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The Russian Philosophy of Beyond Visual Range Air Combat
25th March, 2008
by Dr Carlo Kopp, SMAIAA, MIEEE, PEng
© 2008 Carlo Kopp
A relatively old but extremely informative article.
Background
Russia's aerospace industry has displayed enormous creativity in missile design over the last 25 years, spanning the turbulent last decade of the Cold War, and the post Cold War era. During this period we have seen the incremental evolution of weapons established in service in the last years of the Cold War, the deployment of projects started during the Cold War, and a good number of entirely new projects which emerged during the 1990s period.
The operators of Russian fighters can now access a remarkably diverse range of weapons, available more than often with a range of different seekers sharing common airframes, or common seeker designs integrated into different airframes.
The result of this diversity in airframe performance and seeker capabilities is a veritable nightmare for Western planners as well as designers of electronic and infrar-red countermeasures suites. An inbound BVR missile could be equipped with one of several different semi-active radar homing, active radar homing, infrared-homing or passive X-band anti-radiation homing seekers. The missile might be using one of several possible airframes or derivatives, with diverse kinematic performance.
The aim of this analysis is to explain the thinking underpinning Russian Beyond Visual Range missile capabilities, test these against Western capabilities, and map out the known derivatives of the most commonly used Russian BVR AAM airframes and seekers, accepting that there is likely to be just as much Western observers do not know, in terms of alternate seekers and airframes.
Click here for the full article: The Russian Philosophy of BVR Air Combat
25th March, 2008
by Dr Carlo Kopp, SMAIAA, MIEEE, PEng
© 2008 Carlo Kopp
A relatively old but extremely informative article.
Background
Russia's aerospace industry has displayed enormous creativity in missile design over the last 25 years, spanning the turbulent last decade of the Cold War, and the post Cold War era. During this period we have seen the incremental evolution of weapons established in service in the last years of the Cold War, the deployment of projects started during the Cold War, and a good number of entirely new projects which emerged during the 1990s period.
The operators of Russian fighters can now access a remarkably diverse range of weapons, available more than often with a range of different seekers sharing common airframes, or common seeker designs integrated into different airframes.
The result of this diversity in airframe performance and seeker capabilities is a veritable nightmare for Western planners as well as designers of electronic and infrar-red countermeasures suites. An inbound BVR missile could be equipped with one of several different semi-active radar homing, active radar homing, infrared-homing or passive X-band anti-radiation homing seekers. The missile might be using one of several possible airframes or derivatives, with diverse kinematic performance.
The aim of this analysis is to explain the thinking underpinning Russian Beyond Visual Range missile capabilities, test these against Western capabilities, and map out the known derivatives of the most commonly used Russian BVR AAM airframes and seekers, accepting that there is likely to be just as much Western observers do not know, in terms of alternate seekers and airframes.
Click here for the full article: The Russian Philosophy of BVR Air Combat
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