Difference between revisions of "Ahab anti-ship missile"

Latest revision as of 15:24, 1 August 2007

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Ahab
Design details
Function	Medium-range quasi-ballistic anti-ship missile
Manufacturer	Space Union Lyme and Martens Industries
Design No.	Space Union: SuAGM-1 LMI: LMR-
GSI No.	GWS.97
Unit cost	$8.35 million
Service dates	2006-present
General characteristics
Length	11.4 m
Diameter	1.2 m
Launch mass	20398 kg
Launch canister
Flight characteristics
Propulsion Stage 1 Stage 2 PBV Warheads	R1S.97 solid rocket R2S.97 solid rocket RCS.97 solid rocket RMS.97 solid rocket
Flight control	Thrust vectoring
Speed	Mach 14.5
Manoeuvrability	14-50g
Range	3000 km
Ceiling	>160 km
Guidance and payload
Guidance Midcourse: Terminal:	GPS/INS with satellite uplink Dual-mode radar with LIDAR collision guidance
Warhead	4 × 261 kg penetrator (8 kg)
Fuzes	RF directional, penetrator
Launch platforms
Ship	GWLS.58
Land
Operators
FSRSU, UKIN, USNSEA

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) or common aero vehicles (CAV) 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 bursting charge detonates within the nickel-steel core, preformed into large fragments designed to cut through the weaker internal structures of the vessel, to destroy damage control capabilities and generally wreak 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: GGM.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 (submarine and surface launch variants):^[1]
—GMK.97A/GGM.97: 1.3 m diameter × 11.8 m
—MMK.97B/MGM.97: 1.4 m/1.3 m × 1.4 m/1.3 m × 11.8 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)
Launch canisters (empty)
—Ground (GMK.97A): 6408.545 kg
—Maritime (MMK.97B for GWLS.58M2): 7432.396 kg
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
Submarine: GWLS.82U2
Maximum range: <3000 km
Operational altitudes: >160 km
Speed: 5567 m/s (Mach 14.46) at 122 km altitude
Cost: $8.35 million (domestic)

Notes

References