Aster (rocket)

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aster

MBDA Aster p1220947.jpg

General Information
Type Anti-aircraft missile
Manufacturer MBDA and Thales
development 1986
Commissioning 2002
Unit price Aster 15 : 1.7 million euros
Aster 30: 2 million euros
Technical specifications
length Dart: 2.6 m
Aster 15: 4.20 m
Aster 30: 4.90 m
diameter Dart: 180 mm
Aster 15: 320 mm (booster)
Aster 30: 380 mm (booster)
Combat weight Dart: 110 kg
Aster 15 : 310 kg
Aster 30: 450 kg
span Dart: 360 mm
Aster 15 : 790 mm
Aster 30: 850 mm
drive Solid rocket engine
speed Aster 15 : 1,000 m / s
Aster 30: 1,400 m / s
Range Aster 15 : 1.7–30 km (official)
Aster 30: 3–100 km (official)
Furnishing
Target location active K u band radar
Warhead 15 kg fragmentation warhead
Detonator Impact and proximity fuses
Weapon platforms SYLVER, SAMP / T
Lists on the subject

The Aster is a European anti-aircraft missile manufactured by the EUROSAM consortium. The consortium emerged from the collaboration between MBDA and the Thales Group . The name refers to the Greek word aster (ἀστήρ), which means star. Originally only driven by Italy and France, the United Kingdom and Spain later joined them. Spain left the development in 1992, so that the Aster is only manufactured on a trinational basis today.

The Aster was designed as an "anti-everything missile" to repel massed salvos from different directions under heavy electronic countermeasures . The threats include fast, maneuverable aircraft with stealth capabilities , ballistic missiles (with growth potential), anti-radar missiles, and supersonic, low- flying anti-ship missiles that attack in zigzag flight. The aster is two-stage, consisting of a booster and a kill vehicle (dart) at the top. There are two versions that differ in the size of the booster.

history

At the turn of the year 1980/1981 France single-handedly published a Request for Proposal for a joint European surface-to-air missile. In 1986 France chose the Aster over the competing SAMAT. The first test of the PIF-PAF system took place on June 17, 1987. In February 1987, France and Italy agreed to develop a “Family of Anti-Air Missile Systems” (FAMS) for land batteries and ships. In June a letter of intent was signed between the defense industries of the countries, and in November the same followed between the defense ministries. The system should cover near and medium distances. In April 1988, the industry agreed on a framework cooperation agreement, which was signed by the defense ministers in October. In mid-1988 France, Italy, Great Britain and Spain signed a memorandum of understanding for a twelve-month study to use the FAMS for the NFR-90 as a competitor to the US-dominated NATO Anti Air Warfare System (NAAWS). Furthermore, in October 1987 Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom signed a one-year study on a future common European air defense system (Medium-range Surface-to-air Missiles, MSAM) for land batteries.

In November 1988, the Franco-Italian cooperation began to develop a cross-armed anti-aircraft guided missile. Discussions about cooperation have been held with Great Britain and Spain. The work share was divided equally between Aerospatiale and Thompson-CSF and Italy's Selenia. The ARABEL or EMPAR should be used for fire control and data transmission. Even then, a distinction was made between the close-range variant Aster 15 and the longer-range Aster 30. Conceptually, the missile should combine a ramjet engine with thrust vector control and aerodynamic rudders to achieve maneuverability of up to 50 g . The missile should be guided to the target with an inertial navigation system and take over there with its active K u -band radar seeker, which is based on the MICA RF. EUROSAM was founded in June 1989, with Aérospatiale (25%), Thompson-CSF (25%) and Selenia (50%) as partners. The industry submitted the concept in July. On December 8, 1989, Great Britain announced that it would definitely participate in the Family of Anti-Air Missile Systems (FAMS) to replace the Sea Dart . After Great Britain, France and Italy have now also withdrawn from the NFR-90 project. In mid-1990 the MoU was delayed by four months over the 18-month project definition phase of the Family of Anti-Air Missile Systems (FAMS). The reason was the uncertainty of Spain, which could not choose between the FAMS and the NATO Anti-Air Warfare System (NAAWS). France and Italy wanted to move forward, and Great Britain had also signaled approval in December 1989. The Aster 30 was supposed to replace the standard missile . In December 1990, the industry's missile concept was formally approved. Italy and France gave up $ 1.8 billion to develop the Aster family. Aérospatiale, Thompson-CSF and Selenia signed a ten-year contract with the Direction générale de l'armement (DGA), which acted on behalf of the French and Italian defense ministries. The ship-based Aster 15 should be available from 1996, the Aster 30 for ships and trucks later. The British did not want to participate in the financing of the Aster 15 due to a lack of interest. Spain came on board, but got out again in 1992.

In June 1995 Italy and France signed an agreement for pre-series production. In August, an Aster 30 without a viewfinder (with uplink) was fired against an aerial target. In December 1995 an Aster 30 scored a direct hit against a low-flying, supersonic guided missile in the Landes Center d'Essais . The following year, EUROSAM proposed to Great Britain to coordinate its tactical ballistic missile (TBM) defense program with Italy and France in order to prepare the Aster for this. At the same time, the phase 2 contract was drawn up in order to bring the Aster to series production with another billion US dollars. A C.22 drone, which was approaching 10 m above sea level, was shot down in April 1997 by an Aster 15 that had been fired from a vertical take-off system on land. At the end of the year, a C.22 drone, which was again simulating an anti-ship missile at low altitude, was shot down by an Aster 15 without a warhead. The missile hit so hard that the wings of the missile cut off the wings of the drone. The specialty was that the drone was covered by a distance jammer. In the same month, a high-flying C.22 drone was shot down by an Aster 30.

The operations center of the RSS Supreme fires an aster

In April 1998 France, Italy and Great Britain haggled over the work share. Furthermore, the integration into the destroyers of the Horizon and Daring class should be discussed. In the absence of suitable target drones, supersonic anti-ship missiles could not be launched up to this point in time, but the warhead was tested against a simulated SS-N-22 Sunburn . Studies on the defense against TBMs with Aster have been carried out. In mid-1999, a £ 1.3 billion contract was signed to combine Aster, SAMPSON , EMPAR , S1850M and the SYLVER vertical take-off system into one system. In 2000, the governments of France and Italy commissioned the Block 1 variant of the Aster 30, which, together with software changes on the ARABEL radar, enables the SAMP / T land batteries for TBM defense. On October 30, 2001, the test campaigns of the Aster 15 on the Île d'Oléron (A610) were completed. In 2002 the Aster 15 was put into service and test launches against ballistic missiles with the Aster 30 Block 1 began on the Salto di Quirra test site . The first user of the Aster 15 was the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R 91) . Saudi Arabia was also the first export customer to be won. Due to the merger of Aérospatiale and Selenia to form MBDA , the missile is manufactured exclusively there, Thales only supplies the radar. EUROSAM is responsible for the design and acts as a contractor to the customer and OCCAR .

In November 2002 the Aster 15 was launched from a warship for the first time. The carrier Charles de Gaulle fired an Aster 15 at a target, which was destroyed about 6 km away. In November 2003, OCCAR signed a US $ 3.4 billion contract with EUROSAM on behalf of France, Italy and Great Britain for the delivery of 1,400 Aster 15 and Aster 30 missiles and 18 SAMP / T batteries. In 2005, SAMP / T demonstrated its operational readiness when a C.22 drone was destroyed by a battery using a direct hit. The interaction of ARABEL radar, fire control station, starter and missile was demonstrated. A few months later, in October, an Aster 30 was fired at two Mirach 100-5 drones. This was intended to demonstrate the defense against a volley of anti-ship missiles, whereby the seeker had to distinguish between the two targets and only attack the one assigned to him. In October 2010, a target simulating a medium-range ballistic missile was destroyed by a SAMP / T over Biscarosse, demonstrating the use of ARABEL radar, fire control station and Aster 30 Block 1 against TBMs. In April 2012, a GQM-163A Coyote Supersonic Sea Skimming Target (SSST), a drone that can reach Mach 4 and Mach 2.5 at a height of less than 5 m, was repelled by the D620 Forbin with an Aster 30. In March 2013, another ballistic missile was destroyed by a SAMP / T. The battery was connected to the NATO Ballistic Missile Defense Operations Center (BMDOC) in Ramstein via Link 16 . An Israeli F-15C launched from the Cazaux military airfield launched a Black Sparrow ballistic missile from the Atlantic into mainland France at the Biscarrosse missile test site . It was the second time in 13 test shots that the Aster 30 Block 1 scored a direct hit.

An improved variant Aster 30 Block 1 NT (new technology) is currently being discussed. You should an improved booster, and a new K a receive band-seekers. Ballistic missiles with a range of up to 1000 km are to be intercepted through larger energy reserves. The variant Aster 30 Block 2, which is also being considered, is a completely new development. It is a two-stage rocket with a separable exo-atmospheric kill vehicle with an IR sensor to hit ballistic missiles with a range of up to 3000 km in space. Both effectors should be able to be started by a SYLVER A50 (or SAMP / T). Great Britain is to be involved in the development of the NT version so that it can be used on ships of the Daring class .

technology

General

The Aster is a two-stage guided missile, consisting of a missile (dart) and a booster. The dart has a diameter of 180 mm and a length of 2.6 meters, a mass of 110 kg and a wingspan of 36 cm. The variants Aster 15 and Aster 30 use the same dart, only the size of the solid fuel booster is different. The smaller solid booster weighs over 200 kg and accelerates the dart to 1000 m / s, the larger booster weighs 340 kg and accelerates the dart to 1.4 km / s. The large booster burns for 3.5 seconds, the Aster 30 reaches hypersonic speed. The total length and mass is thus 4.2 m and 310 kg for Aster 15 and 5.2 m and 450 kg for Aster 30.

The dart, sometimes referred to as a kill vehicle , basically consists of four parts, from front to back: the viewfinder with electronics, the warhead, the thrusters in the middle of the rocket and the marching engine with nozzle and oars. In order to avoid saturation attacks from massed volleys, the guided weapons are guided to the target by an inertial navigation system with laser gyro and a data link until the seeker takes over. The active AD4A radar seeker was taken over by MICA and works in the K u band with pulse Doppler radar in the frequency range between 12 and 18 GHz. Compared to the AD4 of the MICA, the duty cycle has been adjusted to increase the transmission power and the maximum approach speed of the contact and the distance resolution have been increased. The intrusion and tracking algorithms have been modified. In addition to clutter suppression, the viewfinder also has home-on-jam . As soon as the viewfinder has captured the target, it is approached using proportional navigation. The entire software of the missile system is written in Ada, with over 150,000 lines of Fortran code being required for the kinematics simulation during development .

The Aster was designed as a hit-to-kill weapon. H. the target is usually destroyed by a direct hit. The warhead, which weighs just 15 kg, is correspondingly small. The warhead can be focused, with a destruction radius of 2 m or 5 m depending on the source. Two types of splinters are produced, with the lightest weighing four grams. In addition to direct hits, the fragmentation warhead can also be activated by a K u band distance fuse . This sends with a pseudo-random phase-encoded waveform.

The Kill Vehicle's PIF-PAF system

As a special feature, the Aster has the PIF-PAF system. PIF-PAF stands for Pilotage en Force / Pilotage Aerodynamique Fort (control by force / control [by] powerful aerodynamics) and describes the interaction of thrust control in the center of the missile and the four aerodynamic control surfaces at the end of the weapon, which are deformed from a superplastic Titanium alloy are made. The four thrusters are located near the center of gravity of the weapon. These are arranged in the wings and blow out through the wing tips. At the command of the control computer, these can generate lateral thrust forces in order to guide the weapon closer to the target by shifting it sideways. In addition, the reaction time compared to aerodynamic control is reduced from a tenth of a second to a hundredth of a second. The gases for the thrust nozzles are generated by a second integrated rocket motor, which can only blow off through the four nozzles and is located in front of the cruise engine. In older NATO specialist literature, this is in two parts in order to avoid a shift in the center of gravity during combustion. In modern drawings, see left, this is only shown in one piece. The aim of the PIF-PAF system is to improve the hit rate against highly maneuverable targets such as modern anti-ship missiles. In terms of control technology, the PIF system can compensate for the dynamic error of the aerodynamic control (PAF), which reduces the incorrect distance. Furthermore, high g forces can be flown with it even at low speeds and at great heights . The dart can fly in multiples of 60 g purely aerodynamically and gain up to 12 g through thrusters.

In principle, the control is carried out as with the Multiple Kill Vehicle or the Kill Vehicle of the SM-3 by thrusters in the center of gravity, only that targets within the earth's atmosphere are fought. Since the structure of the missile is modular, the division of space between the PIF-PAF gas generator and the cruise engine can be changed. The optimum depends on the type of goal; the current configuration is optimized for combating atmospheric targets. However, the dart was also tested at simulated heights of over 20 km. In older NATO specialist literature, Aérospatiale also presented a variant of the dart, which has a ramjet as a marching engine, for long ranges in the atmosphere.

HMS Diamond (D34) launches an Aster

The cruise engines and boosters are made by Avio . The cruise engine is a solid rocket motor, which guarantees the Aster 15 an average cruise speed of 800 m / s. With the Aster 30 it is 950 m / s. The engine burns hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), with the inside of the engine lined with ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM) for reasons of heat protection . The boosters are made of CFRP - prepregs manufactured and reinforced with titanium inserts. The solid rocket engine of the booster generates the drive and control forces through two fully movable thrust vector nozzles, whereby graphite inserts are also used here. The wings of the booster can be folded out and consist of CFRP skin on a metal frame.

Range

The range of the Aster has been subject to a pronounced disinformation campaign since the start of the project: in 1988, a range of around 10 km against targets with Mach 2.5 and 16 g maneuvers was specified for the Aster 15 , and 30 km for the land-based Aster 30 and 55 km for the sea-based one Version. In 1991 the range of the Aster 15 was given as "over 8 km", and over 25 km, over 40 km and over 10 km for the Aster 30, each with different launch platforms. In 1997, the range of the Aster 15 against a target with Mach 2.5 and 15 g maneuvers was given as 10 km, and 17 km against aircraft. For the Aster 30, 30 km against guided missiles and 70 km against aircraft were specified. In the meantime, the range is usually given as 30 km for Aster 15 and 70, 100 or 120 km for Aster 30.

If you look at it soberly, you will notice that the Aster 15 has a higher takeoff weight of 310 kg than the ESSM (280 kg) and the Barak-8 (275 kg). The warhead mass of 15 kg is still lower than that of the ESSM (39 kg) and Barak-8 (60 kg). The mass of the PIF-PAF system is added, but on sectional drawings it takes up a maximum of 1/3 of the volume and it is estimated that it is therefore no heavier than 35 kg. The payload of the seeker and warhead (and PIF-PAF) is roughly identical. A comparison with the two-stage Barak-8 system is particularly obvious, as a thin guided weapon with an active radar seeker is also combined with a thick booster. The range of the Barak-8 is usually given as 60 to 70 km. From this it can be concluded that the range of the heavier Aster 15 is also around 60–80 km .

There is no comparable counterpart for the Aster 30 . It is interesting, however, that the dart, at 110 kg, weighs about the same as the warhead of an SM-2 MR at 113 kg. The takeoff weight of the Aster 30 is 450 kg less than that of the SM-2 MR with 708 kg, but the dart still has a marching engine. If you only take the final speed of the booster for a trajectory parabola as a comparison, the dart would have to fly about twice as far at 1.4 km / s (Aster 30) than at 1 km / s (Aster 15) top speed. The air resistance and the cruise engine are excluded. The range of the Aster 30 should therefore be 120 to 160 km . The 120 km mentioned in the specialist literature are therefore quite realistic, albeit conservative.

variants

  • Aster 15: Anti-aircraft guided missile for close range. Combines the kill vehicle with a small booster.
  • Aster 30: Anti-aircraft guided missile for medium distances. Was originally the name for the land-air variant. The booster is optimized for high acceleration. The Block 1 variant has improved searchers, detonators and signal processing, and a warhead with heavier fragments. The Aster 30 can destroy tactical ballistic missiles with a range of up to 600 km. The envisaged variant Block 1 NT to an improved booster, and a new K a receive band-seekers. Ballistic missiles with a range of up to 1000 km are to be intercepted through larger energy reserves.
  • Aster 30 Block 2: De facto a completely new development. Two-stage rocket with a separable exo-atmospheric kill vehicle with IR sensor to hit ballistic missiles with a range of up to 3000 km in space.
  • Aster 30 Block 1 New Technology NT: Further development of the Aster 30 anti-aircraft guided missile to improve the anti-aircraft missile against ballistic missiles. Leading in the development are the EUROSAM consortium made up of the companies MBDA and Thales through France and Italy.
  • Aster 45: Fictitious anti-aircraft missile for medium distances. Was originally the name for the sea-air variant of the Aster 30. Should use a different booster, which should be optimized for long ranges.
  • Aster 60: Hypothetical, specialized variant for defense against ballistic missiles.

Users

The only currently application on land, the use of six starter vehicles, each with eight switch 30 at the SAMP / T batteries ( s ol a ir m oyenne p ortée / t errestre). Maritime users need at least one vertical take-off system for missiles of the type SYLVER A43 for Aster 15. The longer version A50 can also take Aster 30, the longest version A70 as well.

ARABEL radar of the SAMP / T system
SAMP / T starter with eight Aster 30
AlgeriaAlgeria Algeria
FranceFrance France
ItalyItaly Italy
  • Carrier Cavour , only Aster 15
  • Horizon class
  • FREMM frigates
  • 6 SAMP / T
MoroccoMorocco Morocco
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
SingaporeSingapore Singapore
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom

Web links

Commons : MBDA Aster  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Michael Surber: Switzerland wants to defend its airspace with missiles again. In: nzz.ch. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, May 4, 2018, accessed on August 21, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Flightglobal: EUROSAM TAKES AIM. January 2, 1991, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Norman Friedman: The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapons Systems, 1997–1998 . US Naval Inst Pr, 1997, ISBN 1-55750-268-4 , pp. 355 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Flightglobal: Anti-missile missile co-production begins. November 26, 1988, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  5. ^ A b c d Norman Friedman: The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapons Systems . US Naval Inst Pr, 2006, ISBN 1-55750-262-5 , pp. 300 .
  6. ↑ Flightglobal: Europe explores anti-air systems. July 2, 1988, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  7. ^ Flightglobal: UK turns to Europe for missile. December 13, 1989, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  8. ^ Flightglobal: FAMS to suffer four-month delay. June 13, 1990, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  9. ^ Flightglobal: France and Italy launch Aster. June 27, 1990, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  10. ^ Flightglobal: Aster a hit. December 20, 1995, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Flightglobal: Eurosam courts UK as BMD partner. July 3, 1996, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  12. ^ Flightglobal: Aster intercepts. April 23, 1997, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  13. ↑ a b Flightglobal: Aster 15 hits sea-skimming target drone in test. December 24, 1997, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  14. ^ Flightglobal: Participants push for PAAMS project production progress. April 8, 1998, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  15. ↑ Flightglobal: PAAMS contract signed. August 18, 1999, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  16. ^ Flightglobal: Sons of SAAM. July 11, 2002, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  17. ^ Flightglobal: Aster makes first operational platform launch. November 12, 2002, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  18. ↑ a b Flight Global: Eurosam to produce SAMP / Ts and missiles for armed forces. November 18, 2003, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  19. ↑ Flightglobal: SAMP / T scores hit in first complete test. August 9, 2005, accessed September 8, 2014 .
  20. ↑ Flightglobal: MBDA test-fires Aster October 30 , 2005, accessed on September 8, 2014 (English).
  21. ^ Defense Update: SAMP / T Successful on First European Missile Defense Intercept Test. November 26, 2010, accessed September 9, 2014 .
  22. ^ Naval Technology: French Navy frigate successfully intercepts supersonic sea-skimming missile. April 12, 2012, accessed September 9, 2014 .
  23. ^ Defense Update: SAMP / T Successful on a Franco-Italian Missile Defense Test. March 7, 2013, accessed September 9, 2014 .
  24. ↑ a b c MBDA: Sustaining the UK Industrial Base: An Industry Perspective on the Potential of Type May 45 , 2010, archived from the original on July 15, 2015 ; accessed on September 27, 2014 (English).
  25. ↑ DefenseNews: MBDA Positioned to Score Big in 3 Deals. May 13, 2013, accessed September 27, 2014 .
  26. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Army Technology: Aster 30 SAMP / T - Surface-to-Air Missile Platform / Terrain. September 9, 2014, accessed September 9, 2014 .
  27. ↑ a b c d AVIO: ASTER September 30 , 2014, archived from the original on November 1, 2013 ; accessed on September 9, 2014 .
  28. ↑ a b c d EUROSAM: ASTER hit-to-kill Missile Interceptors. September 9, 2014, accessed September 9, 2014 .
  29. ↑ a b c d e Pierre Pascallon: LA GUERRE DES MISSILES: Missiles et antimissiles tactiques balistiques et non-balistiques . HARMATTAN, 2013, ISBN 2-296-27293-2 , pp. 180-193 .
  30. ↑ a b Gerard Selince (Societe Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale): Lateral acceleration control method for missile and corresponding weapon systems US 4465249 A. August 17, 1984, accessed on September 9, 2014 (English).
  31. ↑ a b OCCAR: Aster. September 9, 2014, archived from the original on July 29, 2014 ; accessed on September 9, 2014 .
  32. ↑ a b c G. SELINCE (AEROSPATIALE): UN NOUVEAU CONCEPT DE PILOTAGE DES MISSILES APPLICATION AUX SOL-AIR . NATO AGARD-LS-135, 1984, ISBN 92-835-0353-8 , pp. 5–1 to 5–12 .
  33. ↑ MBDA Group: MBDA WELCOMES ITALY'S PARTICIPATION IN THE ASTER 30 BLOCK 1 NT PROGRAM. MBDA Group, accessed on August 30, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Singapore confirms delivery of Aster 30 missile with video post