3.4 Missiles

The missile subarea includes technology efforts in flight mechanics, propulsion, missile airframe, launchers and launch mechanisms, and missile component integration technical demonstrations.

3.4.1 Warfighting Needs

The warfighter requires increased aircraft loadouts to improve mission/sortie effectiveness. A threefold increase in the number of individually targeted weapons by FY05 meets the requirements for multiple kills per pass and increases the weapon effectiveness against area targets. A twofold increase in weapon standoff distances by FY05 meets the requirement for increased aircraft survivability. Finally, a reduction in time-to-target to less than 5 minutes meets the FY10 requirement to defeat time-critical targets.

The warfighter also requires lighter, smaller, more affordable weapons with increased performance. Airframes must be lighter and have reduced radar cross section. Propulsion units must provide increased agility, delivered energy, and mass fraction while reducing sensitivity to unplanned hazard stimuli. Technology advances in divert propulsion systems will be available to demonstrate a reduction in the number of theater missile defense systems to cover a given area by 26% (FY00) and 60% (FY10). Potential transitions include Army and Navy tactical missions, Air Combat Command, and several space missions within Air Force Space Command.

3.4.2 Overview

The focus of technology efforts to satisfy warfighter needs includes ramjets; ducted, solid, liquid, and hybrid rockets; and launchers and airframes.

3.4.2.1 Goals and Timeframes. The goals of the missiles subarea are listed in Table X-5.

3.4.2.2 Major Technical Challenges. Missile challenges include the following:

• Efficient packaging of all missile components in a TOW-size missile that has the ability to lock onto ground vehicles in clutter at ranges up to 5 km and lock-on after launch up to 10 km. Missile will use gel motor technology to vary thrust allowing flyout to longer ranges.

• Dynamically stable flight without aerodynamic control surfaces of a bending airframe ramjet missile, a self-starting annular inlet with 68% pressure recovery at Mach 3, 60,000-ft altitude, and stable bent body combustion during maneuver and all flight regimes.

• Development and integration of miniaturized guidance and control actuation tech-nology with an advanced composite, high-performance propulsion system in a small diameter hypervelocity missile using advanced KE penetrator designs.

• A low-cost, small producible, strap-down mechanism and guidance components for precision guidance of a highly rolling small rocket (2.75 in) capable of a CEP of 1 foot.

• Payout of fiber optic cable to 40 km in missile-size canister, low-cost turbojet technology for both boost and sustained flight, and an airframe that can be reconfigured for flyout (slow) and engagement (fast) modes.

• Integration of a launch system into ships that can accommodate the firing of a wide range of missiles including ESSM, Tomahawk, Standard Missile Block 4, and ATACMS.

• Controllability of an airframe that is shaped for very low drag and low RCS.

• Incorporation of attachments into composite missile airframes without compromising the operational capability of the missile.

• Low-cost, lightweight composite external surfaces that can satisfy high-temperature (1,000^oF) and high-stiffness requirements of a tactical missile.

Solid propellant propulsion challenges lie in increasing propellant energy and density without increasing sensitivity, improving inert propulsion materials strength-to-weight/volume ratios, and reducing erosion and weight of insulation and nozzle materials.

The challenges for air-breathing propulsion lie in high-combustion efficiencies, reduced erosion and weight of combustor insulation, elimination or reduction to acceptable levels of ramjet combustor oscillations, and increasing the performance and reducing the size of ramjet components

3.4.2.3 Related Federal and Private Sector Efforts. NASA, DoD service labs, industry, and academia conduct research into advanced materials, aerodynamics, computational fluid dynamics, and shock and vibration that are monitored by the various subject matter experts through participation in conferences, symposia, and joint committees such as the joint Army, Navy, NASA, and Air Force Propulsion Committee. DoD and industry have efforts in propulsion technology, flight mechanics, and vehicle structures. Also, NASA has efforts in propulsion technology for space and orbit transfer, some of which are translatable to tactical propulsion as is tactical technology to their area of interest. Industry propulsion IR&D investment in FY95 was approximately $55 million. Further, these propulsion efforts are focused through the Integrated High-Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) and Integrated High-Performance Turbine Engine Technology (IHPTET) efforts that are highly coordinated and integrated efforts with all services, NASA, and industry.

3.4.3 S&T Investment Strategy

3.4.3.1 Technology Demonstrations. Missile technology demonstrations include those that support the following DTOs:

• Future Missile Technology Integration Program (WE.07.02)

• Multimode Airframe Technology Demonstration (WE.25.02)

• Air Superiority Missile Technology (WE.35.02)

• Tactical Missile Propulsion (WE.39.02)

• Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (WE.50.02)

• Concentric Canister Launcher ATD (B.16)

• Low-Cost Missile ATD (B.17)

• Low-Cost Precision Kill (B.18)

• High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (B.13)

Additionally, the following demonstrations are planned:

• Ducted Rocket Engine TD, a joint program under the auspices of the U.S. DoD/Japan Defense Agency Systems and Technology Forum to demonstrate the technologies for a ducted rocket propulsion system for air-defense applications. The feasibility of a ducted rocket engine to increase the kinematic envelope of medium surface-to-air missiles while meeting minimum smoke and insensitive munitions guidelines will be demonstrated.

• Survivable Airframe TD, to demonstrate the flight worthiness of a wingless, subsonic, survivable multimission standoff weapon airframe. This effort combines three emerging technologies: low-drag lifting body shape, thrust vector control, and novel louvered inlet concepts. The airframe is both low cost and has inherently low RCS. Lifting body shape is optimized for minimum drag and volumetric efficiency.

3.4.3.2 Technology Development. Technology development efforts support demonstrations described above by providing the foundation for the demonstrations and by addressing longer term military applications needs/requirements. Major task areas are:

• Solid-propellant formulation with emphasis on increased specific and density impulse, high-strength mechanical properties, acceptable burning rate properties at high pressure, and environment compatibility while maintaining low sensitivity.

• Gelled liquid propellant engine development.

• High-strength-to-weight per volume composite case development having acceptable attachments.

• Fiber-reinforced, low-erosion, heat-conductivity, density insulation material development that has low lot-to-lot variability.

• Development of low-cost processes for fabricating low-erosion, carbon-carbon nozzles and nozzle inserts.

• Low-cost, compact TVC nozzle system development.

• Variable thrust ducted rocket development.

• Development of high-performance inlets/combustors/fuel management for integration into hypersonic and supersonic ramjet systems.

• Low-drag, high-control force aerodynamic control surfaces.

• Methodologies and techniques to model external and internal aerodynamics, fluid dynamics/propulsion interactions, fluid dynamics/optical interaction, fluid dynamics/ guidance interaction, aerothermochemical aspects of target detection and identification, and aerothermochemical aspects of electromagnetic signature of targets and backgrounds.

• Advanced missile airframes to support highly maneuverable missiles.

• Methodologies and techniques for target and background signature modeling and signal generation for real-time scene generation and projection with application for hardware-in-the-loop simulation.

3.4.3.3 Basic Research. Of special interest are quantum chemistry, synthesis of energetic materials, combustion mechanisms, flow structures in combustors, advanced high-specific-strength materials, computational fluid dynamics methods, better visualization of analytical results, new fiber/resin systems, and reduced production cost of advanced composite components