Ahab anti-ship missile
Profile (n/a) | |
Ahab | |
---|---|
Design details | |
Function | Medium-range ballistic anti-ship missile |
Manufacturer | Space Union Lyme and Martens Industries |
Design No. | Space Union: SuAGM-1 LMI: LMR- |
DPA No. | GWS.97 |
Unit cost | $6.25 million |
Service dates | 2006-present |
General characteristics | |
Length | 11.4 m |
Diameter | 1.2 m |
Launch mass | 20398 kg |
Launch canister | |
Flight characteristics | |
Propulsion | RBS.9701 solid rocket booster RBS.9702 solid rocket booster RBS.9703 PBV RMS.97 warhead |
Flight control | Thrust vectoring |
Speed | Mach 14.5 |
Manoeuvrability | g |
Range | 3000 km |
Ceiling | >160 km |
Guidance and payload | |
Guidance | Midcourse:
Terminal:
|
Warhead | 4 × 261 kg penetrator (8 kg) |
Fuzes | RF directional, penetrator |
Launch platforms | |
Ship | GWLS.58 |
Land | |
Operators | |
Space Union, UKIN |
The Ahab anti-ship missile is a conventionally armed medium range quasi-ballistic missile designed to pierce the hulls of heavily armed surface warships and other hardened positions. It is a co-design of Space Union and Lyme and Martens Industries.
Design
The Ahab is a large two-stage missile with four independently targetable trajectory shaped vehicles (TSV) capable of striking a super Dreadnought at high hypersonic speeds. The missile is designed to attain the thermosphere (approximately 100 km — 500 km altitude) before burn-out placing it under the reach of many long-range, space-based anti-ballistic missile defences as well as outside the intercept altitude and range of many surface-to-air missile ranges. Once the warheads are ejected from the post-boost vehicle (PBV) their high speed and acute attack angle (up to 90° dive angle) make them very difficult to engage while the sturdy penetrator warhead is difficult to destroy before impact.
The warheads are tungsten-sheathed 254mm darts with a hard, brittle nickel-steel core around an eight kilogramme bursting charge of insensitive explosive. Active and passive decoys are likewise housed within the PBV to minimise the chance of interception. The sheathing is intended to cut through the weaker deck armour, sharpening as the projectile drives deeper into the ship's hull. Once momentum has ceased or the post-impact time delay has elapsed, the nickel-steel core, preformed into large fragments designed to cut through the weaker internal structures of the vessel, destroying damage control capabilities and generally wreaking havoc within the targeted ship. The small bursting charge is sufficient to ensure the formation of the fragments upon detonation.
Characteristics
Type: Medium range quasi-ballistic anti-ship missile
Service designations:
Space Union: SuAGM-1 Ahab
UKINDF: Air: AGM.97; Ground: FGM.97; Surface ship: MGM.97; Submarine: UGM.97
Dimensions
Length: 11.4 m (aerospike not deployed)
—First stage (with interstage connector): 6.4 m
—Interstage: 0.19 m
—Second stage: 3.904 m
—Post-boost vehicle (with shroud): 1.096 m
Diameter: 1.2 m
Launch canister: 1.4 m × 1.4 m × 11.9 m
Mass
Missile: 20397.903 kg
—First stage + interstage: 11147.766 kg (loaded); 1402.858 kg (empty)
—Second stage: 6800.137 kg (loaded); 855.744 kg (empty)
—Post-boost vehicle (PBV): 2450 kg (including warheads and decoys)
Guidance
Initial: Hybrid GPS/IMU (GAINS) with command uplink
Midcourse: GAINS and satellite uplink
Terminal: Radar (PBV), GAINS, and short-range radar collision guidance
Launch angle: Air or surface
Launch system:
Surface ship: GWLS.58M2 or GWLS.58M3
Maximum range: <3000 km
Operational altitudes: >160 km
Speed (max.): 5567 m/s (Mach 14.46)
Cost: $6.25 million (domestic)