ASALM
| ASALM | |
|---|---|
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| General Information | |
| Type | Cruise missiles |
| NATO designation | ASALM (Advanced Strategic Air-Launched Missile) |
| Country of origin |
 United States
|
| Manufacturer | Martin Marietta |
| development | 1974 |
| Commissioning | 1983 Development stopped |
| Technical specifications | |
| length | 4.3 m |
| diameter | 533-635 mm |
| Combat weight | 816-1224 kg |
| Drive First stage Second stage |
Solid fuel booster ramjet engine |
| speed | Do 4.5 |
| Range | 320-450 km |
| Furnishing | |
| steering | Inertial navigation system , data link |
| Target location | Terrain-contour comparison or active and passive radar target search |
| Warhead | W-69 nuclear warhead 170–210 kt or W80 nuclear warhead 5–150 kt |
| Detonator | Proximity fuse, impact fuse |
| Weapon platforms | Planes |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Martin Marietta ASALM ( A dvanced S trategic A IR L aunched M issile) was a strategic airborne missiles , the successor of the SRAM 69 AGM the USAF was planned. As an air-to-surface missile , the ASALM was primarily intended to attack the enemy air defense and strategic targets. The secondary task was to attack enemy AWACS aircraft as an air-to-air missile . Development began in 1976, the test program ran from 1979 to 1980 before the project was canceled.
history
In the early 1970s, the United States Air Force recognized the potential for new strategic "air-to-ground" guided weapons in new technical developments. The planned ASALM should replace the AGM-69 SRAM and exceed it in range and speed. The call for tenders started in 1976 and in mid-1978 two fuselage / propulsion teams were available: Martin Marietta / Marquardt Corporation and McDonnell Douglas / Chemical Systems Division (subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation ) . Rockwell International and Raytheon have applied for the navigation systems .
In 1977 the project was brought forward by two years and the date of deployment was set in 1985. The tender was won by Martin Marietta / Marquardt. From October 1979 to May 1980, seven test starts were carried out to validate the drive technology. In one of these tests, the test vehicle inadvertently even reached Mach 5.5 speed. The main phase of development should start in November 1981, but from mid-1981 the information about the project decreased. The project initially paused and was later canceled. Various assumptions are made about this. Possibly the project fell victim to general budget cuts because the development of the AGM-86 Cruise Missile was advanced at the same time . Another possibility is to change the planned orientation of the strategic weapons. In the early 1980s, the US Department of Defense invested in stealth technology and hypersonic speed for cruise missiles. Accordingly, there would have been a change in strategy from attacks in low / contour flight at the speed of sound to attacks from high altitudes at hypersonic speed with stealth technology.
Martin Mariette tried in 1983 to develop a target display drone AQM-127 SLAT based on the ASALM ; this project was canceled in the initial phase.
After the ASALM was canceled, the Air Force pushed the development of the AGM-131 SRAM II .
technology
With a length of 4.3 meters, the ASALM rocket had almost identical dimensions to the SRAM and should be launched with their launch devices from a Rockwell B-1 or General Dynamics F-111 .
Because of the high airspeed, ASALM was developed as a lifting body without wings ; Control and stabilization took place via a cross-shaped tail unit at the rear. ASALM should be equipped with an innovative combined ramjet / rocket engine. The housing of the burnt-out rocket engine served as a combustion chamber for the ramjet engine. By integrating the two engines, a volume of 30–40% could be saved.
For the first time the concept of a similar combined engine (having solid rocket boosters, located in the combustion chamber of the ramjet is located) in the USSR in the 1960s for the rocket Gnom configured and tested, and later for the anti-ship missiles SS-N-22 parallel to ASALM developed and built.
After the drop, there was a short period of non-propulsion. The solid rocket engine fired at a safe distance from the aircraft, accelerating the missile to supersonic speed. After the solid propellant had burned out, the nozzle of the rocket engine was disconnected; A nozzle optimized for the ramjet engine was thereby exposed. At the same time, the air inlet , which was aerodynamically closed during acceleration with the rocket engine, was exposed for the air-breathing ramjet engine. The ramjet fired; it was operated with the liquid and high- energy Shelldyne-H fuel . It accelerated the missile to Mach 4.5 cruising speed. The inertial navigation system guided the ASALM to its destination. The range under optimal conditions was about 480 km.
The final approach to the ground target should be made using an improved navigation system based on terrain-contour comparison . The on-board computer compares the altitude profile of the on- board radar image recorded when approaching the target with the stored altitude profile of the target area. A different guidance system was planned for air targets.
The W-69 thermonuclear warhead developed for SRAM with an explosive force of 210 kilotons was intended as the warhead .
Soviet response
The Soviet Ministry of Defense was informed about the ASALM program, but its range of 600–800 km was overestimated and an additional Mach 2 low-level flight capability was suspected. Not only the S-300P , but a modernized version of the S-200 , S-200D Dubna with the guided weapon W-880M, could have fought the ASALM as a standard target.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Thomas B. Cochran: Nuclear Weapons Databook. Chapter 5: Strategic Forces . Volume 1, 1984. pp. 194-195.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Andreas Parsch: Martin Marietta ASALM , 2003
- ↑ a b c d e f g Robert C. Aldridge: First Strike !: The Pentagon's Strategy for Nuclear War , South End Press, 1983, ISBN 978-0-89608-154-3 , pp. 150–151 [1]
- ↑ a b c d Bill Gunston: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rockets and Missiles , Salamander Books Ltd, 1979, p. 143
- ↑ William M. Arkin, Thomas B. Cochran, Milton H. Hoenig: Resource Paper on the US Nuclear Arsenal in: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , August / September 1984, [2]
- ↑ SM-SP21 Gnome intercontinental missile in: GlobalSecurity.org
- ↑ АО "Корпорация Тактическое ракетное вооружение" ( memento of the original from August 9, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Зенитная ракетная система ближнего действия «Игарка»
- ↑ Subject area of S-200D for ASALM, F-16, B-1, B-52.
