On the cover of this month’s DTI magazine, it shows what looks like a Super Dvora MkIII firing a Delilah missile. The Delilah looks like a very promising missile with great range and very accurate guidance, but is it that small that a FAC like the Super Dvora can fire them or is this just fanciful art work?
http://www.zinio.com/reader.jsp?issue=416079387
—–JT—–
By: Distiller - 15th May 2009 at 20:14
The rail could be mounted atop a missile container.
I assume a not overly noisy small UAV gets less attention than a turbojet powered 350kg or what cruise missile. Also the question of datalink angles, sensor view angles, and if the Delilah is capable of continous operation at all.
Really don’t think the accountants would like it very much to scout with a missile. Perhaps against targets that are roughly known, but not if you don’t know if anything is out there at all.
But yeah, a Dvora would not be my number one launch platform for a cruise missile. Better put a Penguin onto it.
By: Arabella-Cox - 15th May 2009 at 19:33
Line of sight and high altitude flight would affect an UAV as well, right? Also, embarking even a small UAV such as the ones you mention on a tiny FAC could displace a missile(s), so you may not gain anything by using it for acquisition instead. If your point is that, one way or the other, a Dvora is a poor compromise as a (stand-alone) land-attack platform, then I will certainly not argue with that 😉
By: Distiller - 15th May 2009 at 19:19
The whole point of Delilah (apart from being lighter than similar missiles like Popeye, Kh-59M and SLAM) is its loiter capability, so the missile can be used as a poor man’s UAV to acquire its own target.
And how do you solve the problem that the Dvora has quite limited line-of-sight reach? Announcing your arrival by coming in high is suboptimal. Apart from being an expensive solution a Dvora can’t carry too many missiles, so none are free for scouting. Better use a ScanEagle/KillerBee.
By: Arabella-Cox - 15th May 2009 at 19:06
Of course they can fire them. But to use the range they also need to launch some UAV for target acquisition, cause the Dvora alone sits too deep to really use the range of the Delilah.
The whole point of Delilah (apart from being lighter than similar missiles like Popeye, Kh-59M and SLAM) is its loiter capability, so the missile can be used as a poor man’s UAV to acquire its own target.
By: Distiller - 15th May 2009 at 18:50
Of course they can fire them. But to use the range they also need to launch some UAV for target acquisition, cause the Dvora alone sits too deep to really use the range of the Delilah.
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May 14, 2009 at 5:53 pm