Anti-Radar Missile Aims for More Accuracy.

U.S. Navy, Italy, Germany, developing GPS guidance kit for existing HARMs

The U.S. Navy plans to upgrade 1,000 of its existing high-speed anti-radar missiles under a program also funded by the German and Italian governments. The improvements will provide more accurate navigation and targeting capabilities, officials said.

The high-speed anti-radar missile (HARM) is a supersonic, long-range weapon that has been used by the U.S. Navy and Air Force for two decades. Its primary mission is the suppression or destruction of enemy surface-to-air missile radar, early-warning radar and radar-directed air-defense artillery systems. More than 2,000 HARMs have been fired in combat.

The tri-national project is for the engineering and manufacturing development of a kit--called precision navigation upgrade (PNU)-that will be attached to existing missiles. The PNU combines a global positioning (GPS) guidance system and an inertial measurement unit. The satellite capability allows HARM to reach the correct target, even if it loses the enemy's radar signal.

Each PNU kit will cost approximately $40,000. There are three contractors: Raytheon Systems Co., in Tucson, Ariz., BGT Missiles Division, of Germany and Alenia Marconi, of Italy.

Making HARM more precise means fewer missiles will have to be fired, said Capt. Christopher Powers, U.S. Navy program manager for defense suppression systems. "We can't continue to lob HARMs out there by the hundreds," he said during a conference of the Precision Strike Association, in Fort Belvoir, Va.

HARM was due for a hardware-based improvement, because its software upgrades had gone "as far as you can go," said Powers. The Navy's long-term plan is not just to improve the accuracy of HARM, but also to boost its performance against targets that shut down the radar after the HARM is launched.

The PNU development program with Italy and Germany should be completed by 2004, Powers said. It is not clear how many missiles these two nations plan to upgrade. The U.S. Air Force is not participating in the project, but Powers expects that, if the Navy's efforts are successful, the Air Force will join the program at a later stage.

The improved missiles are intended to be launched from F/A-18 Hornet multi-role warplanes, E/A-6B radar-jamming Prowlers and Tornado fighters. HARM is 13.7 feet long, 10 inches in diameter, has a wing span of 44 inches and weighs 800 pounds.

In the future, Powers said, HARM could be equipped with an advanced multi-mode seeker, to address the so-called counter-shut down problem. The anti-radiation homing seeker would be changed to a more modern millimeter-wave seeker, for example, so that HARM would find the target even after the enemy shut down the emitting radar.

The multi-mode seeker is not part of the PNU program. The Navy is funding a technology demonstration called advanced anti-radiation guided missile (AARGM).

The AARGM is a seeker upgrade of the existing HARM airframe. The projected unit cost of this upgrade is $295,000. About 1,800 HARM weapons will be upgraded to the AARGM configuration.

"At Raytheon, internally, we are looking at ways to solve the emitter shutdown problem," said Russ Haas, the company's business development manager for defense suppression systems.

Some of the options being studied at Raytheon include a multi-mode seeker and the possibility of coupling the HARM PNU with the newest version of the HARM targeting system, which currently is in development at the company. This 8-foot long, 90-pound pod autonomously detects and identifies radar-guided threats at long ranges. It was designed originally for the Air Force F-16C/D block 50D aircraft.

The combination of the PNU and the targeting pod may solve the shutdown problem, said Haas in an interview. He speculated that the Navy may not need a new multi-mode seeker. "If they are going to solve the shutdown problem in the most affordable manner, they are going to have to look at on-board targeting as part of that solution," he said.

Raytheon was the original developer of HARM, a program that began in the early 1970s. The versions of the missile currently in the Air Force and Navy inventories are the AGM-88B and C. The B missiles with the PNU kit will be called AGM-88 B+. The C version with the PNU kit will be called AGM-88D.

Loitering, Smart Cruise Missile Marketed to U.S. Navy

An unmanned combat air vehicle that has been used by Israel's military forces for decades is being upgraded with modern sensors and marketed to the U.S. Navy as an advanced multi-role smart cruise missile.

This weapon is designed to loiter, seek and destroy ground targets, but unlike unmanned combat aircraft, it is expendable and does not return to base after a strike mission. Because it loiters, it can be confused with an unmanned air vehicle (UAV), but it is essentially a cruise missile. It is called Cutlass, or combat uninhabited target locate and strike system.

Cutlass combines the airframe of the Harpy UAV, made by Israel Aircraft Industries, with advanced sensors made by Raytheon Systems Co., in Tucson, Ariz. Both firms funded the development of Cutlass and have partnered to market the technology to the U.S. Navy.

Harpy has been in operation in the Israeli Air Force for many years--it was used in the 1973 war against Syria. It is an armed drone, typically tasked to destroy surface-to-air missile sites and anti-aircraft guns.

IAI and Raytheon conceived the Cutlass concept after the 1999 air war over Kosovo, where U.S. pilots flew more than 3,000 sorties against air-defense sites. This mission is called SEAD (suppression of enemy air defenses). The most commonly used SEAD weapon is the HARM (high-speed anti-radiation missile), fired from Air Force or Navy jets.

Cutlass would help reduce the number of manned aircraft sorties required in SEAD missions, said Richard Triebel, project manager at Raytheon. Cutlass is "available in the very near term," he told a conference of the Precision Strike Association. He declined to disclose the price tag for Cutlass, but said it is "cost effective for early engagement missions."

Even though Harpy is not sea-launched, Triebel said that Cutlass would be adapted for ship-based operations. It would fly for six hours at 100 knots. Its maximum range is 1,000 km, he said. The direct line-of-sight range is 150 kn, but it can be extended via relays built into each weapon.

The launch is rocket-assisted from a canister and the weapon is satellite-guided. Each canister has two weapons. Weighing less than 300 pounds, Cutlass has a 6-foot wingspan and is 7 feet long. Triebel said its shelf life is 10 years.

The data link in Cutlass is compatible with the Defense Department's tactical control system, which is the standard for UAVs. It also can exchange data with the Link 16 air tactical network.

The mission-planning software is Windows based, said Triebel. It connects the operator to dial-in libraries of data on target types. He said that Cutlass could be assembled and ready for a mission within three hours.

Cutlass primarily is a SEAD weapon, relying on a blast-fragmentation warhead, but it also can be used against vehicles or buildings, said Triebel. Other potential missions for Cutlass are reconnaissance, target acquisition and battle-damage assessment, he said. It operates at an altitude of 6,000 feet, to avoid ground fire.

"We've had a lot of fun trying to find the right home for this weapon," said Triebel. "It's not a UAV, but it looks like a UAV.... We see it evolving into a series of weapons:'

IAI and Raytheon are trying to convince the Navy that it should buy Cutlass, because "there is nothing quite like it in the Navy inventory," said an industry source who did not want to be quoted by name. "It's a loitering system, which makes it look like a UAV, but it kills like a weapon."

The competition for Navy dollars will intensify as the service moves forward with the development of an unmanned combat drone, the UCAV, which will be used for SEAD, strike and surveillance missions. The program currently is managed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The UCAV project director, William J. Scheuren, told National Defense that he did not believe that Cutlass and UCAV would be competing for the same mission, because the Navy UCAV will not be available until 2012.

Raytheon is working to identify other sensors that can be added to Cutlass, so it can help other platforms find radiating targets when it is not performing the SEAD mission.

The U.S. Army had expressed interest in Harpy during the Kosovo operation, said the industry source. But the Army backed away from it, because the system, when it's ground-launched, violates an international arms-control treaty that restricts the use of long-range cruise missiles. As a sea-launched weapon, however, Cutlass would not violate the treaty. The Israeli Army launches Harpy from the ground.

Electronic Warfare Drone Developed With Commercial Technology

The Pentagon's top military panel in charge of weapon system requirements has expressed interest in a notional design for a loitering unmanned airplane that would search and destroy enemy anti-aircraft missile launchers.

The vice chiefs of staff from each service sit on the so-called Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC). It appears that the panel showed interest in the potential applications of a proposed concept called Loitering Electronic Warfare Killer (LEWK).

LEWK transforms from a general-purpose bomb into an aerobatic air vehicle by using inflatable airfoils, and is commanded through data links and on-board sensors.

The idea of developing LEWK came about after the 1999 air war over Kosovo, where NATO air strikes often were hampered by the presence of Serbian surface-to-air missile sites.

LEWK is funded under the Pentagon's advanced concept technology demonstration program, designed to expedite the development of militarily-useful technologies. The system currently is "very conceptual," but JROC nevertheless expressed "strong interest," said Marty Meyer, director of advanced programs at the Marine Corps Systems Command. The U.S. Air Force would be the intended customer for LEWK, said Meyer during a briefing to the Precision Strike Association. The U.S. European Command will develop the concept for how LEWK would operate in combat.

The system would rely on current technologies, rather than inventing new ones, Meyer said. The goal is to "integrate them smartly." To keep the cost down, he added, LEWK only would provide an "80-85 percent solution" to fulfill the so-called SEAD mission, or suppression of enemy air defenses. Meyer did not want to disclose a price tag for LEWK, but a Pentagon news release last year said the system is expected to run about $40,000 per copy.

The plan is for LEWK to be either an expendable or a recoverable truck, depending on the mission needs. It would be launched as a slickshaped bomb that would unfold into a GPS-guided small turboprop-powered aircraft Meyer said the vehicle should be about 10 feet long, 1 foot in diameter and weigh less than 1,000 pounds.

LEWK would fly up to eight-hour missions, at a speed of 70-150 knots, covering up to 1,000 miles. Meyer cautioned that LEWK is not viewed as a substitute for much more sophisticated Air Force unmanned aircraft, such as the Global Hawk or Predator. LEWK can carry 200 pounds in the belly. It will have TV cameras and weapons on board, as well as a radar-jamming device, electro-optic and infrared sensors.

The system could be launched from a helicopter and would use a parachute to land after it's completed its mission.

The "big message" about this program, said Meyer, is that "nothing is proprietary." The technologies exist today, they just need to be integrated.

Even though the Air Force is the lead service in this program, the Army, Navy and Marine Corps also participate, said Meyer. The European Command will determine by 2005 whether LEWK should be produced and fielded.

The current program has enough funding to build up to 12 units. The contractor is Advanced Technologies Inc., in Newport News, Va.