Cruise Missile Pretenders

The Strategy Page ^ | 6/29/2010 | The Strategy Page

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

An American amphibious ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, has left California carrying two 1960s Czech jet trainers on its flight deck. These L-29s are 3.2 ton aircraft, rebuilt with American engines. The two L-29s will be used to simulate air-launched cruise missiles attacking American ships. While the original L-29s had a top speed of 655 kilometers an hour, the rebuilt ones with more powerful. J-60 engines, can moves as fast as 800 kilometers an hour. While the L-29s, which are supplied by a civilian contractor, are adequate for simulating the more numerous subsonic Chinese anti-ship missiles, they are obviously not adequate for simulating the more modern supersonic missiles. That has ben addressed as well. Last year, after nearly a decade of development effort, the U.S. Navy put its high-speed anti-ship missile simulator, the GQM-163A Coyote SSST (Supersonic Sea-Skimming Target), into service. This is a 10 meter/31 foot long, 800 kg (1,700 pound) missile with a combination solid fuel rocket and ramjet propulsion. It has a range of 110 kilometers and, because of the ramjet, a top speed of over 2,600 kilometers an hour. The Coyote is meant to give U.S. warships a realistic simulation of an attack by similar Russian cruise missiles (like the Klub.) At least 39 GQM-163As are being built, at a cost of $515,000 each. These missiles are used once, while the L-29s have human pilots and are reused.

The GQM-163A is one of the few U.S. missiles to successfully use ramjet engines, and this technology is expected to show up more often.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Ping

[valkyry1]

I have been familiar with the existence of the Coyote for awhile and it is good that we need to prepare for something like it at the same time if China sent out a large number of Mig-21 drones or suicide missions against the fleet it could be a problem.

[alfa6]

I wonder if the Navy is using the L-39 Albatross for the cruise missle simulation. It would more closely approximate a small speedy cruise missle that the L-29 Delphin.

Link to a pic of the L-39s

http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=64414

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[KingLudd]

What’s a kilometer per hour in good old American miles per hour? Author gave us weight conversions. Why not speed too? I hate the metric system.

[Thrownatbirth]

F-4J Phantoms did a pretty good job simulating the high subsonic anti-ship vampires. It was fun talking to the pilots as you broke their lock. Of course, they had everyone topside hitting the deck.

[Jonah Hex]

1 klick = .62 mile, so 1 kph = .62 mph.

[DUMBGRUNT]

CONVERT : it’s free it’s easy and does a nice job!!!!

http://joshmadison.com/software/convert-for-windows/

[GATOR NAVY]

When I was on an FFG in the mid-80s we shot at old Talos missiles converted to supersonic drones. I think they called them Vandals.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Right.The the Navy inventory were converted to a high tech supersonic target missile, the MQM-8G Vandal. The inventory was exhausted around 2005.The Talos missile also had surface-to-surface capabilities

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

An MQM-8 Vandal