Chapter 588 Air-to-Air Missile

Perhaps because they were frightened by the German armored forces during World War II, France after the war was determined to become stronger. It was the first country to successfully develop and equip the anti-tank missile SS-10, which was used to attack tanks, armored vehicles, bunkers and other ground hard targets.

The SS-10 missile weighs 15kg and is 44cm long. It has four tail wings and a large sweep angle on the tail wing. It can fly at an average speed of 80 m/s and a range of 1,600 meters. In the 1956 Middle East War, the Israeli Army used this missile to attack Egyptian armored vehicles with great success.

The French then launched its improved version SS-11.

The SS-11 missile is 201 meters long and weighs 9 kilograms. There is a solid rocket booster and a solid rocket propeller from SNPE at the tail end of the missile. After the afterburner is launched, it quickly pushes the missile to a maximum speed of 100 m/s. After the afterburner is separated from the missile body, the propeller continues to maintain flight.

SS-11/AS-11 (airborne type) was adopted by more than 30 countries including France, with a total of 180,000 produced.

The United States also purchased a batch of SS-10/SS-11 anti-tank missiles from France, but found that this thing was a rip-off. The general principle of this anti-tank missile is no different from Germany's X-7 anti-tank missile, that is, the shooter transmits data to the missile to control the trajectory and finally hit the target; the difference is that there is an additional display screen on the console, and the shooter can observe the flight trajectory of the missile through the screen.

From the launch of the missile to the hit, the shooter must be highly concentrated in the ten or even dozens of seconds, and the slightest inattention will cause the missile to be out of control; and the missile body will go up and down, left and right during the flight, which is quite difficult to control.

The wealthy Americans naturally looked down on this kind of stuff and went directly to semi-automatic guided missiles; soon after, the famous "TOW" anti-tank missile was developed.

According to later classification, the first generation of anti-tank missiles used a manual command guidance system, visual aiming, and wired command guidance. The shooter tracked the target through the sight, visually determined the deviation of the anti-tank missile axis relative to the aiming line, issued a control command through the handle, and transmitted it to the guidance device on the missile through the wire dragged from the tail of the missile, correcting the flight direction of the missile until it hit the target.

The second generation is a semi-automatic command guidance system; using semi-automatic wired command guidance, the shooter only needs to aim the crosshairs of the sight at the target, and the missile can continuously correct the flight direction until it hits.

Although there are more advanced third and fourth generations, Yannick can't count on such advanced things at this time.

"Dr. Kramer, you did a good job, but this missile cannot be mass-produced and put into service. I need a simpler and more convenient weapon that is easier for soldiers to use."

Max Kramer hurriedly reported. "Your Highness, this missile does have an improved version, which is equipped with a TV guidance head, and its operation is relatively easy to use."

"Oh?" This surprised Yannick. In the original time and space, he had never heard of anti-tank missiles equipped with TV guidance heads in Germany during World War II. "What is the cost of this TV guidance head?"

Max Kramer scratched his head in embarrassment. "It is expensive. The cost of a TV guidance head is more expensive than a missile."

Yannick shook his head. "Then don't do anything with TV guidance. First upgrade this missile to semi-automatic."

"Semi-automatic?" Max Kramer asked puzzled. "Please explain clearly, Your Highness."

"Semi-automatic means that after launching, the shooter only needs to indicate the target to the missile, and the flight trajectory will be controlled and corrected by the missile until the missile hits the target."

The second-generation anti-tank missile with infrared semi-automatic tracking uses optical aiming, infrared tracking, wire transmission instructions, and semi-automatic guidance.

Since an infrared goniometer is used in the guidance system, infrared semi-automatic tracking is formed. The shooter aims at the target from the visible light sight or thermal imager sight and launches the missile. The missile throws a wire backwards while flying forward. The wire transmits the command from the infrared goniometer to the missile. The infrared beacon at the tail of the missile emits 2 microns of infrared radiation backwards during flight. The infrared goniometer measures the error between the missile and the target aiming line based on this signal. After being processed by the guidance device, it is transmitted to the control mechanism on the missile through the wire to correct the flight path of the missile until it hits the target.

In simple terms, it is equivalent to converting the manual control joystick into automatic control. In this way, there is no need to train the shooter's operation, as long as he can use it. The complexity of the system is greatly increased, but the complexity of the user is greatly reduced.

The most critical one is the infrared goniometer, but Germany has been equipped with infrared night vision devices and has a deep understanding of infrared technology. With the mass production of transistors, it seems that it is not difficult to create an automatic control circuit.

Inspiration is extremely important for an excellent designer. Now, hearing Yannick's advice, Max Kramer suddenly showed an expression of sudden enlightenment. "Understood, Your Highness, we will start improving it immediately."

After leaving the shooting range, everyone came to the air-to-air missile research and development department.

The air-to-air missile project was also in charge of this Max Kramer. In fact, the German Air Force is now equipped with air-to-air rockets equipped with proximity fuses, but the accuracy of this thing is really touching, and it is not worth the expensive proximity fuse components. Yannick canceled the subsequent production plan and invested funds in the research and development of air-to-air missiles.

This X-4 air-to-air missile consists of three parts: the warhead, the engine compartment and the wings. The whole missile is like a cigar-shaped spindle, with two sets of wings, one large and one small, on the missile body.

Its warhead uses a steel shell, the warhead has a charge of 20kg, and the damage radius is about 8 meters. In the engine compartment is a BMW 109-548 liquid rocket engine. Because the missile body is too small to install a fuel pump, an extrusion fuel supply method is used.

The two fuels, S-Stoff and R-Stoff, are stored in spiral pipes respectively. A compressed air tank pushes the piston in the pipe and presses the fuel into the combustion chamber like squeezing toothpaste.

Yannick remembered that these two fuels were quite dangerous. They didn't even need to be ignited. As long as they were mixed together, they would burn violently. "Are these two fuels poisonous?"

Max Kramer nodded. "Yes, and it corrodes metals severely. You have to be extremely careful even if you are wearing protective clothing."

"..." Yannick couldn't help but think of the tragedy that occurred in the history of Soviet missile development in later generations. Once, when refueling the S-75 missile, a new missile soldier suddenly sprayed out fuel due to a manipulation error. He was instantly sprayed with corrosive fuel. Despite the protective clothing, his whole body was still severely corroded and burned! Because of timely rescue, the person was saved, but he was seriously disabled and his life was ruined.

There are even worse ones. Gornev, the proud disciple of Korolev, the "Father of Russian Missiles", went to the fuel factory for inspection. Because at that time the Soviet Union was developing a medium- and long-range missile with a range of nearly 1,000 kilometers, the so-called R3 type. In addition to the technology of the engine itself, the development of new fuels is also extremely important.

This new dye has a high combustion efficiency and also has highly toxic and corrosive gases. Strict protection is required in production and transportation. However, in order to facilitate the testing, there was no fence along the walkway. When Gornev and other workers in protective clothing opened the fuel tank for testing, Gornev was too focused and lost his footing. He stepped on empty air and fell into the tank. Ten seconds later, he was completely dissolved, as if he had never existed in this world except for the bubbles. No one dared to help him. It was too late.