Armored CAS planes are becoming increasingly vulnerable to russian SAMs, so could they be protected by an APS?
The russian short/medium range SAMs have warheads of up to 20kg, so I take it the APS would have to make it explode at a sufficient distance, maybe 30-50m at least if the plane is armored.
Maybe a projectile like Quick kill would work for that. 1 radar and 2 projectiles could be positionned at each wingtip, and one at the front of the fuselage, and one at the rear.
The plane could have other defensive systems like DIRCM and towed decoys, but the APS would make it significantly more survivable.
Non armored planes would require more stand off range, so I imagine the radar system and the projectiles would have to be heavier. And for a relatively slow CAS plane the impact on drag wouldn’t be as bad.
A question though is would the weapons loaded on the wings explode when the incoming missile explodes?
Such a the system could use a laser in the future.
So will that kind of system render armored CAS planes viable again?
By: Hotshot - 16th December 2016 at 12:15
I think you need powerful and expensive sensors to track the enemy missiles at a range sufficient to use a CUDA. I was thinking something relatively cheap that just have enough range, say 50m.
By: mig-31bm - 16th December 2016 at 12:08
like this https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-reveals-slimmed-down-sacm-air-to-air-missile-co-422413/ ?
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December 16, 2016 at 12:05 pm