New NCADE AAM

What is the expected IOC date for the 120D?

The last date I’ve seen is the first half of 2010, but that report is a year old.

Mercurius Cantabrigiensis

It’s never been mentioned as having any cruise missile capability and it would be a waste anyway when they’ve got C7s and eventually C8s (-120Ds).

yeah, just some speculation on another site. What is the expected IOC date for the 120D?

This would seem to provide an overlapping capability with the Air Borne Laser platform for targeting missiles in the ascent phase when they are most vulnerable.

To a small degree. ABL is suppose to have much greater range not to mention that it’s a light-speed weapon.

Do you really think it will be as effective against cruise missiles. These would have a lot smaller IR signature than a ballistic missile.

It’s never been mentioned as having any cruise missile capability and it would be a waste anyway when they’ve got C7s and eventually C8s (-120Ds).

This would seem to provide an overlapping capability with the Air Borne Laser platform for targeting missiles in the ascent phase when they are most vulnerable. It has the advantage of being fieldable in large numbers and would have been right at home SCUD hunting in GW1. Combined with a supercruising Raptor at very high altitude, this missile can cover a lot of real estate. Do you really think it will be as effective against cruise missiles. These would have a lot smaller IR signature than a ballistic missile. Maybe that’s a job for the AMRAAM-D.

The Aviation Week photo that ‘Turboshaft’ posted is showing only the second stage. The orange-coloured objects midway down the fuselage are the sideways-firing thrusters I mentioned in an earlier posting.

Now if they took the motor section of an ESSM. . .:diablo:

Para 1
From an informal briefing on the programme

Para 2
From a full-scale model of the missile

Para 3
as para 2 – Isp info is from Jane’s

Mercurius Cantabrigiensis

Lucky @#$!! 😉

This powers four tail-mounted axial thrusters, and four divert thrusters positioned at 90º intervals around the midpoint of the second-stage fuselage.

I missed the “midpoint of the second -stage fuselage” part 🙂

No chance of anything other than an ABM role, I suspect. NCADE doesn’t carry a warhead, but relies on achieving a kinetic-energy kill.

Too bad; I suppose that adding a small warhead could be compensated by enlarging the first stage, so the center of gravity would remain unchanged. IIRC, the PAC 3 is also hit-to-kill but still has an “lethality enhancer” wich is a smaller warhead.

From the picture, it seems that the second stage doesn’t have any wings.

The Aviation Week photo that ‘Turboshaft’ posted is showing only the second stage. The orange-coloured objects midway down the fuselage are the sideways-firing thrusters I mentioned in an earlier posting.

100 miles (180 km)? Wow!

I wonder if this figure will remain the same if the NCADE will be used in A-A. It woud best the Meteor, without the pains of fielding an ramjet missile… Not to mention the IR seeker instead RF seeker.

No chance of anything other than an ABM role, I suspect. NCADE doesn’t carry a warhead, but relies on achieving a kinetic-energy kill.

Mercurius Cantabrigiensis

Since the second stage of the NCADE needs cruciform wings, the AMRAAM rocket motor has been shortened to keep its front end aft of the wings.

??
From the picture, it seems that the second stage doesn’t have any wings.

Where did you get this info?

Para 1
From an informal briefing on the programme

Para 2
From a full-scale model of the missile

Para 3
as para 2 – Isp info is from Jane’s

Mercurius Cantabrigiensis

Looks like this could really be something that Raptor is missing. I like the idea of using a combination of proven OTS solutions to create something new.

NCADE is the same length as AMRAAM, only 25 lb lighter, and has the same centre of gravity. This ensures that it can be carried and released by any AMRAAM-cleared aircraft.

Since the second stage of the NCADE needs cruciform wings, the AMRAAM rocket motor has been shortened to keep its front end aft of the wings.

The new second stage uses hydroxylammonium nitrate liquid monopropellant, which is reported to have a specific impulse (Isp) of about 250, better than the 230–240 of hydrazine. This powers four tail-mounted axial thrusters, and four divert thrusters positioned at 90º intervals around the midpoint of the second-stage fuselage.

Mercurius Cantabrigiensis

Where did you get this info?

NCADE is the same length as AMRAAM, only 25 lb lighter, and has the same centre of gravity. This ensures that it can be carried and released by any AMRAAM-cleared aircraft.

Since the second stage of the NCADE needs cruciform wings, the AMRAAM rocket motor has been shortened to keep its front end aft of the wings.

The new second stage uses hydroxylammonium nitrate liquid monopropellant, which is reported to have a specific impulse (Isp) of about 250, better than the 230–240 of hydrazine. This powers four tail-mounted axial thrusters, and four divert thrusters positioned at 90º intervals around the midpoint of the second-stage fuselage.

Mercurius Cantabrigiensis

100 miles (180 km)? Wow!

I wonder if this figure will remain the same if the NCADE will be used in A-A. It woud best the Meteor, without the pains of fielding an ramjet missile… Not to mention the IR seeker instead RF seeker.

http://www.mda.mil/mdalink/pdf/07fyi0106.pdf

Raytheon Successfully Tests New Air-Launched Missile Defense System

TUCSON, Ariz., Dec. 4, 2007 /PRNewswire/ — Raytheon Company has successfully flight tested a key component of the Network Centric Airborne Defense Element missile defense system with the intercept of a test ballistic missile. The Dec. 3 test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., demonstrated the NCADE infrared seeker’s ability to acquire and track a ballistic missile target in the boost phase.

NCADE is an air-launched weapon system designed to engage short- and medium-range ballistic missiles in the boost and ascent phase of flight. NCADE provides an interim or near-term solution to boost or ascent phase threats.

“This test provides clear evidence that the NCADE seeker is a viable solution against a boosting ballistic missile threat,” said Mike Booen, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president of Advanced Missile Defense. “NCADE fills a critical niche in the Ballistic Missile Defense system and provides a revolutionary, low-cost approach to interceptor development and acquisition.”

An Air National Guard F-16 test aircraft from the Air National Guard-Air Force Reserve Command Test Center, Tucson, Ariz., launched the AIM-9X airframe that carried the NCADE seeker.

The NCADE interceptor leverages many proven components and technologies, including the aerodynamic design, aircraft interface and flight control system of Raytheon’s Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile. The commonality with AMRAAM enables NCADE to launch from a wide variety of aircraft. NCADE’s small size enables it to be carried by and launched from smaller unmanned aerial vehicles, providing a potential operational advantage.

NCADE also leverages proven imaging infrared seeker components from existing Raytheon production programs. This enables a potentially rapid development and fielding path.

Last year, Raytheon teammate Aerojet successfully tested the NCADE second stage axial propulsion system, demonstrating the maturity of this new propulsion system. Future testing will involve the missile’s divert and attitude control system.

Imagine something like this:

It launches into a ballistic arc using the entire first stage burn for a maximum range arc but doesn’t jettison the first stage for the moment. (Not going to gain much by dropping the weight when the motor is burned out and the tail and empty first stage would be necessary for stability at this point). On the way down the stages seperate giving 25 seconds (at least) of powered, thrust vector-controlled flight. Seeing how they’re going with a monopropellant it sounds like the top stage is liquid propelled. The only reason you’d want to take the ISP hit is if you want to be able to throttle the thing. Could be 150 lbs for 25 seconds or 1500 for 2.5 seconds or anywhere in between. Presumably they have a way to LOAL. Could make for a VERY deadly AAM. Where range with the AIM-120D is supposedly going to be pushing 100 nm I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing could hit 150 nm or better especially if it was launched from 65,000 ft, at Mach 2 in a climb. And no give-away active radar seeker. Fun times for all. :diablo:

A LOAL capability would be provided by the datalink of the present C version. The future Small Form Factor Datalink (http://www.rockwellcollins.com/content/pdf/pdf_7561.pdf) plus a GPS aided fiber optic INS will be even better. This future datalink is small (5 inches and 3.1 lbs.), it is Link 16 compatible, and can send 2.25 Mbps. at over 120 Nmiles. With the launching platform communicating the target postion and its own GPS telling the missile its own position, it could work.

It’s a good idea for Raytheon to combine already developped technologies (the AMRAAM motor, the AMRAAM D GPS, the 9X sensor, the deplyable nosecone and the staging assembly of the Standard 3) with new ones, like the new Aerojet motor or the new datalink.

Imagine something like this:

It launches into a ballistic arc using the entire first stage burn for a maximum range arc but doesn’t jettison the first stage for the moment. (Not going to gain much by dropping the weight when the motor is burned out and the tail and empty first stage would be necessary for stability at this point). On the way down the stages seperate giving 25 seconds (at least) of powered, thrust vector-controlled flight. Seeing how they’re going with a monopropellant it sounds like the top stage is liquid propelled. The only reason you’d want to take the ISP hit is if you want to be able to throttle the thing. Could be 150 lbs for 25 seconds or 1500 for 2.5 seconds or anywhere in between. Presumably they have a way to LOAL. Could make for a VERY deadly AAM. Where range with the AIM-120D is supposedly going to be pushing 100 nm I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing could hit 150 nm or better especially if it was launched from 65,000 ft, at Mach 2 in a climb. And no give-away active radar seeker. Fun times for all. :diablo:

This week’s Av Week also covers the program.

With an AMRAAM body and a second stage it is probably too long to fit in the bay of the F22 anyway.

NCADE will be a two stage weapon with the first stage being only the AMRAAM rocket engine section (not the entire missile), while the second stage will have an AIM 9X seeker. Since the guidance section of the 9X (the IR seeker assembly, the electronics unit and the Stirling cryoengine) is much smaller than the guidance section of an AMRAAM (maybe half the lenght), in fact it may result in an even smaller missile than AMRAAM.

It seems that the NCADE will resamble with the GD/Westighouse proposal for AIM 152: a bigger diammeter first stage, a staging assembly (to drop the first stage) and a smaller diammeter second stage (the AIM 152 proposal had a dual guidance RF and IR though).

If the missile will have the goodies of the AIM 120 D (GPS aided INU, 2 way data link) and coupled with the IR FPA seeker of the 9X, it could be a dedly missile for AA too.