, improvements in the new and upgraded aircraft were concentrated in the radar and computer performance
35.
Airborne early warning and control
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AEW&C units are also used to carry out surveillance, including over ground targets and frequently perform C2BM functions similar to an Air Traffic Controller given military command over other forces. Like a ground based radar, it can be detected by opposing forces, the system is used offensively to direct fighters to their target locations, and defensively, directing counterattacks on enemy forces, both air and ground. The designation airborne early warning was used for earlier similar aircraft, AWACS is the name of the specific system installed in the E-3 and Japanese Boeing E-767 AEW&C airframes, but is often used as a general synonym for AEW&C. Modern AEW&C systems can detect aircraft from up to 400 km away, one AEW&C aircraft flying at 9,000 m can cover an area of 312,000 km2. Three such aircraft in overlapping orbits can cover the whole of Central Europe, the intention was to cover the North West approaches where German long range Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft were threatening shipping. A Vickers Wellington bomber was fitted with an antenna array. It was tested for use against aerial targets and then for possible use against German E boats, another radar equipped Wellington with a different installation was used to direct Bristol Beaufighters toward Heinkel He 111s, which were air-launching V-1 flying bombs. In February 1944 the U. S. Navy ordered the development of a system that could be carried aloft in an aircraft under Project Cadillac. A prototype system was built and flown in August on a modified TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, tests proved successful, with the system being able to detect low flying formations at a range in excess of 100 miles. The U. S. Navy then ordered production of the TBM-3W, tBM-3Ws fitted with the AN/APS-20 radar entered service in March 1945, with some 36–40 eventually being constructed. The Lockheed WV and EC-121 Warning Star, which first flew in 1949 served widely with both the US Air Force and US Navy and provided the main AEW coverage for US forces during the Vietnam war. It was to remain operational until replaced with the E-3 AWACS, in 1958, the Soviet Tupolev Design Bureau was also ordered to design an AEW aircraft. After determining that the projected radar instrumentation wouldnt fit in a Tupolev Tu-95 or a Tupolev Tu-116 and this solved the problems with cooling and operator space that existed with the narrower Tu-95 and Tu-116 fuselage. To meet the range requirements, production examples were fitted with an air-to-air refueling probe. The resulting system, the Tupolev Tu-126, entered service in 1965 with the Soviet Air Forces, many countries have developed their own AEW&C systems, although the Boeing E-3 Sentry and Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye are the most common systems worldwide. The E-3 Sentry was built by the Boeing Defense and Space Group and was based on the Boeing 707-320 aircraft,65 E-3 were built and it is operated by the United States Air Force, NATO, the British Royal Air Force, France and controversially, Saudi Arabia. The specially designed Grumman E-2 Hawkeye entered service in 1965 and has operated by eight different nations. Over 168 have been produced so far and new versions continue to be developed making it the most widely used AEW system, for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, the E-3 technology has been fitted into the Boeing E-767
36.
Gulf War
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The Iraqi Armys occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. US President George H. W. Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, an array of nations joined the coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost, the war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the US network CNN. The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras on board US bombers during Operation Desert Storm. The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991 and this was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait. The coalition ceased its advance, and declared a ceasefire 100 hours after the campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel. The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself, Gulf War, a problem with these terms is that the usage is ambiguous, having now been applied to at least three conflicts, see Gulf War. The use of the term Persian Gulf is also disputed, see Persian Gulf naming dispute, with no consensus of naming, various publications have attempted to refine the name. Other language terms include French, la Guerre du Golfe and German, Golfkrieg, German, Zweiter Golfkrieg, French, most of the coalition states used various names for their operations and the wars operational phases. Operation Desert Storm was the US name of the conflict from 17 January 1991. Operation Desert Sabre was the US name for the offensive against the Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations from 24–28 February 1991, in itself. Operation Desert Farewell was the given to the return of US units and equipment to the US in 1991 after Kuwaits liberation. Operation Granby was the British name for British military activities during the operations, Opération Daguet was the French name for French military activities in the conflict. Operation Friction was the name of the Canadian operations Operazione Locusta was the Italian name for the operations, in addition, various phases of each operation may have a unique operational name. The US divided the conflict into three campaigns, Defense of Saudi Arabian country for the period 2 August 1990, through 16 January 1991
37.
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
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It first entered service in 1960 with the U. S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it was adopted by the U. S. Marine Corps and the U. S. Air Force. The Phantom is a fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds of weapons on nine hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles. The F-4, like other interceptors of its time, was designed without an internal cannon, later models incorporated an M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. Beginning in 1959, it set 15 world records for performance, including an absolute speed record. The Phantom has the distinction of being the last U. S. fighter flown to attain ace status in the 20th century. The F-4 Phantom II remained in use by the U. S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996. It was also the aircraft used by both U. S. flight demonstration teams, the USAF Thunderbirds and the US Navy Blue Angels. The F-4 was also operated by the forces of 11 other nations. Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts, while Iran used its fleet of Phantoms in the Iran–Iraq War. Phantoms remain in front line service with five countries, Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981, with a total of 5,195 built, making it the most numerous American supersonic military aircraft. The F-4 is currently used by Greece, Iran, Japan, South Korea and it has been recently used in combat against the Islamic State. In 1952, McDonnells Chief of Aerodynamics, Dave Lewis, was appointed by CEO Jim McDonnell to be the preliminary design manager. With no new aircraft competitions on the horizon, internal studies concluded the Navy had the greatest need for a new and different aircraft type, in 1953, McDonnell Aircraft began work on revising its F3H Demon naval fighter, seeking expanded capabilities and better performance. The company developed several projects including a variant powered by a Wright J67 engine, the J79-powered version promised a top speed of Mach 1.97. On 19 September 1953, McDonnell approached the United States Navy with a proposal for the Super Demon, the Navy was sufficiently interested to order a full-scale mock-up of the F3H-G/H, but felt that the upcoming Grumman XF9F-9 and Vought XF8U-1 already satisfied the need for a supersonic fighter. On 26 May 1955, four Navy officers arrived at the McDonnell offices and, within an hour, because the Navy already had the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk for ground attack and F-8 Crusader for dogfighting, the project now had to fulfill the need for an all-weather fleet defense interceptor
38.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
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The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that was among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. It was designed by the Soviet Unions Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau primarily using stainless steel and it was the last plane personally designed by Mikhail Gurevich before his retirement. The first prototype flew in 1964, and the aircraft entered service in 1970 and it has an operational top speed of Mach 2.83, and features a powerful radar and four air-to-air missiles. The appearance of the MiG-25 sparked serious concern in the West, the capabilities of the MiG-25 were better understood in 1976 when Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko defected in a MiG-25 to the United States via Japan. It turned out that the aircrafts weight necessitated its large wings, production of the MiG-25 series ended in 1984 after completion of 1,190 aircraft. A symbol of the Cold War, the MiG-25 flew with Soviet allies and former Soviet republics, remaining in limited service in Russia and it is one of the highest-flying military aircraft, and the second fastest after the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. During the Cold War, Soviet Air Defence Forces, PVO was given the task of air defence of the USSR. The performance of these types of aircraft was steadily improved, overflights by the very high altitude American Lockheed U-2 in the late 1950s revealed a need for higher altitude interceptor aircraft than currently available. A major upgrade in the PVO defence system was required, and at the start of 1958 a requirement was issued for manned interceptors capable of reaching 3,000 km/h and heights of up to 27 km. The Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB had been working on a series of interceptors during the half of the 1950s, the I-1, I-3U, I-7U, I-75, Ye-150, Ye-150A, Ye-152, Ye-152A, Ye-152P. The Ye-150 was noteworthy because it was specifically to test the Tumansky R-15 engine. This led to Ye-152, alternatively known as Ye-166, which set world records. The Ye-152M was intended to be the definite heavy interceptor design, but before it was finished, the PVO had selected the Tupolev Tu-128. As the work on the MiG-25 was well under way, the single-engine Ye-152M was abandoned, work on the new Soviet interceptor that became the MiG-25 started in mid-1959, a year before Soviet intelligence learned of the American Mach 3 A-12 reconnaissance aircraft. It is not clear if the design was influenced by the American A-5 Vigilante, the design bureau studied several possible layouts for the new aircraft. One had the engines located side-by-side, as on the MiG-19, the second had a stepped arrangement with one engine amidships, with exhaust under the fuselage, and another in the aft fuselage. The third project had an arrangement similar to that of the English Electric Lightning. Option two and three were rejected because the size of the engines meant any of them would result in a very tall aircraft which would complicate maintenance
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Baghdad
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Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century, within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. This, in addition to housing several key institutions, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the Centre of Learning. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with a population of 1,200,000 people. The city was destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state in 1938, in contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been subjected to insurgency attacks. As of 2012, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places in the world to live, the site where the city of Baghdad developed has been populated for millennia. By the 8th century AD, several villages had developed there, including a Persian hamlet called Baghdad, the name is of Indo-European origin and a Middle Persian compound of Bagh god and dād given by, translating to Bestowed by God or Gods gift. In Old Persian the first element can be traced to boghu and is related to Slavic bog god, a similar term in Middle Persian is the name Mithradāt, known in English by its Hellenistic form Mithridates, meaning gift of Mithra. There are a number of locations in the wider region whose names are compounds of the word bagh, including Baghlan. The name of the town Baghdati in Georgia shares the same etymological origins, when the Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, founded a completely new city for his capital, he chose the name Madinat al-Salaam or City of Peace. This was the name on coins, weights, and other official usage. By the 11th century, Baghdad became almost the exclusive name for the world-renowned metropolis, after the fall of the Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty, the victorious Abbasid rulers wanted their own capital whence they could rule. They chose a site north of the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, on 30 July 762, the caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of the city, mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward. The citys growth was helped by its excellent location, based on at least two factors, it had control over strategic and trading routes along the Tigris, the abundance of water in a dry climate
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McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
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The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air supremacy in aerial combat. Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas design in 1967 to meet the services need for an air superiority fighter. The Eagle first flew in July 1972, and entered service in 1976 and it is among the most successful modern fighters, with over 100 victories and no losses in aerial combat, with the majority of the kills scored by the Israel Air Force. The Eagle has been exported to Israel, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, the F-15 was originally envisioned as a pure air superiority aircraft. Its design included a secondary ground-attack capability that was largely unused, the aircraft design proved flexible enough that an all-weather strike derivative, the F-15E Strike Eagle, was later developed and entered service in 1989. The F-15 Eagle is expected to be in service with the U. S. Air Force past 2025, newer models are still being produced for foreign users. The F-15 production line is set to end in 2019,47 years after the types first flight. The F-15 can ultimately trace its origins to the Vietnam War, when the U. S. Air Force, at the time, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was pressing for both services to use as many common aircraft as possible, even if there were performance sacrifices involved. The former were capable in the tactical role, while the latter might be less so. If the Air Force did choose a design, maintaining air superiority would be a top priority. The next month, a report on light tactical aircraft suggested the Air Force purchase the F-5 or A-7 and this point was reinforced after the loss of two Republic F-105 Thunderchief aircraft to obsolete MiG-15s or MiG-17s on 4 April 1965. In April 1965, Harold Brown, at that time director of the DDR&E, stated the position was to consider the F-5. On 1 August, Gabriel Disosway took command of Tactical Air Command and reiterated calls for the F-X, an official requirements document was finalized in October, and sent out as a request for proposals to 13 companies on 8 December 1965. Following a downselect, four companies were asked to further developments. In total, they developed some 500 design concepts, typical designs featured variable-sweep wings, weighed over 60,000 pounds, included a top speed of Mach 2.7 and a thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.75. When the proposals were studied in July 1966, the aircraft were roughly the size and weight of the TFX, and like that aircraft, through this period, studies of combat over Vietnam were producing worrying results. Previous doctrine had stressed long-range combat using missiles, and optimized aircraft for this role, the result was highly loaded aircraft with large radars and excellent speed, but limited maneuverability and often lacking a gun. In early 1967, they proposed that the design had a thrust-to-weight ratio of near 1,1, a maximum speed further reduced to Mach 2.3, a weight of 40,000 pounds
United States – United States Navy: Retired in 2004
