More Lethal Helicopters on the Horizon
Written by Peter Buxbaum
Special Operations Technology - SOTECH 2010 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 (February)
U.S. and Allied Nations' Helicopter Fleets
to Receive Upgraded and New Missile
Systems Through the Next Decade.
The Hellfire family of missiles is performing well, but in a few years they, along with a number of other helo-launched munitions, will be replaced by the Joint Air to Ground Missile. JAGM will be replacing many in the current crop of helicopter-launches missiles, including the several variants of Hellfire used by the Army, Navy, and Marines, the Marines’ air-launched, anti-armor TOW missile, and the Maverick. The JAGM will be integrated on several fixed wing and unmanned aerial platforms as well.
The JAGM is to be integrated on six platforms initially: the Army’s Apache D, advanced reconnaissance, and extended range multipurpose utility helicopters, the Navy’s SH-60 Seahawk and MH-60 Romeo, and the Marine Corps’ AH-1Z Cobra.
JAGM came about after the termination of the Joint Common Missile program in 2007 and the Pentagon ordered a reduced-risk, three-phased approach to the development of a joint air-launched missile. Raytheon Corp. and Lockheed Martin each received 27-month contracts to develop competing JAGM designs based on common program requirements. Down-selection is expected toward the end of 2010, and an initial operational capability is slated for 2016. JAGM is an Army-led program.
“Where we are today is with the multiple variants of the Hellfire family of weapons,” said Captain Brian Corey, the Navy’s program manager for direct and time-sensitive strike. “Where we’re going in the future is with JAGM.”
JAGM’s advantages over the current crop of helicopter-fired missiles are two: a smaller logistics footprint and larger kinetic capabilities.
“Ultimately JAGM's charter is to develop a single variant for fixed, rotary and unmanned aircraft," said Lieutenant Colonel Rob Barrie, the JAGM product manager within the Army's Program Executive Office Missiles and Space. "The logistics and manpower footprints should be reduced with a single munition. We won't need multiple personnel specializing at servicing multiple weapons. Having a single missile versus 10 to15 Hellfire variants will decrease the number of boxes sitting around depots and supply points. The container itself fits in the same space as the Hellfire, so there will be no issue of architecture to manage depots.”
“We will be able to move weapons around in theater much more efficiently,” added Corey. “The Navy and Marine Corps will be able to share weapons. Maintaining inventory will be much simpler, as will be the preparation of weapons for storage on ships.”
Capabilities enhancements with the JAGM will include better pointing and targeting capabilities, improved insensitive munitions compliance (a Department of Defense weapons safety program), extended range, and a modular open systems design that facilitates system improvements over its life cycle.
JAGM’s improved targeting capabilities will be provided by a tri-mode seeker that will include millimeter wave radar, semi-active laser, and infrared imaging. These capabilities will allow JAGM to be fired in adverse weather conditions and will support a “fire-andforget” capability. “The operator can break contact and head off for another mission,” said Barrie. “The millimeter wave radar and infrared imaging eliminate the need to continually lase a moving target.” The passive mode laser combined with the infrared imaging allows an operator to identify a target and lock on it without releasing any external energy, and without the enemy becoming aware of the missile launch in time to take evasive maneuvers or countermeasures.
Modularity and open architecture will allow the military to avoid being locked into a single vendor, according to Barrie. “Wherever we can we are looking for open designs that lend themselves to increasing performance through changed designs to meet evolving requirements.” JAGM will also boast double the range of the Hellfire, 16 km [9.9 miles] versus 8 km.
“When we looked at this program we realized this is not a missile program; this is a system program,” said Mike Riley, business development manger for the JAGM program at Raytheon Missile Systems. “We joined forces with Boeing out of Lake Charles, Mo., because we decided we wanted to bring a superior system solution.”
Among the challenges presented by JAGM from a contractor’s perspective is the wide environmental envelope in which the missile must operate. “It must be able to operate from sea level to 45,000 feet and from -65 degrees to 45 degrees Centigrade,” said Riley. “It must operate while a helicopter is hovering, and it must be capable of being launched at supersonic speeds from a fixed wing aircraft. It takes a very deliberate systems solution to allow you to fit one missile on six or more platforms and have it act seamlessly regardless of the platform it is put on.”
The key to taking a systems approach, for Riley, is not to make the missile dominant. “This allows you to take proven components from current programs and reuse the technology to put together a reliable, low-cost missile that can easily be mounted, integrated and operated on multiple platforms,” he said.
For example, Raytheon is taking the mold and design of a Hellfire variant manufactured by Boeing, currently operating in combat off of the U.K. Royal Air Force supersonic Tornado aircraft, and outfitting it with components Raytheon has already developed as part of other programs, such as the non-line-of-sight cannon and the small diameter bomb. “We are leveraging technologies that are in production or near production to reduce costs and increase the reliability of the missile,” said Riley.
Raytheon is also working, pursuant to program instructions, to allow the JAGM to act like a Hellfire on non-advanced platforms. “The golden nugget here is that when you put it on the rail, the helicopter won’t know the difference,” said Riley. “The software interfaces between the cockpit and the launcher, which allows the sharing of essential distance and targeting information to be the same.” This does not apply to the more advanced platforms such as the Apache and Cobra, however.
Initial operational capability for the JAGM won’t come about until fiscal year 2016, and in the meantime, the Hellfire, with its multiple variants, will continue to be in use on many rotary wing platforms. “The Hellfire goes out late into the next decade in terms of our inventory planning picture,” said Corey. “We will continue to procure the Hellfire throughout that time. The Hellfire will be in service for some years to come.”
There have been significant developments in helicopter-launched missiles from manufacturers outside of the United States as well. The Penguin, manufactured by Kongsberg Gruppen of Oslo, Norway, was one of the first anti-ship cruise missiles, dating back to the 1970s, and is deployed on naval helicopters for use in the littorals and on the open sea. The weapon features a passive infrared homing array, which allows it to operate close to land while being immune to radar countermeasures, IR decoys and jamming.
Since 1995, the navies of the United States, Greece, Australia, Turkey, Spain and Brazil have acquired the Penguin, according to Hans Kongelf, Kongsberg’s executive vice president for products and technologies. The U.S. Navy discontinued deliveries of the Penguin in 2008, according to Corey.
“We are pursuing a number of new potential customers,” said Kongelf. The Penguin is often offered as part of packages marketed with platforms manufactured by Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin and others.
Kongsberg recently upgraded the Penguin with a third generation of software, Kongelf noted, with enhanced capabilities for sea skimming and evasive maneuvers in the end game. “The software also allows the pilot or operator to optimize attack angles relative to the defensive systems on the target,” he said.
MBDA, a European missile developer, updated its Exocet AM39 with an enhancement called Block 2 Mod 2 in June 2007. That package shares the same avionics with MBDA’s newest variant of its shiplaunched MM40, which is propelled by a turbojet. Block 2 Mod 2 also calls for the digitization of the autopilot, allowing for coping with obsolescence, according to company spokesperson Jean Dupont. The Exocet AM39 is a 670-kg anti-ship missile that can be launched against heavy ships by medium heavy weight helicopters, such as Super Pumas, Cougars, and EC725s, as well as from combat aircraft, such as the Super Etendard and Rafale, and maritime patrol aircraft, such as the Atlantique 2.
“Brazil is in the process of buying a future fleet of 50 EC725s and is considering their weaponization with AM39 Block 2 Mod 2,” said Dupont.
The Marte MK2/S is currently the only helo-launched lightweight missile fully operational in the MBDA portfolio. “This missile is a completely digital system capable to engage targets in blue or brown water thanks to its advanced navigation system,” said Dupont. “The Marte MK2/S is characterized by a very short reaction time, necessary to engage targets in a crowded scenario with a fire-and-forget capability that enables an immediate evasive maneuver. The warhead, composed of insensitive high explosives, assures the missile to sink ship-like corvettes or little frigates or heavily damaging larger vessels.”
The Marte MK2/S advanced navigation system can engage the same target from different directions and at the same time overwhelm the sea-based air defenses. “The range is over 30 km,” said Dupont. “That allows the missile to be launched out of the reach of the sea point defense systems.”
MBDA recently announced a preliminary study for developing a turbojet version of the Marte MK2/S capable of a range well beyond 100 km, to be named Marte MK2 ER (extended range). “The new system will have a great commonality with the rest of the family, allowing great savings in terms of development, nonrecurring costs and maintenance costs,” said Dupont. “The new missile will be able to engage the targets well beyond the radar horizon with great accuracy by maintaining the same basic characteristic of the rocket propelled version.”
The Marte MK2 is qualified on NATO anti-surface warfare standard helicopters such as the AW-101 and the NH-90, according to Dupont, and is embedded on both helicopters’ mission planning systems.
The missile is presently entering service with the Italian navy, and MBDA has generated some interest in the weapon from some NATO and non-NATO countries.
The Future Anti Surface Guided Weapon/Anti-Navire Léger is a program currently in an assessment phase and is jointly funded by France and the United Kingdom. Full-scale development should start in 2011 with initial deployment slated for beyond 2015.
“This 100-kg weapon will equip the Future Lynx/Wildcat in the Royal Navy and Panther and NH90 in the Marine Nationale,” said Dupont. “The primary requirement is to sink or disable fast attack craft. The new weapon is being developed to utilize a combination of its sea skimming capability and its terminal weave to minimize the possibility of detection and counter fire.” The missile will also feature double the range of its predecessor and will include advanced seeker and targeting capabilities.
The PARS 3 LR (third generation anti-armor missile/long-range) is the main armament for the German Tiger helicopter. PARS 3 LR is a high-precision passive fire-and-forget weapon system for engaging field fortresses, bunkers, helicopters, infrastructure targets, and mobile and stationary targets equipped with the latest armor protection.
“An infrared seeker head locks on to the target before firing, after the optical system integrated into the Tiger’s mast sight has detected and identified it,” said Dupont. “The missile navigates to the target autonomously, without requiring further influencing or control from the gunner.” The system allows target identification and designation at a distance of 6,000 meters.
MBDA is considering updating the system with a data link between missile and platform, according to Dupont, enabling the operator to intervene at any time to abort the mission.
In addition to orders from the German army, said Dupont, MBDA has also received interest in the PARS 3 LR from a number of other countries.
The 2.75 inch rocket has been one of the mainstays of the U.S. military’s rotary wing fleet arsenal for decades. Over two million Hydra-70 rockets, the latest variant, have been produced since 1996 by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products. The Hydra-70 fires from existing 7 and 19 tube launchers that can be mounted on Apache and Cobra rotary-wing aircraft, among others.
The Hydra-70 is a family of rockets that include unitary and cargo warheads for use against point and area targets. The rocket system contains three components: the MK66 MOD 4 rocket motor, one of 11 warheads, and their associated point-detonating, omni-directional, and remote-set fuzes. These components are selected and combined to provide tailor-made solutions to situational requirements.
The capabilities 2.75 inch rocket are currently being enhanced— through a Navy project called “low-cost guided imaging rocket,” or LOGIR—by linking helicopter guidance control systems to the rockets and equipping the rockets themselves with uncooled infrared sensors. LOGIR will allow warfighters to “fire-and-forget” the 2.75 inch rocket, instead of the “spraying and praying” that prevails with unguided rockets.
With LOGIR, the helicopter guidance system provides mid-course guidance to the rocket upon launch, while the infrared sensor homes in on a target to make the hit. The concept is to equip helicopters with 19 one-shot/one-kill rockets for use against mobile, lightly armored targets. ♦