Guided Missiles in War and Peace [Reprint 2014 ed.] 9780674423602, 9780674499782

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GUIDED IN

WAR

MISSILES AND

PEACE

A family of big missiles in production for the United States Army. On the left is the Honest John, an artillery rocket capable of carrying either a conventional or a nuclear war head; in the center, Nike, an S A M ; at the right, the Corporal, an S S M , also capable of carrying a nuclear war head. (U. S. Army photograph.)

GUIDED MISSILES IN Nels

WAR

AND

A. Parson,

PEACE

Jr.

—

Harvard Cambridge,

Massachusetts

University

Press 1 956

This book has been reviewed by the Department of Defense and has been officially released for open publication. The opinions and conclusions are those of the author and not necessarily those of any military service.

® COPYRIGHT 1 9 5 6 B Y THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF H A R V A R D C O L L E G E

L I B R A R Y OF C O N G R E S S C A T A L O G C A R D N U M B E R

56-6520

Distributed in Great Britain by Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, London

Designer: Printer:

Howard Murray

H. Bezflnson,• Compositor: Printing

Company,

Graphic

Wakefield,

Press, Inc., Clinton,

Services, Inc., Tork,

Massachusetts;

Binder:

Pennsylvania; The

Colonial

Massachusetts.

The body of this work was composed on the Intertype Fotosetter. Film of the type images combined with film of the illustrations eliminated the use of metal type and engravings in the course of manufacture. The book was printed from photo-lithographic plates. Printed in the United States of America.

PREFACE

Whenever guided missiles are discussed, the questions always asked are: "Will guided missiles bring push-button warfare? W h a t can they do? How can we use them? What defense is there against them? " T h e purpose of this book is to answer some of these questions, to study the impact of guided missiles on military operations, and to describe their technical characteristics. Perhaps in no other military field are there as many misconceptions as there are about guided missiles. For example, not long ago a military student asked an Army instructor in guided missiles, "Say, you're a field artilleryman, what are you doing in guided missile work? " W h a t the student failed to realize was t h a t some guided missiles are field-artillery weapons, a n d that they can also exist as antitank weapons, pilotless bombers, torpedoes, or any one of a dozen other weapons. All services will employ guided missiles and, should another war come, everyone, in or out of uniform, will be affected by them. This book is a n outgrowth of two g r a d u a t e - s t u d e n t papers written at the University of Southern California. T h e first, a research paper entitled An Introduction to Guided Missile Training, USC, was prepared to give Army graduate students background knowledge in guided missiles before they undertook the more v

PREFACE

advanced courses. The second is a thesis for the Master's Degree entitled The Impact of Guided Missiles on Military Strategy. The aim of the thesis, and of this book, is to present to military and civil leaders an unclassified introduction to the tactical employment of guided missiles and their possible effects on military operations. Note that Chapters 7, 8, a n d 9 discuss in t u r n the employment of guided missiles in aerial, naval, and land combat. The three types of warfare are discussed objectively a n d without regard to the present organizational structure of the Armed Forces of the United States. To what service any certain type of missile should belong is irrelevant to this discussion. This book is a study of weapons a n d their e m p l o y m e n t , not of organization. It is difficult to separate the three types of warfare at all, because they are mutually interdependent. Although many references were used in the preparation of this book and it is essentially a condensation of important information in a very broad field, the opinions and conclusions expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent those of any military service. I am indebted to a considerable number of officers of all services, civilian technical personnel, a n d instructors at the University of S o u t h e r n California for screening the original student papers to help preclude violations of military security, and for their criticism of the papers as well. Their courteous assistance was rendered informally and does not necessarily represent the official approval or opinions of the organizations to which they belong. I am particularly grateful to Doctor J u l i a Norton McCorkle, Associate Professor of English, University of Southern California, for counsel and suggestions that have made this book far more readable. Lastly, I acknowledge the participation of my two small children, Gail a n d Ronnie, without whose interruptions this book would have been completed six months sooner. N. A. P. vi

CONTENTS

Foreword by General John E. Dahlquist

ix

1. Your Acquaintance is Inevitable

1

2. Why Guided Missiles? Definition • Air-to-Surface Missiles • Air-toAir and Surface-to-Air Missiles • Surface-to-Surface Missiles • The Antimissile Missile • Problems

5

3. From Wan Hu to Von Braun Missiles before World War II • Germany's V-Weapons • Surface-to-Air Missiles • Other Missile Projects • America's Wartime Missiles • Progress Since the War

15

4. How They Fly The Nature of Air • The Atmosphere Speed Flight • Why a Missile Flies

37 •

High-

5. Guided and Misguided Trajectory-Control Systems • Natural-Phenomena Reference • Electromagnetic Control • Attitude Control • An Example Guidance Problem

51

vii

CONTENTS 6. F l y i n g C u s p i d o r s a n d S t o v e p i p e s Principle of Jet Propulsion The Turbojet

•

Jet-Motor

•

The Ram Jet

Propellant Rockets

•

67 The Pulse Jet

•

Rockets

Liquid-Propellant

•

•

Solid-

Rockets

•

Nozzles

7. A i r W a r f a r e w i t h G u i d e d Missiles Offensive Air Operations •

The Air Defense

Guided

Missiles

Missiles

•

tinental

Problem •

•

87

Air-to-Surface •

and

Missiles

Missiles

Missiles

Air Defense

Interceptors

Surface-to-Air

Guided

Problem

•

•

Push Buttons and

Air-to-Air

•

The

and

InterconSSM-Defense

Manpower

8. G u i d e d - M i s s i l e N a v i e s Guided-Missiles Ships or Guided •

•

Guided

Missile

•

Guided-

Missiles on Ships?

Missile Submarines Forces

105

on Shipboard •

The Strategic Role of

Naval

Tactics and the Man

9. G u i d e d Missiles in L a n d W a r f a r e Surface-to-Surface •

Missiles

The Field-Artillery Missile

ment

•

Range

Ground-Support

Missiles

121

•

The Assault •

Tactical

Technique of Employment •

SSM

Reconnaissance

•

•

Missiles

Missile Employ-

The Long-

Surface-to-Air •

Conclusions

10. Missiles o f P e a c e Missiles in Peacetime

137 •

Space

Travel

•

On

War and Peace

VIII

References

153

Bibliography

157

FOREWORD

This nation lives under a real threat of devastating aggression. T h e tempo of warfare has vastly increased a n d our statesmen are filled with a sense of urgency to find a pattern of lasting peace. Meanwhile we must develop the means to meet aggression a n d build our military strength accordingly. This is one of the important missions of the Continental Army C o m m a n d — Combat Developments. Here military professionals are projecting their minds into the future, using to full advantage both past experience and new scientific trends. A vital part of the C o m b a t Development program is the integration of guided missiles into our combat units. Guided missiles, especially when atomic armed, represent the most radical changes in weapon systems since the invention of gunpowder. These weapons, in turn, are necessitating many changes in military organization a n d tactics. T h e details of these changes, being highly classified, are not widely known. Military and civil leaders who are not engaged in this work can keep abreast of many combat developments by studying selected writings, b u t often their problem is what to select. Too few Americans in or out of uniform can find the leisure to acquaint themselves with a technical subject like guided missiles by reading through the mass of literature available. ix

FOREWORD

This book has been written by one of the officers in Combat Developments to preclude the necessity of reading many volumes on the subject. Major Parson has presented in one concise package the important information that can be released. He has organized the book so that the reader may find at once that facet of the field in which he is particularly interested. Whether or not the reader agrees with the author's personal conclusions, he will have a better understanding of these weapons and will be aroused to creative thinking and positive action. This we must do if we are to survive on tomorrow's battlefield. J O H N E . DAHLQUIST

Commanding General Continental Army Command

x

GUIDED IN

WAR

MISSILES AND

PEACE

M a n y an airman, sailor, and soldier will find himself working on guided missiles in some form. Here a United States Air Force sergeant prepares a Ryan Q - 2 target drone for a flight. (Photograph by Ryan A e r o n a u tical Company.)

I

YOUR

ACQUAINTANCE IS

INEVITABLE

Prior to the enemy invasion of California, United States guidedmissile units were carefully located to protect the long vulnerable coastline. Missile-launching submarines and aircraft patrolled the seas in search of the invasion fleet. When the enemy launched his attack, he was confronted with a deluge of automatic target-seeking missiles that seriously crippled his surface fleet. Although enduring staggering losses, he established a beachhead north of Los Angeles and dug in. T h e n the United States forces unleashed a powerful counteroffensive supported by guided-missile fire. Tons of explosives descended without warning on ship and shore targets. Enemy aircraft, attacked by supersonic projectiles that outguessed every evasive maneuver, almost ceased to exist over the area. With their position untenable, their means to retreat destroyed, and atomic attack imminent, the shattered invasion forces were compelled to surrender. Will historians ever record a battle such as this? 1

GUIDED

MISSILES

IN

WAR AND

PEACE

Is this sensationalism, or will guided missiles actually have such an influence on warfare? F a r f r o m being a Buck Rogers tale, it is a realistic picture of what could result from the use of guided missiles. It might well have happened to the Normandy invasion nearly a decade ago. In his account of that operation in Crusade in Europe, General Eisenhower wrote: " I t seemed likely that, if the German had succeeded in perfecting and using these new weapons [ V - l and V - 2 missiles] six months earlier than he did, our invasion of Europe would have proved exceedingly difficult, perhaps impossible." It has been said that the history of military technique has been dominated by the struggle of the strategists to devise new weapons. Certainly in the second half of the twentieth century this will be true, for technology has become as important to the strategist as tactics or logistics. Guided-missile research and development is a vital program which demands—and gets—careful study, experimentation, and exhaustive field tests by agencies of the Defense Department. The implications of the combat employment of guided missiles are profound a n d must be studied by all military leaders. The nation's senior military officers are already required to have a general understanding of a wide variety of technical fields; now they must add another. Commanders of small units will find that, because of guided missiles, leadership a n d personal skill are more important than ever. These are the responsibilities of the American military professional, who knows that the means of victory must be held by those who hate war if another great conflict is to be avoided. In the event of another war, the civilian populace, too, will be affected by guided missiles. T h e aim of this book, therefore, is to familiarize military and civil leaders with these new weapons, how they function, a n d how they m a y be employed. It is written for the person who desires a general understanding of 2

YOUR

ACQUAINTANCE

IS

INEVITABLE

the technical and tactical characteristics of guided missiles but who does not have the time for detailed reading from many sources. It is intended to further the education of all citizens who are interested in the defense of our nation. No matter where the soldier, sailor, or airman is working, or what he is doing, his introduction to guided missiles is inevitable. He may serve in a unit or on a ship that has guided missiles as its primary weapon, or that uses them in addition to other armament. Even if his particular unit never has direct contact with these robot devices, its activities will be affected by them. The combat employment of these new weapons will force new tactics, techniques, logistic plans, and personnel problems on all services. Their importance to the military professional is indisputable. I n addition to the purely combat uses of these weapons, one will eventually see the nonmilitary application of m a n y mechanisms and techniques now found on guided missiles. Faster and safer travel on this planet and the only means of exploring space will be by-products of guided missile development. But the most immediate problem is a military one. We must tailor our strategy a n d our tactics in anticipation of expected advancements in technology. As General Henry H. Arnold put it just before he retired, "If we fail to keep not merely abreast but ahead of technological developments, we needn't bother to train any force, a n d we needn't make any plans for any emergency expansion. We shall be totally defeated before any expansion could take place."

3

Subsonic, but a guided missile nevertheless. This German miniature pilotless tank devised to meet the Allied invasion was photographed by a Coast Guard combat photographer before it could get into action. (Official U. S. Coast Guard photograph.)

2

WHY

GU/DCD

MISSILES?

In daily newspapers a few months ago these words appeared: " T h e c h a i r m a n of the House Military Appropriations SubCommittee disclosed today that the United States plans to spend one billion dollars before next J u l y on guided missiles. " . . . indicates the design of the Navy's fifty million dollar guided missile plant for which ground was broken. . . ". . . A twenty-five million dollar plant for the production of guided missiles of a type not disclosed. . ." W h y are such tremendous sums of money being poured into a single phase of national defense? First, because the development of guided missiles is absolutely necessary, as the pages that follow will show. Second, because of their inherent complexity a n d radical departure from existing military equipment, their development costs come high. The development time for the U. S. Navy "Bat" missile, for example, was estimated to be 1000 man-years. 1 5

GUIDED

MISSILES

IN

WAR AND

PEACE

These are not glamour weapons fulfilling a d r e a m of "pushbutton" warfare that will raise the art of war to some high technical plane. They do not serve the purpose attributed to his branch by a young British cavalry officer, who, when asked by the examining board, " W h a t is the purpose of cavalry in war?" replied, "To give tone to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl"! Guided missiles have been forced upon us, and to some extent the need has been cumulative. As with other weapons, the existence of one type of guided missile tends to lead to the development of another. It is well to know which type first appeared necessary, a n d how it began the development of a complete family of "bullets with brains." A

Definition

First, what is a guided missile? It is a robot device that can be directed to a target by c o m m a n d s originating from outside the weapon or by instruments built into it. To be truly guided, the craft must be capable of changing its course to take account of unpredictable factors or evasive movement of the target. Control devices and propulsion systems used in guided missiles are found in two other types of robot craft as well. The first is an early cousin of the guided missile—the preset missile t h a t can only maintain a predetermined direction, position, or attitude with respect to a fixed reference. The conventional naval torpedo and the German V - l and V - 2 missiles are examples. The second is the remote-controlled pilotless vehicle which is not built for the purpose of attacking a target. Drone aircraft used for reconnaissance a n d in antiaircraft target practice, a n d space ships of the future, are examples of this type. By common usage the term guided missile means a robot craft that flies through the air or space. Actually, no limit should be placed upon the element through which a guided missile moves. It 6

WHY

GUIDED

MISSILES?

may move in the atmosphere, into space beyond the atmosphere, on land, on or under the surface of the sea, or, theoretically, through the earth. Concerning subearth travel, it is an understatement to say that there are some technical difficulties to be overcome before the "terrra-jet" becomes practicable, although it has been mentioned by more t h a n one propulsion engineer. However, in speaking of guided missiles, one usually means the aerial version. A guided missile is classified by type according to the location of the target a n d the location of the launcher. For example, a controllable b o m b launched from a n aircraft a n d destined for a ground or naval target is known as an air-to-surface missile. Similarly, other missiles are designated as surface-to-air, surfaceto-surface, and air-to-air missiles. These names are abbreviated A S M , S A M , SSM, a n d A A M , respectively. T h e abbreviated forms often appear in reports and on maps, and will be used in this book. D o not make the mistake of the young military student who in the midst of his air-defense m a p problem stood u p and asked, " W h o is this Sam?" Now, what are the reasons for guided-missile development? First, airmen sought greater bombing accuracy with less exposure to antiaircraft fire. The ASM came into being to meet this need. T h e n , to combat modern aircraft ( a r m e d with ASM's), vastly improved antiaircraft weapons (SAM's a n d AAM's) have been essential. With such improved air defense, the third development, the SSM, is inevitable. T h e need for very long-range accurate artillery also pushes the SSM development. Lastly, the existence of the nearly invulnerable surface-to-surface missile (especially the supersonic rocket) forces the further development of a super SAM, the antimissile guided missile. There are many variations of these types, but fundamentally each is designed because of the continual race between the offense and defense. Consider each of these missiles in detail. 7

GUIDED

MISSILES IN WAR AND

Air-To-Surface

PEACE

Missiles

W h e n aerial b o m b i n g was initiated d u r i n g World War I, g r o u n d a n d naval forces organized a n antiaircraft artillery defense to oppose it. Airmen, seeking an escape f r o m this antiaircraft fire without loss of bombing accuracy, hit u p o n the idea of staying a b o v e m a x i m u m g u n r a n g e a n d g u i d i n g their bombs after d r o p p i n g t h e m . T h e G e r m a n s actually accomplished this by dropping from their Zeppelin airships bombs that were electrically controlled by attached wires. Also, in World War II the first robot weapons to a p p e a r in c o m b a t were air-to-surface missiles. T h u s did the evolution of guided missiles begin. T h e need for the air-to-surface missile is even more pressing today. T h e most outstanding weakness of m o d e r n high-level b o m b i n g is its inaccuracy. Accuracy with o r d i n a r y bombs can be achieved only by close-in attack of the t a r g e t — a risky business. If modern antiaircraft weapons defend the target, repeated attacks will prove prohibitively costly. T h e need exists, then, for a b o m b that can be released a great distance f r o m the target without sacrifice of accuracy. T h e airto-surface missile fills this need.

Air-To-Air

and Surface-To~Air

Missiles

Because of advancements in aircraft, improved bombing techniques, a n d air-to-surface missiles, gunfire (from the ground or f r o m interceptor aircraft) is often i n a d e q u a t e .

Conventional

a n t i a i r c r a f t artillery alone c a n n o t satisfactorily defend a vital target. It cannot cope with the high altitude, speed, and maneuverability of m o d e r n bombers. Even if a n artillery shell could r e a c h t h e h i g h - a l t i t u d e b o m b e r , the t i m e of flight of t h e shell is so long t h a t the plane can easily evade the predicted impact point. Artillery can, of course, force bombers to fly so high that their b o m b i n g will have greater dispersion; b u t because planes 8

WHY

GUIDED

MISSILES?

m a y carry atomic weapons, they must be prevented from bombing at all. Moreover, by launching powered ASM's bombers can r e m a i n at great distances from the target. T h e ultimate high-altitude antiaircraft weapon, the surfaceto-air missile, hurtles at t h e high-flying b o m b e r not only with great speed and range, but with maneuverability as well. As the b o m b e r attempts evasive action, the constantly changing interception point is c o m p u t e d ; a n d the missile, altering its course correspondingly, destroys the target. T h i s does not m e a n t h a t guns will i m m e d i a t e l y become obsolete. Targets within effective range probably will be best attacked by guns for some time to come. Against low-level, close-in attacks, an accurate, rapid-firing, r a d a r - t r a c k i n g gun is highly effective. It is true, however, t h a t the engagement range of fixedtrajectory weapons (guns a n d rockets) will decrease. T h e problem is best discussed in terms of time of flight to the target. Any unguided projectile with a time of flight greater t h a n a few seconds is ineffective because the target can m a n e u v e r a w a y from the predicted point of interception. In a strategic air defense SAM's will take over the gun portion of air defense entirely. With ade q u a t e early warning the necessity for sudden close engagement should be obviated, even if the plane is flying at low altitude. N o t only antiaircraft artillery but also gunfire from interceptor aircraft is in need of augmentation. As sonic velocity is approached a n d exceeded by both bombers a n d fighters, aerial gun combat becomes almost impossible. T h e high-speed fighter has an extremely short time of interception with a n e n e m y bomber a n d also m a y have little opportunity to m a k e more t h a n one or two passes. Therefore, because of h u m a n limitations, t h e a i r m a n is forced to t u r n to devices more accurate a n d responsive t h a n himself. T h e air-to-air missile is covered in more detail in Chapter 7. 9

GUIDED

MISSILES

IN

Surface-To-Surfaee

WAR

AND

PEACE

Missiles

Because of the inherent limitations of field artillery and aircraft, and because of the tremendously improved air-defense team (guns, planes, and missiles), the surface-to-surface missile is required. Against what targets will it be used? T h e surface-to-surface missile is not needed for some important new target but for attacking already existing targets u n d e r special circumstances which make its use more profitable t h a n that of artillery or aircraft. W h a t are these circumstances? First, let us review briefly the limitations of conventional artillery and aircraft. Artillery has limited range, lethality, and, at long range, accuracy. Mass-fire techniques do minimize the last two shortcomings, but range is the most important limiting factor in artillery. T h e only solution to greater range is increased muzzle velocity, which is always accompanied by greatly increased size and weight of the gun and even less accuracy. The German "Paris G u n " of World War I is an example of a very long-range gun. It fired a 260-pound shell at a fixed angle of 54° a maxi m u m distance of 80 miles. T h e high muzzle velocity of 5000 feet per second was so wearing on the barrel that each shell had to be m a d e slightly larger t h a n the preceding one. W h e n fired against Paris at a range of 70 miles, each shell landed about a mile from the preceding shell. Although this gun could be reproduced today and somewhat improved, the small improvement would not justify the effort. Artillery as we know it, or with foreseeable improvements, cannot be considered a practical mobile weapon at ranges greater t h a n about 20 miles. T h e heavy free rocket (unguided), an i m p o r t a n t new fieldartillery development, greatly increases the lethality and potential range of artillery, but it is not accurate at great range. For any unguided projectile there is a range beyond which manufacturing 10

WHY

GUIDED

MISSILES?

tolerances, variable ambient temperatures, a n d unpredictable atmospheric conditions preclude good accuracy. The surface-tosurface missile is needed, then, to provide fire against heavily protected targets within artillery range and to extend the effective range of artillery without loss of accuracy. But how about planes? Certainly bombers have extreme range and destructive power, but they have limitations, too. First, aircraft will often not be available to strike ground targets because of other operational requirements or because the enemy has air superiority. O n e cannot expect air superiority at all times. Second, a ground target m a y have so effective a n air defense that sustained air attacks will be prohibitively costly. A pilot is faced with two choices. Either he must bomb at extreme altitude a n d distance from the target, with poor accuracy, or he must descend and b o m b while "staring d o w n " the barrels of deadly automatic-tracking cannon. Even if he resorts to air-to-surface missiles, the enemy's defensive missiles still make the pilot's mission extremely dangerous. Third, because of weather, aircraft are not always capable of providing the volume and continuity of tactical support that ground forces need. Strategic bombing, too, is hampered by bad weather. Weather is an uncontrollable factor in the employment of air power. Finally, the limited accuracy of aircraft bombing should be considered. This does not m e a n t h a t the surface-to-surface missile will entirely replace the bomber. T h e r e will always be a need for piloted aircraft. No mechanism can duplicate the ability of the h u m a n being to reason a n d to use good j u d g e m e n t . But when enemy air power, enemy air defense, or weather precludes the efficient use of aircraft, the missiles should be ready. The Antimissile

Missile

W h e n this futuristic weapon appears on the scene of combat, " p u s h - b u t t o n " warfare may have arrived. W i t h the advent of 11

GUIDED

MISSILES

IN

WAR

AND

PEACE

the supersonic intercontinental missile, what choice is there but to devise a way to stop it? T h e target will be a high-altitude supersonic missile, flying either in level flight or in a high-angle V - 2 rocket type of trajectory. Probably it will not be capable of evasive action to avoid interception, but its speed and altitude will make it extremely difficult to locate and destroy. Problems It may well be argued that we need guided missiles, but what are the problems involved in using them? For one thing, guidedmissile units will require considerable logistic support. A rockettype SSM ready to fire may weigh u p to ten times as much as its own warhead. This means that for every ton of high explosive delivered to the enemy as much as 10 tons of materiel must be transported to the launching site. In the 100-mile-range category the firing of many guided missiles, in terms of tonnage, will be like firing large volumes of medium artillery, the gun itself being launched with each round. Yet battlefield supply may be simplified, because the missile can be brought up in light, separate loads, assembled, and fired from rear areas. But because of the fragility of missile components, the difficulty and hazards involved in storage a n d transportation of fuels, a n d the complexity of much equipment, guided-missile logistics will never be easy. Production cost must also be taken into consideration. It required about 900 man-hours of G e r m a n labor to produce a V - l missile and 4000 man-hours to build a V - 2 rocket. This is an impressive figure for a single round of ammunition, but not an impossible one. Moreover, while the cost per round may be high, the total expense of destroying a particular target may be less with guided missiles t h a n with any other weapon because of the increased accuracy and lethality of guided missiles. T h e practical problems of research a n d development, field testing, production, transportation a n d storage, training, and 12

WHY

GUIDED

MISSILES?

reliability of operation all add to the cost. Consider reliability, for example. A guided missile may have from dozens to hundreds of components in series. The failure of any one means a lost missile. Therefore extremely high s t a n d a r d s of reliability for each component are esssential, and high standards mean high costs. But we have seen that guided missiles are born of utter necessity. Therefore, in spite of all problems, they will be developed. T h e y are a d a p t a b l e to all types of c o m b a t a n d to all forms of military operations. Their uses are limited only by the knowledge and skill of the technician and by the imagination of the tactician. T h e y will be employed widely in the deadly game of war; to avoid that war, we cannot afford to be second-best in their development.

13

This g u i d e d missile w a s developed by Sperry G y r o s c o p e C o m p a n y for the United States N a v y during World W a r I. (Photograph by Sperry G y r o s c o p e Company.)

3

FROM

WAN VON

HU

TO

BRAUN

O f all those persons who have proposed the idea of rocketing themselves into space, the first man who seriously tried to do something about it was perhaps the bravest. The first, according to Chinese history, was a scholar and scientist named Wan Hu. He hit upon the idea of propelling himself with the crude rockets known to the Chinese at that time. So, after lashing several dozen of these " J A T O " units to his sedan chair, he proceeded to have all the rockets fired simultaneously. We do not yet know just how successful Wan Hu was, for in the blast that followed he disappeared, and nothing has been heard from him since. T h e most recent and well-known would-be space traveler is Wernher von Braun, who is notable for his development of the German V - 2 rocket. He likewise suggests that if several dozen rocket motors were properly lashed together, this time to his three-stage missile airframe, he could "blast o f f " into space, 15

GUIDED

MISSILES

IN

WAR

AND

PEACE

never to return until so inclined. Despite the possible advantages of being able to "get away from it all," Dr. von Braun, now working for the United States Army, has been asked to postpone his space trip and to concentrate on the purely military use of guided missiles. T h e previous chapter showed why we need guided missiles in modern warfare. It is much more difficult, however, to appreciate how high up the development ladder missile specialists have climbed, and how far they have yet to go. Were the Germans so far ahead of the rest of the world in this field? What has the United States accomplished? To answer these questions, one must first look back half a century. T h e first real attempts to steer a machine by remote control were made with torpedoes before the turn of the century. In 1897 a torpedo was experimentally controlled in England in the Thames River. A year later Lt. Bradley Fiske, U. S. Navy, applied for a patent on a radio-controlled apparatus for torpedoes, but these first devices were not too practical. Missiles

Before

World

War

II

The use of the military airplane in 1914-1918 aroused considerable speculation over the possibilities of remote-control aircraft. Before the war ended, German research had produced a guided bomb controlled by signals (sent through trailing wires connecting launcher and missile) from an operator in the launching craft. Remote-control torpedo boats were also tested by the Germans. As early as 1916 the United States Navy and the Army Air Corps began a joint study of pilotless aircraft. The first product of their efforts was a propeller-driven plane with a torpedoshaped fuselage and an unreliable guidance system. By the early twenties, several pilotless flights had been accomplished, but unsolved control problems and lack of funds seriously hampered 16

FROM WAN HU TO VON

BRAUN

the efforts of the budding missile-men. An example of some of the headaches involved was the 1923 flight test of the " W i l d Goose," a pontoon-mounted remote-control plane. T h e safety officer, whose responsibility it was to insure that the "Wild Goose" did not go haywire and strike unintended targets, had no recourse but to chase the missile in an old de Havilland land plane. H e had his rear cockpit loaded with bricks to throw into the propeller of the contrivance, should it misbehave. Fortunately, it was not necessary to unleash the brick attack upon the "Wild Goose." Far from being even faintly wild, it did well to struggle into the air at all. A man of unusual vision in these times was the late Colonel George Holloman of Wright Field. Always looking for advancements in aeronautics and automatic devices, he was involved in many technological improvements during the financially lean years from 1918 to 1940. Holloman Air Developments Center, the guided-missile test range in New Mexico, is named in honor of this man who, having recognized early the need for guided missiles, was so influential in their development before and during the war. Meanwhile, improved means of propulsion were being investigated. T h e leader in this work was Robert H. Goddard of Clark University, Worchester, Massachusetts. His mathematical theories and practical tests represented the real beginning of modern rocket research. As early as 1915 he experimented with solid-propellant rockets. His m a t h e m a t i c a l study, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitude, was published in 1919. In 1926 he successfully fired the first liquid-fueled rocket motor, and four years later one of his rockets reached a record altitude of 2 0 0 0 feet and a velocity of 500 miles per hour. H e developed the first a u t o m a t i c gyroscopic missile stabilization; he was the first to use vanes in the exhaust stream for steering and the first to fire a rocket at supersonic speed. 17

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Goddard made his findings available to all, but the only nation that took full advantage of the information was Germany. Even so, the Germans were unable to fire a liquid-fueled rocket successfully until 1931. Originally, there was nothing warlike in the intentions of these m e n — G e r m a n or American. H e r m a n n O b e r t h , the G e r m a n professor who pioneered rocket d e v e l o p m e n t in Europe, was primarily interested in space travel. O n e of his proposals was a mail rocket for overseas postal service. W h e n he learned of Goddard's 1919 study, he wrote the American this letter: Dear Sir: Already many years I work at the problem to pass over the atmosphere of our earth by means of a rocket. When I was now publishing the result of my examinations and calculations, I learned by the newspaper, that I am not alone in my inquiries and that you, dear Sir, have already done much important works at the sphere. In spite of my efforts, I did not succeed in getting your books about this object. Therefore, I beg you, dear Sir, to let them have me. At once after coming out of my work I will be honored to send it to you, for I think that only by common work of the scholars of all nations can be solved this great problem. Yours very truly, HERMANN OBERTH

Student Math. Heidelberg Oberth kept his word and published his 1923 report, By Rocket to Planetary Space. T h u s were ideas freely exchanged until the power of Hitler became absolute. Oberth's experiments and publications aroused considerable European interest in rockets. In 1927 a group of German amateur rocket enthusiasts founded a spaceship travel club. They conducted rocket experiments a n d published a monthly magazine. Public enthusiasm reached new heights when an Austrian aeronautical engineer, Eugen Saenger, published an outstanding book in 1933 called Rocket Flight Technique. 18

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German military leaders, now under Hitler, had not forgotten the early attempts to guide bombs during the first World War. The German Army became interested in the activities of the rocket society and assumed control of the tests. In 1931 the rocket experiments were classified secret a n d placed under the supervision of Captain Walter Dornberger. T h e members of the a m a t e u r spaceship club were offered three alternatives: they could quit and t u r n over their patents to the G e r m a n Government, go to work for the Army (if they were good enough), or go to jail. 2 A nineteen-year old engineer named Wernher von Braun was among the group who chose to go to work for the Army. He was soon put in charge of the rocket experiments because of his energetic nature and outstanding ability. Although his main interest was—and is today—space travel, he concentrated on the development of military rockets. After the G e r m a n Army m a d e a special study of the potentialities of guided missiles in 1933, it built a rocket and guidedmissile research center at Peenemünde, a remote section of Germany on the Baltic Sea. This center began fundamental research in every field that might contribute to a solution of guided-missile problems. H e r m a n n Goring, head of the German Air Force, established a separate rocket research center at Trauen in 1935. It was lavishly equipped for liquid-fuel rocket experiments. He placed the Austrian, Saenger, at the head of the project a n d authorized a ten-year research program. Saenger undertook a long-range scientific a p p r o a c h to the problem, a i m i n g at a rocket motor with a 100-ton thrust, four times t h a t of the now f a m e d V - 2 . T h e most remarkable feature of these two G e r m a n research centers was that neither knew anything of the other's work. Göring's attitude toward the P e e n e m ü n d e project was one of jealous rivalry. This uncontrolled interservice competition was a contributing factor to German defeat. T h e error has been well 19

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noted by the United States D e p a r t m e n t of Defense, which has established over-all control to coordinate all military technology. T h e offensive (as opposed to defensive) use of guided missiles received early attention. Because Hitler was determined to engage in aggression and expansion, the Germans developed and used operationally surface-to-surface missiles such as the V - l and V - 2 (to be considered in some detail later). But during the war the growing strength of Allied air power caused the Germans to put heavier emphasis on antiaircraft missiles. In contrast to the intensified guided-missile research in Germany prior to 1939, little more than preliminary study was done in the United States. In 1932 the American Rocket Society established itself, a n d it developed a n u m b e r of different types of rocket motors as early as 1934. A few of the Society's members started a c o m p a n y in New Jersey, Reaction Motors, Inc. T h e activities of this company greatly benefited missile development during and after the war. Its most recent contribution was the power plant of the supersonic plane, the XS-1. But the World War II air strategy of the United States was based mainly upon long-range bombing with high-performance piloted bombers. This strategy proved to be sound, though the timing was close. Before the end of the war, the need for several types of guided missiles became apparent. In 1936 the United States Navy began work on a radio-controlled pilotless aircraft to be used as a target in gunnery training. T h e project was successful a n d resulted in experimentation with remote-controlled bombs and gliders. This work on the part of the Navy, plus similar target " d r o n e " experiments by the Army (including the Army Air Corps), represented most of the United States' prewar guided-missile research and development. But in 1940, when the Army Air Corps officially established its guided-missile program, Colonel Holloman was placed in charge, and missile development began to move. 20

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Thus, it can now be seen why the Germans entered the war far a h e a d of the Allies in the development of guided missiles. T h e G e r m a n advantage was not determined solely by superior scientific genius, as is c o m m o n l y believed, b u t by six years— 1933 to 1939—of organized research a n d development before the war. Germany's

V-Weapons

Germany was able to develop guided missiles in time to massproduce a n d employ t h e m in significant n u m b e r s against the Allies. But the only two weapons that that nation used on a truly large scale were the V - l "buzz-bomb" and the V - 2 rocket. T h e V - 2 , a 200-mile-range war rocket, is the most outstanding product of the German effort. Designated the A - 4 (rather than V - 2 ) by its designers, it was one of a related series of at least fourteen different missiles built or projected by the technicians at the G e r m a n Army research center at Peenemünde. Led by von Braun, the Germans built a n d test-fired the A - l , the A-2, a n d the A - 3 . T h e knowledge gained in building these smaller test missiles was incorporated into the V - 2 . It is said that by 1939 more t h a n a third of Germany's entire aerodynamic a n d technological research was devoted to this project. 3 But from the time World War II began until Germany's collapse, the superrocket development program was subjected to harassments. The two principal causes of trouble were Allied bombers and Hitler, and it is difficult to decide which hampered the V - 2 development effort more. First, at the outset of the conflict, Hitler drastically reduced the funds a n d personnel available to Peenemünde. H e assumed that the war would be won before the rockets could be developed. Despite the setback, early in 1942 Dornberger and von Braun unfolded a plan to Hitler for launching 5000 V - 2 ' s a year against England. Hitler's retort was that he wanted a simultaneous 21

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assault of 5000 rockets, but, being forced to compromise for p r a c t i c a l reasons, he e v e n t u a l l y settled on a lesser s c h e m e of 1000 missiles per 24-hour period. But even t h a t goal was never realized. A desperate race developed to be r e a d y before the Allies a t t e m p t e d to invade Europe. B o m b a r d m e n t was to begin in mid-1943. But in M a r c h of that year the plan received a second blow. Mass production was a b o u t to begin, troops were training, a n d tactical plans were being completed, w h e n one restless night der Führer dreamed that no V - 2 would ever strike England. 4 Refusing to believe, as any self-respecting Scrooge ought to, that the wild n i g h t m a r e was possibly caused by " a bit of undigested beef," he s u m m a r i l y discontinued t h e whole p r o g r a m . It took two m o n t h s of p l e a d i n g to c h a n g e Hitler's m i n d , a n d August arrived before work was completely resumed. From the G e r m a n point of view this was possibly the most tragic delay of the entire war. Not to be outdone by Hitler in delaying the rocket-research p r o g r a m , the British Royal Air Force b o m b e d P e e n e m ü n d e on August 17th. A l t h o u g h t h e research center was severely d a m aged, t h e most i m p o r t a n t effect of t h e raid was the time consumed by the Germans in dispersing much of their work to other parts of G e r m a n y . It is possible that the development phase of the V - 2 program would have been largely completed by August a n d that the British raid would h a v e affected p r o d u c t i o n b u t little if Hitler h a d not interfered the previous M a r c h . T h e earlier production of V - 2 ' s a n d the extra tactical experience that would have been gained by the G e r m a n s probably would have resulted in largescale b o m b a r d m e n t of the S o u t h a m p t o n port area, where the cross-channel movement originated, a n d the N o r m a n d y beachhead as well. It is doubtful that the Allied operation could have succeeded h a d the G e r m a n s been ready. But the total resultant

22

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delay caused by Hitler's d r e a m prevented the V - 2 counterattack from coming until too late. H i t l e r again interfered unwisely by insisting t h a t elaborate concrete launching sites be built. T h e huge emplacements were the exact opposite of the small, mobile launchers recommended by t h e A r m y . But the military principles of mobility a n d surprise were not nearly so i m p o r t a n t to the dictator as the dramatic effect of concrete fortresses s p o u t i n g 14-ton rockets. T h e first p e r m a n e n t sites built were soon located by Allied photo-reconnaissance a n d repeatedly b o m b e d until useless. I n a f r a n t i c race against t i m e the G e r m a n s c o n t i n u e d their preparations and altered their techniques and equipment to permit mobility of launching sites, b u t they were too late. J u n e 6, 1944 arrived, a n d the Allies swarmed across the channel to Norm a n d y . Not until September 1944 did the first rounds "fire for p a y , " b u t by then Germany's defeat was inevitable. T h e greatest limitation of the weapon was its lack of accuracy. M a l f u n c t i o n s caused m a n y r o u n d s to go awry; b u t even when the missile functioned perfectly, only a b o u t half of the missiles fell within 8 miles of the target center. However, against large area targets such as London a n d Antwerp the V - 2 caused m u c h destruction. T h e r e was no effective countermeasure against this supersonic destroyer. I n t e r c e p t i o n in flight by a n y m e a n s was impossible. L a u n c h i n g sites were often changed and, being small, were easy to conceal. Despite Allied superiority in the air, more t h a n 4000 V - 2 rockets were fired before t h e l a u n c h i n g areas were physically overrun by our troops. T h e V - 2 could deliver a ton of high explosives 200 miles in 5 minutes, no small feat even today. T h i s 14-ton monster was 46 feet long a n d 5 feet in diameter. T h e r e m a r k a b l e power plant, fed by a highly efficient fuel p u m p , consumed 9 tons of alcohol a n d liquid oxygen in 1 m i n u t e . At t h e e n d of t h a t m i n u t e the rocket was traveling a mile per second. Thereafter, it "coasted" 23

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in a ballistic trajectory similar to that of an artillery projectile. When fired at a distant target, the V - 2 climbed vertically for 4 seconds and then began to turn in the direction of the target. A t approximately 47° from the vertical, the automatic pilot held the missile at that angle of climb until either the motor was shut off or the fuel was exhausted. The range of the missile depended upon the burning time of the motor. Both militarily and scientifically this rocket was a remarkable weapon. Its existence was proof that Germany was about ten years ahead of the rest of the world in rocket research. The paradox of this missile is that a significant part of the background of knowledge essential for its development came from an American, Dr. Goddard, whose work several years earlier was relatively unnoticed in this country. But the V - 2 , to Dr. von Braun, was only the first step toward his ultimate goal—a man-made satellite, or "space station." The next major step was the A - 9 , essentially a V - 2 with large swept back wings to give it extra gliding range. T h e third step, the A-10, was to be an 85-ton booster rocket attached to the stern of the A - 9 . This combination would have a total range of 3500 miles. T h e final missile of the series was to be the three-stage rocket which, if ever built, would make space travel a reality. By the end of the war, however, the only missile in the series that had reached the "hardware" stage was the V - 2 . The other missile fired by the Germans in great quantity was the V - l "buzz bomb," so nicknamed because of its peculiar noise in flight. A German Air Force Weapon, its official designation was FZG-76. It is said that the V - l came into existence because of interservice rivalry and the Army's early difficulties with the V - 2 . When Goring, chief of the German Air Force, already envious of the Army's guided-missile progress, first witnessed the firing of a V - 2 , it failed to leave the platform and instead burned where it stood. The second and third missiles fired for his benefit 24

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also failed, exploding violently at t h e l a u n c h i n g point. After these dismal displays Goring r e m a r k e d t h a t he was now convinced that the V - 2 rocket could admirably accomplish shortrange destruction! Since P e e n e m ü n d e was doing so poorly (in his opinion), Goring saw no need for continuing his competition at the Trauen rocket-research center and abruptly closed it. W h e n the p l u m p air marshal finally did see a V - 2 launched successfully in 1944, he roared, " T h i s is colossal! We must fire one at the first Nuremberg postwar party rally." 5 So after these earlier rocket failures the G e r m a n Air Force concentrated on the development of an entirely different type of missile—the V - l . It was an automatically controlled midwing monoplane powered by a pulse-jet motor. In contrast to the costly and complex V - 2 , the V - l was inexpensive, required little time to produce, a n d used easily obtainable materials. It flew a level, powered flight at an altitude of 1000 to 4000 feet until it dived into the target. T h e 1-ton warhead could be carried, at about 400 miles per hour, a m a x i m u m distance of 160 miles. T h e weapon's total weight was only a b o u t 2lA tons, in contrast to the 14-ton weight of the V - 2 . Its accuracy was roughly the same as that of the V - 2 , but, because of the relatively low impact velocity, the burst of the V - l was often more effective. T h e V - 2 warhead, striking the ground at 1700 to 2500 feet per second, penetrated deeply before exploding, thus expending much of its energy merely to produce a deep hole. Because of the simplicity of construction and employment of the V - l missiles, the Germans used them by the thousands. T h e y launched over 5000 missiles against L o n d o n alone (less t h a n half arrived), resulting in 5500 deaths a n d the total destruction of more than 23,000 buildings. Despite the ease with which they were shot down, the V - l ' s were tragically effective. Even the countermeasures themselves, though accounting for roughly half of the "buzz bombs" fired, were extremely costly. 25

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One report indicated that the cost to the Allies in man-hours of all countermeasures, production losses, damage repairs, and absenteeism, was almost four times as great as the man-hour cost of the entire V - l program to the Germans. 6 In bombing launching sites alone, nearly 1500 Allied fliers lost their lives. Yet V - l attacks were never halted until the launching areas were overrun by Allied troops. Surface-To-Air

Missiles

As the V-weapon development program continued, steadily increasing Allied bombing of the German homeland forced greater emphasis on the surface-to-air missiles. The search for a satisfactory antiaircraft defense resulted in a desperate rush program of development in which, at one point, more than forty different antiaircraft missile designs were under consideration. But of all these projects, only four showed real promise by the war's end. Fortunately for the Allies, all four projects were too late. The missiles planned were these: T h e "Enzian" (Gentian). A radio-controlled rocket carrying nearly a half-ton of high explosive, it was intended for heavy bomber formations. The "Sckmetterling" (Butterfly). Also a radio-controlled rocket, it was in mass production at the war's end. T h e "Rheintochter" (Daughter of the Rhine). This rocket was to have a maximum speed of more than 1000 miles per hour. Carrying 330 pounds of explosive as high as 48,000 feet, it would be detonated by a proximity fuze. T h e "Wasserfall" (Waterfall). This missile came dangerously close to mass employment against our heavy bombers. A 26-foot rocket, it was easy to mass produce and had excellent performance characteristics besides. T h e Wasserfall project had the highest priority of all the surface-to-air missiles projects in Germany. 26

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Other

Missile

BRAUN

Projects

I n addition to the surface-to-air missiles a n d V - w e a p o n s in Germany's guided-missile program, several air-to-surface weapons were devised. Principally designed for naval targets, these missiles were the first to appear in combat. The two of most practical value were the "Henschel 293" and the "Fritz X . " The latter, an armor-piercing radio-controlled bomb, proved its effectiveness against Allied ships at Salerno. Some work was also initiated on air-to-air missiles. The only missile of note in this field was the " H e n s c h e l 298." It was a small rocket that was controlled by either a trailing wire or radio. As we have seen, Germany's original lead in guided missiles was due to early recognition of their potential value by her leaders. But the greatest incentive for the development of these weapons was Germany's loss of air superiority over Europe. The priority of guided-missile projects was so high that probably at least a third of all G e r m a n a e r o d y n a m i c research was in that field.

America's

Wartime

Missiles

In the United States, there was no urgent necessity for largescale wartime guided-missile research and development. In 1940 the Air Force established its guided-missile program by starting several guided-bomb (air-to-surface missile) projects. Among the first operational weapons were the " A z o n " a n d the " R a z o n . " These were bombs which could be remotely controlled in azimuth (direction) a n d in range a n d azimuth, respectively. However, the requirement that the operator in the parent aircraft be able to see both the b o m b a n d the target until impact severely restricted the use of these missiles. T h e Azon saw action in both Europe a n d Burma. It was in Burma, where the ability of the 27

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Azon to hit long narrow bridges was demonstrated, that the missile proved its true worth. The G B - 1 was another ASM to see action, this time on Germ a n targets. 7 It was a glide bomb with a 12-foot wing and twin tail that automatically maintained its attitude in flight as it glided 20 miles to the target. The obvious advantage of the G B - 1 was that the launching plane could drop it out of range of the enemy's antiaircraft defense. In a single attack on Cologne in mid-1943, 54 B-17's dropped 108 GB's a n d turned back for England without ever coming within antiaircraft-artillery range. A translation of the German news release of this ASM raid reads: A high-altitude attack by American bombers against Cologne has been turned back by the fierce antiaircraft fire defending the city, and no bombs were dropped. The accompanying fighter cover, however, composed of small and exceedingly fast twin-tailed aircraft, came over the city at low altitude in a strafing attack. So good were the defenses that every single fighter was shot down; much damage was done by these falling aircraft, all of which exploded violently. T h e explosions of the "falling aircraft" were understandably violent, for each was a 2000-pound demolition bomb. Another outstanding glide b o m b was the " B a t . " 8 Originally an Air Force project, it was soon transferred to the Navy when its value against naval targets was recognized. T h e Bat had a radar homing head which enabled it to "see" the target. An operator in the launching plane first "locked" the radar on the target and then released the missile. With a glide ratio of about six to one, the Bat had a range of 10 to 15 miles. Because of hurried and incomplete operator training, the Bat was not particularly successful in combat. Subsequent tests, however, have proved this ASM a potent killer of surface shipping. T h e obvious lesson here is that missiles must have men—trained men—to be effective. The only SSM built in quantity during the war was a "Chinese 28

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copy" of the V - l . The Army Air Corps organized a special squadron to employ the American version, designated the J B - 2 , but the war ended before the unit could get into action. T h e closest thing to a purely A m e r i c a n S S M to be used in action was the "Weary Willie." This was an old B-17 loaded with 10 tons of high explosives and flown into a target by remote control. 9 Only a few such "missiles" were employed. But one in particular was flown into military installations at Helgoland, with the resulting destruction of an estimated s q u a r e mile of critical war materials and building.

Progress

Since the

War

By the end of the war the Germans had worked on about 140 different guided-missile projects. 10 If the war had continued only a few more months, its final e n d might have been drastically delayed by German guided missiles. It has even been suggested by more than one writer that not only radically improved guided missiles and jet interceptors would have been used against the Allies, but perhaps an atomic-loaded V - 2 as well. This is not confirmed, but it may in part account for the Germans' desperate fight to the end. But the war did end, a n d there in G e r m a n laboratories and factories was concentrated the greatest mass of technical knowledge of guided missiles in the world. Originally the four occupying powers attempted a cooperative study of G e r m a n technological developments. But almost immediately they dropped the idea, for Russian plans for exploitation of German technology included no intention of cooperation with any other nation. Cooperation of American, British, and French investigators did continue, however. Considering the vast amount of basic research that had to be accomplished, progress since the war has been rapid. Scarcely a month goes by without a new announcement concerning missile 29

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development. A number of different projects have been pursued, all under the cordination of the Department of Defense. After several postwar years of research, working models began to appear. Practical ram-jet engines were developed. Existing rocket, turbojet, and pulse-jet power plants were steadily improved. Automatic control mechanisms a n d guidance systems approached the " h a r d w a r e " stage. In September 1947 an Air Force C - 5 4 flew from Newfoundland to England by automatic radio-guided control. A crew was aboard, but not used. The application of this control to a long-range missile is obvious. T h e experimental firing of a V - 2 rocket from the carrier Midway showed the vast new possibilities of naval warfare. Soon the Navy converted the USS Norton Sound, formerly a seaplane tender, into a guided-missile ship for experimental firing. Subsequent announcements by the Navy indicate the development and launching of combat-type guided-missile ships. Upper-atmosphere research has been continually conducted since the end of the war. T h e G e r m a n V - 2 a n d the U S Navy "Viking" missiles have been used to carry instruments aloft for high altitude measurements (see Chapter 10). T h e Army successfully fired a two-stage rocket ("Bumper") to the greatest altitude yet attained, 250 miles. This was a V - 2 with a smaller missile, known as the "Wac Corporal," attached to its nose. When the V - 2 reached a predetermined height, the Wac Corporal separated from it and accelerated up to a maximum speed of 5000 miles per hour. By using seaborne launchers, the Navy will ultimately be able to reach any target area on the surface of the earth. Air Force SSM's will eventually have intercontinental range. Successful surface-to-air a n d air-to-air missile development has also been a n n o u n c e d . A r m y S A M ' s have proved their ability to knock down targets and are ready for combat use. To implement the vast amount of research and experimenta30

A target anywhere on earth can be reached by a missile that has a range of 1 7 0 0 nautical miles and a ship for a launcher. The United States N a v y missile Regulus is launched at the U. S. N a v a l Air Missile Center at Point M u g u , California. (Official U. S. N a v y photograph.)

U. S. Army personnel prepare Nike guided missile on launcher prior to being raised on the elevator. N i k e site, Lorton, Virginia. (Official U. S . Army photograph.)

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tion necessary in t h e guided-missile p r o g r a m , several proving grounds and research centers have been established in the United States. O n e of the first was W h i t e Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico, an Army guided-missile test center now used by all services. N e a r b y is Fort Bliss, Texas, the Army Antiaircraft a n d G u i d e d Missile Center. N e a r the White Sands Proving Ground a r e a is H o l l o m a n Air D e v e l o p m e n t s C e n t e r , w h e r e Air Force guided missiles are tested. With the N a v y also working at White Sands Proving Ground, this desert area contains a large part of the U n i t e d States' guided-missile effort. I n California the N a v y has two i m p o r t a n t guided-missile centers. At Point M u g u , a b o u t 50 miles u p the coast from Los Angeles, missiles are test-fired a n d e v a l u a t e d for tactical use, and naval personnel are trained for guided missile duty. 11 To the east, in the California desert n e a r I n y o k e r n , the N a v y Bureau of O r d n a n c e has built a research a n d d e v e l o p m e n t center for rockets, g u i d e d missiles, aviation, a n d u n d e r w a t e r ordnance. O n the Atlantic coast near B a n a n a River, Florida, the Air Force has established a long-range proving ground, which will extend southeast over the B a h a m a Islands for 3000 miles. Here the first Air Force guided-missile s q u a d r o n was formed. K n o w n as the First Pilotless Bomber Squadron (Light), it used the M a t ador, a turbo jet-powered SSM, as its basic weapon. Guided-missile development is proceeding in other countries as well as in the U n i t e d States. A joint British-Australian longr a n g e proving ground has been established in Australia. Its b e g i n n i n g is at W o o m e r a , in s o u t h c e n t r a l Australia, a n d the r a n g e extends northwest for 1200 miles over the desert to the coastline, b e y o n d which t h e r a n g e m a y be e x t e n d e d a n o t h e r 1500 miles to Christmas Island. Great Britain has revealed that a n e w surface-to-air missile has been perfected. Both Sweden a n d Switzerland have reached t h e point where tests of certain types of missiles are being carried out in the field. 12 Little is 33

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publicly known of Russian guided-missile work except that the Russians have concentrated on greatly improved versions of the V - l and V - 2 . T h e present state of development of guided missiles is naturally classified. But it is obvious that the United States intends to be second to none in this field. Thoughtful Americans, in or out of uniform, cannot help being concerned about the costly race for guided-missile superiority. Yet to maintain that superiority may yet save the world from World War III.

34

Postwar research by the United States Navy. The Aerobee in a launching tower at White Sands Proving Ground a fraction of a second after firing. (Official U. S. Navy photograph.)

Airfoils have many shapes. This unusual design is seen on the Roc missile, an A S M . (Photograph by Douglas Aircraft Company.)

4

HOW

THEY

FLY

The tactical necessity for guided weapons having been established, one might think the military services need only call in the scientists, engineers, and technicians and present them with the military characteristics they want missiles to have. But without a basic understanding of the technology of these weapons, military planners could not possibly make reasonable requests. Moreover, in following missile-development projects they would be unable to differentiate between legitimate technical difficulties and delays born of incompetence. The tactical use of guided missiles in the field requires technical skills as well. Even personnel not directly involved in missile employment can better coordinate their own weapons and effect countermeasures against enemy missiles by appreciating the technical limitations of guided missiles. Therefore, for a better understanding of guided missiles, a short, well-rounded technical briefing is in order. The three important fields are aerodynamics, guidance, and propulsion. 37

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This chapter on missile aerodynamics will introduce to the reader some of the major considerations in missile flight and design. First, what is the nature of the medium in which a guided missile moves?

The Nature

of

Air

O f the four basic mediums through which a guided missile might move—air, water, space, and earth—air is the most important and most frequently used. Eventually, space travel and underwater travel may be no less important, and they are certainly not being ignored today, but subearth travel must still be relegated to the unknown. Both air and water are fluids, and the study of the motion of bodies in fluids is known as fluid mechanics. That branch of fluid mechanics dealing with air in particular is known as aerodynamics. Hydrodynamics is the term usually applied to the study of the motion of bodies in water, although it is often used in the general sense for other fluids as well. Because the very nature of the medium in which a missile moves affects the shape, speed, and maneuverability of that missile, it is well to know the more important properties of a fluid medium. These are density, compressibility, and viscosity. Air density is the mass per unit volume of air. T h e density of air at sea level under standard conditions is about 0.077 pound per cubic foot. T h e density of water is about 62.4 pounds per cubic foot, more than 800 times that of air. T h e density of air is dependent upon its temperature and pressure and rapidly decreases with increasing altitude. A i r density directly affects missile performance because the moving missile sets a large volume of air in its vicinity into motion. T h e greater the air density, the greater the inertia, and the more energy the missile expends on the air. The lower density of air is one reason why much higher speeds are possible in air than in water. 38

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Compressibility is the ability of a substance to change volume w h e n placed under pressure. Air has high compressibility, for its volume is easily changed by pressure variation. In contrast, water has very low compressibility. T h e term "bulk modulus of elasticity," often used in aerodynamics, is the exact opposite of compressibility. In fact, water is more than 14,000 times as hard to compress as air. For simplicity of analysis, air can be thought of as incompressible for low speeds and low altitudes. However, except for launching, the guided missile usually flies high and fast, and compressibility effects cannot be ignored. O n the other hand, water is virtually incompressible no matter what the speed of a body through it. This is why shock waves do not develop in water as they do in air. Viscosity is that property of a substance which resists shear, that is, the motion of one layer of the substance with relation to the layer next to it. High viscosity means high resistance to relative motion. Heavy molasses, for example, has high viscosity, for it is reluctant to pour out of a container, such action requiring the relative motion of successive layers. Applied to the medium of a missile, the higher the viscosity, the slower the speed of the missile. Water is about 62 times as viscous as air. Once again, for greater missile speed the nod goes to air, though the difference is not so extreme as in the first two properties. For some studies it is possible, without excessive error, to consider air nonviscous. But as before, because of the high speed a n d altitude of most missiles the more simple theory must be abandoned.

The

Atmosphere

T h e behavior of air under known conditions is quite predictable. If the atmosphere were to lie in a quiet and motionless blanket about the earth, the problem of aerodynamics would be far simpler than it is. But, unfortunately, the atmosphere is most ill-behaved. The density, compressibility, viscosity, and temper39

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ature not only vary greatly with altitude but also change constantly. In fact, both compressibility and density are affected by temperature. From sea level u p to about 50,000 feet (within the troposphere) the temperature decreases with increasing altitude, from an average of about 60 °F to — 67 °F. It is within this lowest region that weather disturbances usually originate. For some distance above 50,000 feet the temperature of about — 67 °F is fairly constant. This layer—the stratosphere—is usually thought to have steady, predictable winds, although a Norwegian research group maintains that it has detected intermittent vertical velocities up to 250 miles per hour in this layer. As one looks higher he finds a region into which the stratosphere gradually blends where the small amount of nitrogen and oxygen r e m a i n i n g no longer exists in the n o r m a l 80:20 ratio, the temperature drops, then rises again rapidly, and conventional air-flow theory is not applicable. This region, u p to a million feet or more (200-400 miles) is known as the ionosphere because some of the molecules are broken up into ions and free electrons. The outermost layer is known as the exosphere. None of these atmospheric layers has sharp, dividing lines; and all vary with location, time of day, a n d position of the moon. But the four layers—troposphere, stratosphere, ionosphere, and exosphere—are identifiable. Now, what is outside these layers? Beyond the exosphere is open space. With increasing altitude both oxygen and nitrogen disappear, leaving only a trace of hydrogen and helium, which finally disappear too. Little is known of space because of the difficulty of reaching it (achieved only by the United States Army " B u m p e r " rocket thus far) and because of the intervening layers of atmosphere beneath. It is known that high temperatures, cosmic rays, a n d meteors are constant dangers. As for temperature, it could rise to 4000°F inside a missile if it were not for the fact that a large p a r t of the heat flow to a 40

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missile would be lost in radiation. A missile in space with a black skin might heat u p to about 450°F; but if the surface were p a i n t e d white, the t e m p e r a t u r e might be more like 100° below zero. A t e m p e r a t u r e p e r m i t t i n g o c c u p a t i o n by a h u m a n crew could be created by the choice of paint, if the paint could withstand ultraviolet rays. Cosmic radiation m a y affect missiles adversely, because the energy of some radiation in outer space is sufficient to penetrate all parts of the weapon. Meteors also are to be reckoned with. T h e i r paths constantly intercepting t h a t of t h e e a r t h , they c o m e into t h e a t m o s p h e r e like high-speed bullets until they are vaporized by air friction at altitudes of 35 to 50 miles. T h e likelihood of a meteor's striking a high-altitude guided missile m a y not be great, but when longd u r a t i o n manned space-ship flights are c o n t e m p l a t e d , meteors will become an i m p o r t a n t h a z a r d . M o r e information on space a n d space travel will be found in C h a p t e r 10.

High-Speed

Flight

G u i d e d missiles are usually designed to travel at very high speeds. This reduces the time of flight, o p p o r t u n i t y for enemy reaction, a n d effectiveness of countermeasures. Any discussion of high-speed missile flight involves such terms as sonic speed, supersonic speed, mach number, a n d shock wave. W h a t do these terms mean? Sonic speed is the speed of sound. T h e n a t u r e of all high-speed gas flow is d e p e n d e n t u p o n the speed of sound in t h a t gas. Sound is a pressure variation moving through a gas, such as air, or any other m e d i u m , such as water. If t h e pressure variation is produced by a very small disturbance, the rate of movement of that pressure wave through the m e d i u m is predictable a n d constant. T h e speed of sound in air at sea level is about 1120 feet per second. I n water it is 4720 feet per second. T h e speed of sound 41

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depends upon the compressibility and density of the medium. In the case of air, as we have mentioned, these two properties are altered by temperature and therefore the speed of sound changes with temperature. Actually the speed of sound is proportional to the square root of the absolute temperature. This accounts for the lower speed of sound at altitudes where the temperature is low. Supersonic speed is greater than the speed of sound. Air flow around missiles is radically different at subsonic and supersonic speeds. Flight speeds on the order of six to ten times the speed of sound are sometimes called "hypersonic." Another term often used to describe the condition when the missile is traveling at or just above the speed of sound is "transonic." It means that, although the missile as a whole may be traveling just above the speed of sound, local velocities along the sides of the body are sonic, subsonic, and supersonic. This condition may cause extreme stresses on a missile and should be passed through as quickly as possible. The crash of the British test pilot John Derry in a de Havilland 100 jet fighter demonstrated the sometimes disastrous effects of transonic speed. In the fall of 1952, while he was flying at sonic speed, the elevators of the tail were torn off. Derry managed to land safely, but later at an air show, after a lowaltitude supersonic dive, transonic stresses ripped off the twinboom tail and the plane disintegrated, killing the pilot instantly. T h e Mach number of a flying missile is simply the ratio of the missile speed to the local speed of sound. As previously stated, the speed of sound depends upon the temperature. If the missile is at sea level and is traveling in warm air at a Mach number of 2, its speed is twice the speed of sound or about 1520 miles per hour. A t an altitude of 50,000 feet where the temperature is lower, M a c h 2 corresponds to a speed of about 1320 miles per hour. A shock wave is a sudden pressure variation created by a body 42

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moving through a medium at sonic speed or higher. T h e shock wave can best be understood by considering a small body in air which is emitting regular sound pulses, let us say at a rate of 1 pulse per second. If the body is standing still, (Fig. 1), the sound waves move out in all directions in a spherical pattern (Fig. 1). E a c h wave is separated from the previous wave by 1120 feet, the distance sound travels in 1 second at sea level.

Fig. 1. A stationary source of sound sends out equally spaced spherical sound waves.

Fig. 2. The pattern of sound waves f r o m a source moving toward the right with a speed equal to that of sound.

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If, without changing the pulse rate, the body is made to move at the speed of sound (Fig. 2), each sound pulse will create the same spherical pattern; but the source, moving to the right, keeps up with each wave moving in that direction, causing a superposition or piling up of the sound waves just in front of the m o v i n g body. A t that point the pressure variation across the multiple-strength wave is a strong one. I f the body moves faster than the speed of sound (Fig. 3), it will pass through each sound wave it creates; but the combination of all the waves produces a wave front shown by the broken lines. T h e motion of a missile creates sound pulses at practically an infinite rate, and the w a v e front created is known as a shock wave. T h e word "shock" is appropriate, because there are abrupt changes in the velocity, density, pressure, and temperature of air as it flows across it. Shock waves are actually visible under

Fig. 3. If the speed of the source exceeds that of sound, each sound wave intersects the preceding one and they can all be enclosed in a conical surface shown in section by the broken lines. 44

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certain conditions and can be photographed in wind-tunnel tests. Note also that shock waves are actually three-dimensional about a missile. The shock wave caused by the pointed nose of a supersonic projectile is conical, not merely triangular as a two-dimensional sketch would seem to indicate.

Why A Missile

Flies

All forces acting on a moving missile can be resolved into four resultant forces: thrust, drag, lift, and weight (Fig. 4). The motion of the missile depends upon the relative magnitudes of these forces. If the thrust of the power plant is a greater force than the drag, the missile will accelerate forward; and if the lift force is greater than the weight, the missile will rise. It is easy to understand how thrust can be p r o d u c e d to overcome drag, but see how lift is accomplished. If an airfoil (wing) has the proper shape a n d angle of attack ( u p w a r d tilt of the forward edge of the airfoil), the air will flow much faster over the top of the airfoil than under the bottom. Increased velocity is always accompanied by a drop in pressure; therefore, the greater pressure beneath produces a net force upward, or lift.

LIFT

DRAG

WEIGHT Fig. 4. The four forces that act on a moving missile.

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Some possible airfoil cross sections are shown in Fig. 5. A subsonic airfoil does not make a good supersonic airfoil, and the reverse is also true. Note the blunt, rounded forward edge of the subsonic airfoil, so designed to produce the higher air velocity across the top surface. If this airfoil were used on a supersonic missile, the drag would be excessive.

MODIFIED

SUBSONIC

DOUBLE

WEDGE

DOUBLET

WEDGE:

CONVEX

Fig. 5. Some possible airfoil cross sections.

Supersonic airfoils are characterized by sharp leading edges and are very thin. It is a considerable design problem to develop an airfoil with both thinness and sufficient strength. T h e modified double wedge represents a good combination of low drag and strength and is relatively easy to manufacture. The over-all planform of airfoils may vary considerably. They may be rectangular, delta-shaped, swept back, circular, or any one of many other possibilities, depending upon their uses and the speeds involved. To give a missile enough lift and thrust to fly is not sufficient; it must be stable as well. A missile is stable if it has the tendency to return to a position of equilibrium after it has been disturbed. The disturbance may be deliberate when the missile maneuvers, or it may be caused by forces beyond control. A missile is usually designed to be stable in pitch, yaw, and roll (see C h a p t e r 5). 46

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T h a t is, if the missile suddenly executes one of these motions, it has a natural tendency to correct itself. O n the other hand, it is possible for a missile to be too stable, m a k i n g it difficult to maneuver. Wing surfaces, normally called the rudder, elevator, and aileron (Fig. 6), control a n d m a n e u v e r a guided missile. Right a n d left deflections of the rudder produce right and left turns of the missile. Similarly, u p and down deflections of the elevators cause the missile to climb or dive. T h e missile flies in the new direction because the tail has been slewed in the opposite direction, forcing the fuselage to face in a new direction. If the designer places the movable wing surfaces on the nose of the missile (called the C a n a r d design), a left deflection produces a right turn, and so on. T h e ailerons are used principally to create roll. Moving the ailerons in opposite directions creates an unbalance, which makes the missile roll. The position of the ailerons in Fig. 6 would create a roll to the right. M a n y combinations of control surfaces are possible, but for simplicity, economy, a n d ease of analysis, a minimum number should be used.

Fig. 6. The

wing

surfaces

that control a guided missile.

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T h e detailed aerodynamic analysis of guided missiles is an extremely complex subject requiring a good background of higher mathematics. But even theoretical studies are hard to evaluate because of the difficulty of performing satisfactory flight tests. There is no pilot in the missile to read instruments or to return the craft to base for further study. Because a flight usually ends in a crash, a missile is almost a total loss after a flight test. The missile aerodynamicist is forced to obtain technical information on the ground by radio (telemetering) and by cameras and instruments later ejected by parachute or protected to withstand the crash at the end of flight. H e can also make wind-tunnel tests, but the high Mach numbers desired necessitate huge and costly structures. Fortunately for the man who will use missiles in combat, the aerodynamic problems will be largely solved before he receives the "hardware." But this in no way lessens the vital importance of aerodynamic research and airframe design.

48

The smallest guided missile now in production. The U. S. Air Force Falcon is an A A M which will be carried in quantity by Air Force interceptor aircraft. (Official U. S. Air Force photograph.)

An application of command guidance. A Sperry controlled pilotless QF8 0 shown before take-off for atomic tests at N e v a d a proving ground. It flew successfully through a turbulent atomic cloud. (Official U. S. Air Force photograph.)

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Rocket-propelled projectiles have come to the front several times in history, but always they have been outmoded by the greater accuracy and range of guns. World War I I brought free (unguided) rockets again, which were characterized by a high rate of fire, lack of recoil, and light weight of launcher. But why were they still less accurate than gunfire? Because an artillery shell has its maximum velocity and stability at the muzzle. Direction and velocity are accurately known; therefore, it is easy to predict the flight path. Jet-propelled projectiles, starting with low velocities and little stability in early flight, have poor accuracy with no guidance. With guided missiles it is the guidance that counts. A missile with malfunctioning guidance would be worthless and even dangerous to its users. Guidance in jet-propelled missiles is essential because greater accuracy than that of conventional weapons is needed both at gun range and beyond. Also it may be necessary to alter the tra51

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jectory after launching to intercept a moving target. Unpredictable variations usually exist in the medium (air, space, or water) in which a missile moves a n d tend to throw it off course. M a n u f a c t u r i n g tolerances (of weight, shape, a l i g n m e n t ) , causing no two missiles to be exactly alike, must be compensated for as well. Let us assume that we are building a guided missile and that we want to select a guidance system for it. W h a t are the different methods of controlling these steel-feathered firebirds? To guide a missile, we must p e r f o r m two basic yet exceedingly complex tasks. First, we must give the missile trajectory control. We must m a k e it follow the most ideal p a t h to the target. This means that we must know its position a n d direction of flight with respect to the target. T h e n deviations away from the desired trajectory can be corrected by sending signals to the missile controls to turn right or left, u p or down, or to change velocity. Second, the missile must have attitude control. This means that we must keep it pointing in the proper direction with the vertical fin a c t u a l l y vertical, a n d t h a t it must k n o w u p f r o m down. If a missile in flight has inadvertently rolled over on its right side, a signal to turn right will result in a dive. Considering the first, trajectory control, what are some of the possible ways in which we could m a k e our missile stay on a desired path? Theoretically, it could be guided by some completely self-contained internal control system, by reference to the n a t u r a l p h e n o m e n a a b o u t it, or by the use of electromagnetic energy for some means of remote control. Some publicized examples of each of these three possibilities follow. Trajectory-Control

Systems

First consider the self-contained internal control. Two internal control systems often m e n t i o n e d a r e t h e preset a n d t h e inertial systems. 52

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W h e n preset guidance is used, a predetermined course is set into the missile controls before launching. This flight course takes into consideration predicted atmospheric conditions, target location, a n d missile performance. O n c e we launch the missile, it will go through the motions we set into it with complete disregard for any unexpected changes. It is on its own a n d we can make no corrections during flight. T h e German V - 2 rocket, for example, had a time mechanism that caused the missile to rise vertically for the first few seconds a n d then pitch over into a specific angle of climb until the rocket motor was shut off. If an unpredicted tail wind caused the V - 2 to move faster t h a n expected, the huge rocket would go beyond the target. T h e conventional naval torpedo is also a preset missile. It is usually set to run on a certain predetermined path. Once it has been fired, the launching crew has no more control over it. T h e preset system is simple, reliable, a n d inexpensive, and is not vulnerable to countermeasures. But it has poor accuracy. Let's look further. H o w about inertial guidance? Suppose that, when a strong tail wind gave a missile an unexpected boost in the direction of the target, a device such as the one in Fig. 7 were in the missile.

•DIRECTION OF FLIGHTFig. 7.

An inertial accelerometer for trajectory control.

T h e inertia of the sliding mass would cause it to move to the rear against the coil with a force proportional to the forward acceleration of the missile. T h e distance the mass moves is a 53

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measure of the unwanted acceleration. This measure of acceleration can be converted almost instantly by double integration (a mathematical procedure) into the extra distance the wind is causing the missile to move. To compensate for the range error thus detected, the missile slows itself down, or dives into the target after a shorter time of flight, or cuts its motor off sooner. We can install inertia devices such as this, called accelerometers, to measure not only the distance the missile has moved toward the target, but also its drift laterally or vertically. With this information a computer within a missile can compare the actual flight with the desired one and send corrective signals to the control surfaces. The system is completely internal and, like the preset system, it requires no outside signal and is not vulnerable to countermeasures. Theoretically it affords greater accuracy, but it is naturally more expensive, complex, and subject to malfunctions. Vibration of the missile, for example, makes instrument damping necessary; but excessive damping makes the accelerometers insensitive to high-frequency changes of direction. An ideal compromise is difficult to find. Natural-Phenomena

Reference

If we know the location of a target with respect to any natural phenomenon of the earth or space, and a missile can be made to use the same phenomenon for locating itself, it can be guided to the target. Some examples of this type of trajectory control are magnetic reference, altitude reference, distance reference, and celestial reference. The Germans used the first three in combination on the V - l missile. We can use the magnetic field of the earth by providing a compass to keep the missile on the proper heading. T h e dip of the magnetic needle toward the earth could also possibly be used, since the dip varies according to the location of the needle on the earth. This system is simple but not very accurate. The 54

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Germans used this system on the V - l missile to keep it on the right heading. T h e varying pressure of the atmosphere with altitude (or of water with depth) may be used to cause a missile to travel at a prescribed distance above or below sea level. A simple altimeter or pressure gauge can be connected with the control mechanism to accomplish this. T h e G e r m a n s used this altitude-reference system on the V - l to fly it at 3000 to 5000 feet. Distance reference is a method of measuring how far a missile has gone. The distance traveled toward the target may be measured by a small wind-driven (or water-driven if water-borne) propeller, which is calibrated so that a certain number of rotations represents a unit of distance traveled. T h e total number of rotations is counted mechanically; and when the desired distance has been traveled, the missile can be made to dive, turn, explode its warhead, or perform any other function. The V - l was designed to go into a spiraling dive at the end of its trip. Celestial reference is a fascinating guidance scheme we could adopt. Just as men on shipboard or plane can "shoot the stars" to determine their position, a missile could do it automatically. Star-tracking telescopes within the missile must continuously note the position of the stars. A c o m p u t e r could interpret this information and appropriate signals could make the missile stay on its p a t h to the target. W h e n the " b r a i n " indicates that the position of the target is reached, the missile automatically dives into the target. This system would naturally be complicated and expensive. How about electromagnetic control?

electromagnetic

Control

Electromagnetic control systems may be divided into four categories: remote control, radio navigation, energy-beam slave, a n d target seeking. Consider first the remote-controlled missiles. Control signals come from an outside source such as the plane, 55

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ship, or ground control station t h a t launched the missile. One of the oldest forms of missile guidance, remote control has been used for many years in model airplanes a n d boats, and is now used in target planes for antiaircraft practice. Radio operators on the ground control the plane by watching it and sending signals to it to turn right or left, to climb, and so on. O n e method of using remote control is to have the radiocontrol operator steer the missile into the target. The location of the target is known by the operator's seeing it, by his knowing its m a p location, or by radar's locating it. T h e position of the missile is known by the operator's seeing it or by having radar tracking it. The missile itself does not perceive the target. It merely reacts to the signals sent from the operator. In the case of supersonic guided missiles the operator would be an automatic computer and transmitter, because the problem is too complex to be solved accurately or fast enough by a h u m a n operator. Another method is to see the target remotely by television. A television camera and transmitter within the missile send back to the operator the picture of what the missile "sees" ahead. The operator signals the missile accordingly; and when the objective comes into sight, the missile is steered into the target. This system was employed in Korea by the United States Navy, using obsolescent aircraft as their missiles. T h e Air Force also did experimental work with this system during World War II. T h e remote-control pilot can be h u n d r e d s of miles away from the missile as long as there is light-of-sight contact between them. A third remote-control possibility is to have the missile connected to the operator's "control box" by long, fine wire which trails out behind the weapon as it goes forward. T h e operator sees the target by one means or another and has direct wire contact with the missile and electrically controls it. Obviously the system is good only for short ranges, perhaps as an air-to-air or antitank missile where the operator keeps his " b i r d " aligned 56

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in the cross hairs of his sight, which are also on the target. T h e Germans actually worked on this and had an experimental wirelaying air-to-air missile. Since in all three of the above systems an operator—human or mechanical—sends commands to the missile, these types of trajectory control are often called command control. R a d i o navigation is another way to utilize electromagnetic radiation for guidance. A n y navigation consists of locating oneself with respect to some system of coordinates in order to travel toward a destination that is also located in the same coordinate system. I f the coordinate system is artifically generated in space by radio signals and the missile can " r e a d " these coordinates and know the coordinates of the target, a computer within the missile can calculate the flight path to the target. For example, the radio navigation system known as L O R A N ( L O N G R A N G E N a v i g a t i o n ) works this way: T w o carefully located radio transmitters send out signal pulses simultaneously. These energy signals travel at the specific known speed of 186,000 miles per second. I f a receiver were in a missile located exactly halfway between the two stations, the signals would arrive at the same time. Assume that the missile is launched in a direction perpendicular to a line connecting the two transmitters. If the missile deviates to the right, the signal from the right-hand station arrives first. T h e missile computer can measure the time delay between receipt of the signals and steer the missile back into the desired path again. I f transmitter stations are located at equal distances from the target, and the missile coi>stantly keeps itself at equal distances from the stations, it would have to fly over the target. Another means, perhaps another pair of transmitter stations, could tell the missile when to dive into the target. This is necessary since, with only one pair of stations, the missile knows that it is on a line equidistant at all points from the stations. T h e inter57

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section of this coordinate line with a n o t h e r p r o d u c e d by the second pair of stations locates the target. Actually, the target does not have to be on the equidistant line. If it is closer to one of the transmitters than the other, the time delay can be calculated and the missile can be made to fly on a line with that fixed time delay rather than no time delay. M a n y variations of this system are possible. We could have our missile slaved to an energy beam. If a n a r r o w energy b e a m (light, r a d a r , infrared, or a n y other beam that can be m a d e highly directional) is trained on a target, an obvious way to get to the target is to follow the beam. Thus, if a missile has internal equipment that detects its position in the beam and makes it a slave to it, an operator need only keep the beam on the target to get a hit. Even if the target is moving, the beam can follow it, and interception of the missile with the target is inevitable. In theory, this is perfect, but many problems complicate its use. T h e most intelligent missile of all, the target-seeking missile, actually perceives the target and computes its own control signals. If the missile is to "see" the target, the target must have some characteristic that distinguishes it f r o m its background. If the target is a distinctive source of heat, light, magnetism, or radio transmission, and the missile can detect it accurately, the missile can be made to go straight for that source. (This type is known as a passive seeker.) Naturally, the enemy is not going to have the target emitting anything a missile can " h o m e " on if he can help it. But it is possible to "illuminate" the objective by radar signals from the missile, which then guides itself toward the reflected signal (active seeker). These are some of the theoretically possible guidance systems that we could use on our missile. M a n y others are not mentioned, and some are probably yet to be discovered. J u s t which of these are practical and are actually being used is classified information. 58

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T h e details of their design, components, range, a n d accuracy, a n d the discussion of which types of guidance are most appropriate for certain targets must in general be avoided, too. Note that combinations of these types are possible. We could launch a missile with preset initial guidance a n d employ celestial navigation to the target vicinity for mid-course guidance. Finally, p e r h a p s we could use a target-seeking system for terminal guidance.

Attitude

Control

Attitude control must exist if a missile is to respond properly to guidance signals. T h e simplest way to control attitude is to control the angular motion of the missile in all three dimensions. These motions are known as pitch, yaw, and roll, and are shown in Fig. 8. For any of these motions to be detected, there must be a stable platform in the missile as a reference so that corrective signals may be sent to the control surfaces. Gyroscopes are most often Fig. 8. The three types of angular motion of a guided missile.

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used because of their ability to remain fixed in the plane of rotation of the rapidly spinning rotor (Fig. 9). The rotor is spinning in the horizontal plane and tends to stay there. If the missile rolls as in Fig. 10, the gyroscope rotor will remain fixed. T h e angle of roll, measured by the angle between pointer and frame, can be detected electronically and a servomechanism actuated which causes the control surface to correct the roll error. Similarly, yaw and pitch control can be effected. ROTOR

Fig. 9. A gyroscope mounted on a missile to control roll.

MISSILE WING HORIZONTAL Fig. 10. When the missile rolls, the

gyroscope

remains

fixed in space.

Fig. 11. A gyroscope set to produce a banked turn. DESIRED ANGLE. OF BANK

Fig. 12. A missile banks until the gyroscope setting is zero.

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Now, if in steering the missile it is necessary to roll it a few degrees for a b a n k e d turn, the pointer is t u r n e d to that angle (Fig. 11). Because the pointer is no longer aligned with the frame, an error signal is detected and the missile banks until the angle is again zero (Fig. 12). Now if the signals generated by various guidance systems or stable platforms are amplified they can actuate aerodynamic control surfaces and guide the missile. This assumes that moving the rudder or elevators will result in a change in motion of the missile. There are two different situations in which moving the aerodynamic control surfaces in the air stream would do no good, the reason being that there is not enough force exerted by the air stream on the control surfaces to do any good. T h e first case occurs w h e n the missile is first launched and does not have sufficient velocity for the air stream to act on the control surfaces. D u r i n g this critical period of flight, the craft must maintain its stability some other way. A launching crew could place the missile within long guidance rails which restrict its motion until it is up to flying speed (just as a gun barrel restricts the shell until it is u p to the necessary speed and rate of rotation), but the tactical disadvantage of a huge rail launcher is obvious. Another scheme for overcoming low-velocity instability is to use a booster rocket to get the missile u p to speed quickly. Propulsion engineers have developed boosters that have tremendous power for short time durations. These "disposable" power plants can boost even large missiles weighing several tons from launchers of no appreciable length. T h e U n i t e d States Air Force " M a t a d o r " is launched in this manner. Still another control surfaces T h e jet stream second or more.

way to achieve low-velocity stability is to have in the jet stream just behind the motor exhaust. is always moving rapidly, perhaps 1 mile per Control surfaces (called jet vanes) within the jet 61

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stream, when deflected, will produce a lateral force on the tail of the missile just as normal air vanes do. Obviously finding a material to stand the 2000°-4000° exhaust temperature is not easy. But the vanes need last only long enough for the missile to get up enough speed for the aerodynamic surfaces to be effective. T h e Germans used this technique for launching the V - 2 , which has jet vanes made of carbon. Another possible answer to low-velocity stability is to mount a jet motor on gimbals so that its direction of thrust can easily be changed in response to error signals from the gyroscope. T h e second situation in which normal aerodynamic control surfaces are useless exists when a missile is at very high altitudes where the atmosphere is very thin or does not exist at all. In this case gimbaled rocket motors or rocket motors exhausting in lateral directions (at right angles to the direction of flight) are necessary not only for attitude control, but for guidance as well.

An Example

Guidance

Problem

For some appreciation of the problem of designing a control system, let us analyze how one might cause a missile to fly reliably and accurately at a given altitude, say at 10,000 feet. Assume that the missile will climb by preset control to 10,000 feet, where an altimeter-controlled device will automatically cause the missile to level out. By the use of a gyroscopic stable platform the missile will thereafter maintain level flight. But if at the "level-out" signal the missile happened to turn too slowly, it would end up at too high an altitude (Fig. 13). W i t h the stable platform preventing

~r

ALTtTUDE • /

/

/

ERROR

t

!0,000

FT

Fig. 13. A guided missile with preset altitude control has leveled out too slowly so that it is at too great an altitude.

62

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the missile from diving or climbing, it will remain too high, and the guidance requirement is not met. A system that will cause the missile to seek the 10,000-foot altitude is a simple "on-off" mechanism which, actuated by the altimeter, will give the elevators full up, down, or zero signal when the missile is below, above, or at 10,000 feet, respectively.

Fig. 14. A missile with a simple on-ofF altitude-seeking control never levels out. Note the positions of the elevator.

As shown in Fig. 14, this system will cause the missile to overshoot the proper altitude and continually oscillate, perhaps with increasing amplitude, until control is lost entirely. T h e timing of the "on-off" system could be advanced to anticipate the correct position of the missile, which would then remain in the vicinity of 10,000 feet; but it would still be in continual oscillation. The power requirement for operating the elevators would be high, for a full signal u p or down is continuously transmitted; and because of oscillation the exact position of the missile would never be known.

Fig. 15.

Even if the elevator position is made proportional to the altitude error, the missile continues to oscillate about the desired altitude.

63

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To decrease the power requirement we could make the elevator signal proportional to the altitude error. But this also might cause excessive oscillation. The missile could not settle down and might be divergent as well (Fig. 15). Effective damping of oscillations of the missile around 10,000 feet must be introduced somehow. One solution is to add a device that detects how fast the altitude error is changing. If the elevator position is made proportional to the altitude error plus the rate of change of the error, so t h a t corrective reverse elevator position is taken in time to d a m p out oscillations, the missile will be stable. The flight path from the initial altitude error will be as shown in Fig. 16.

Fig. 16.

If the elevator is controlled by a device that detects how fast the altitude error is changing, the altitude oscillations can be damped out so that the missile will be stable.

A block diagram of the components of the system used in Fig. 16 is shown in Fig. 17. Note that the error signal from the altimeter is sent to two different blocks. T h e o u t p u t voltage of the lower block is proportional to the rate of change of the error, that of the upper block to the error itself. Both signals are amplified, and the sum of the amplifier output is fed into the servo motor operating the elevator. By referring to both Figs. 16 and 17, we can see why this system works. Initially, when the missile is in level flight at too high a n altitude, a steady, unchanging voltage causes a strong down signal from the upper amplifier, but none from the lower 64

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VOLTAGE PROPORTIONAL

Fig. 1 7. A block d i a g r a m of the altitude-control system that produces the flight path shown in Fig. 16.

(rate of change of position is zero). By the time the missile has reached 10,000 feet the error signal is zero, but the rate-ofchange signal is a strong negative (missile diving) signal, and the elevator is in a strong up position. This prevents serious "overshoot" of the missile and stability is accomplished. This demonstrates how a very simple control problem might be solved. Unfortunately, the usual requirements are far more complex and necessitate complicated systems. But the principles involved have been demonstrated here. T h e most revolutionary aspect of these new weapons is that they are actually guided missiles. T h e guidance is at once the most desirable feature of these craft and the most difficult to achieve. T h e demands for high accuracy and exacting control are often met only by accepting almost prohibitive complexity, yet the result is worth the price. But perhaps even the complexity can be lessened in time.

65

Testing huge rocket motors is a major problem. This massive structure was built by the United States Army to test rocket motors. (United States A r m y Ordnance photograph.)

6

FLYING AND

CUSPIDORS STOVEPIPES

The modern rocket motor resembles nothing so much as a nineteenth-century cuspidor. Although elongated a bit, it has the same graceful contours of chamber, narrow neck, and flared opening. Actually, an experienced fiftieth-century archaeologist digging in the ruins of our age should have no difficulty in differentiating the two. But who can say that his young assistant will not exclaim, upon unearthing a "primitive" rocket missile, " A h , a flying cuspidor!" Air-breathing ram jets already have the nickname of "flying stovepipes." T h e utter simplicity of a flying tube with a fire in the middle and an opening at each end readily lends itself to such a name. Indeed, just after World War I I some scientists successfully conducted early ramjet experiments with an exhaust pipe removed from an airplane motor. A guided missile is usually thought of as being either ramjet 67

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or rocket propelled, b u t just as there are m a n y ways to guide a missile, also there are m a n y ways to power it. M a n y propulsion systems a r e possible for guided missiles. T h e first truly guided missiles were u n p o w e r e d . L a u n c h e d f r o m aircraft, they dived or glided into surface targets. Being inherently slow a n d having a short range, they are of limited value. G u i d e d missiles could be gun-fired. U n g u i d e d projectiles of m a n y sizes are l a u n c h e d by guns, b u t they have dispersion a n d inability to maneuver as their two m a j o r disadvantages. If artillery shells could be m a d e to c h a n g e course in flight, their perf o r m a n c e could be greatly improved. T h e technical difficulties a p p e a r to be almost i n s u r m o u n t a b l e , b u t the possibility should not be ignored. C a t a p u l t propulsion could be used for l a u n c h i n g only. T h e c a t a p u l t will give the missile initial flying speed. O t h e r means of propulsion will have to take over for sustained flight, but the catapult is important where a short launching r a m p is a requirement, as on shipboard. A n o t h e r practical possibility is the propeller-driven type because of the proved reliability of the system. T h e naval torpedo, a n u n d e r w a t e r guided missile, is propeller driven. T h e first attempts at flying powered remote-controlled missiles after World W a r I were m a d e with propeller-driven pilotless planes. During World War II a n d in the K o r e a n War obsolescent aircraft were loaded with high explosives a n d flown i n t o targets by remote control. T h e advantage of using such conventional power is that it is readily available a n d efficient (at speeds less t h a n t h a t of sound). O n the other hand, the conventional reciprocating engine and propeller combination is complicated, expensive, heavy, a n d too slow to be practical except in rare cases. Of course guided missiles can be a n d usually are jet propelled. T h e t e r m jet propulsion includes both rockets a n d ducted (airbreathing) jets. T h e m a j o r reason for their use is t h a t they can 68

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attain high speed. But they have other advantages, too. T h e jet m o t o r is potentially a m u c h simpler m e c h a n i s m t h a n a reciprocating engine; no w a r m u p period is needed; no propeller torque, drag, or pitch-control problems exist. A jet power plant can withstand extreme weather variations, has light weight a n d a high altitude ceiling (no ceiling for a rocket), a n d can produce a high missile acceleration if designed for that purpose. Not only is there a wide variety of jet power plants, but they are often used in various combinations. Rocket boosters are common for missiles that need high takeoff acceleration but that use ducted jets for sustained power. Propellers a n d turbojets are combined into t u r b o p r o p engines. But jets of one form or another are commonly used for guided missiles. Principle

of Jet

Propulsion

J e t propulsion is not a new or complicated principle. It is the force t h a t causes a toy balloon to fly a b o u t the room when inflated a n d released with the balloon m o u t h open. It is the force that causes the barrel of an artillery piece to move sharply backw a r d (recoil) w h e n the w e a p o n is fired. M o d e r n artillery recoil systems transmit the backward force so smoothly to the base on which the weapon rests that one tends to overlook the magnitude of that force. Yet, if the barrel were disconnected from the recoil system a n d t h e g u n fired, t h e r e a c t i o n w o u l d h u r l t h e barrel m a n y yards to the rear. T h e force created by the b u r n i n g powder acts on both the base of the projectile a n d the breach of the gun. For every action there exists a n equal a n d opposite reaction which tends to oppose the original action. If this disconnected barrel continued to fire one projectile after a n o t h e r in r a p i d succession, as a m a c h i n e gun does, the barrel would continue to recoil, gaining speed with each round. Now we have a jet propulsion system, even if a little ' " r o u g h " in operation. Such a motor was actually patented by an American 69

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in 1893. T h e inventor, S. B. Battey, h a d charges l o a d e d a n d fired in machine-gun fashion, a n d planned to steer his rocket ship by aiming his barrel. Replace the i n t e r m i t t e n t ejection of solid bodies by constant ejection of high-velocity gases, a n d a workable j e t motor is created. T h e reaction previously called recoil is now known as thrust, but it is the same reaction. Thrust is the reactive force (produced by the change of m o m e n t u m of the ejected gases) exerted on the missile to propel it forward. It is usually measured in p o u n d s a n d is the n o r m a l way of defining a jet motor's performance. T h e G e r m a n V - 2 motor, for example, produces a thrust of about 56,000 pounds. It is inevitable that the question will arise, " H o w many horsepower is t h a t ? " T h e two cannot be directly compared unless the missile speed is known, since power is force times speed, whereas thrust is force alone. As a convenient a p p r o x i m a t i o n , 1 pound of thrust equals 1 horsepower at 375 miles per hour. Therefore, at 375 miles per hour the V - 2 is developing about 56,000 horsepower. At its m a x i m u m speed of 3600 miles per hour the V - 2 is developing over a half million horsepower or about the equivalent of 100 large locomotives. Install a V - 2 propulsion system in the caboose of a long transcontinental freight, and the steepest g r a d e would be no obstacle. (Actually, rocket propulsion of a railroad car was extensively experimented with in Germany.) Another question that always comes u p is, how fast can a rocket go a n d w h a t limits it to t h a t speed? W h y did t h e V - 2 rocket have a m a x i m u m velocity of about 5000 feet per second? Naturally air friction in the atmosphere a n d the force of gravity affect a missile close to t h e e a r t h . But to simplify o u r problem let us p u t our missile out in space where neither gravity not air friction is significant. Starting with Newton's basic laws, we can derive the following formula [see G. P. Sutton, Rocket propulsion elements (Wiley, New York, 1949), p. 236]: 70

FLYING

'

CUSPIDORS

\ M

t

- M

p

AND

STOVEPIPES

J

where Vm is the maximum velocity of the missile; Vg is the velocity of the gases exhausting from the rocket motor; In stands for the natural logarithm, the power to which e (approximately 2.718) must be raised to equal the following fraction in parentheses; Mt

is the total weight of the missile at take-off; and

Mp

is the weight of propellant consumed. A p p l y this formula to the V - 2 . T h e exhaust velocity of the V - 2 was about 6000 feet per second. Its total take-off weight was about 14 tons and the weight of propellant consumed was about 9 tons. Substituting in the formula, we find Vm = 6000 In 2.8, or a little more than 6000 feet per second. Therefore the V - 2 could achieve a maximum velocity of about 6000 feet per second if it did not have to fight gravity and air friction. Notice a very significant fact revealed by this formula. In order to get high missile velocity we must either have a high exhaust velocity or a missile whose propellant weight is a high percentage of the total missile weight. Another question frequently raised which this formula answers is, why not use atomic power in rockets? T h e requirement that as much of the total take-off weight as possible be exhausted at the highest possible velocity still sets the limit. Until engineers find ways of making rocket chambers withstand the higher temperatures of higher exhaust velocities it will be most difficult to improve on the remarkable efficiency of present rocket fuels. In the field of jet propulsion, thrust is a far more convenient and simple measure of performance than horsepower and is used exclusively. Note again that thrust is the reaction to the exhausting of gases from the jet motor. T h e gases do not "push" against the air to obtain thrust. Thus, a rocket can operate with a complete absence of air; indeed, it is most efficient then. 71

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Guided-missile jet-power plants can be divided into two basic types: ducted (air-breathing) propulsion systems and rockets. Consider the first type and its applications. Missiles powered by ducted jet engines carry only fuel and use atmospheric oxygen for burning. In general they have less range and fuel economy than propeller-driven craft, but vastly more than rockets. Like the phases of a conventional reciprocating-engine cycle, they have intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust. The three major variations of ducted jets are pulse jets, turbojets, and ram jets. Note the power cycle in each of these. The Pulse

Jet

An intermittent-firing jet, the pulse jet has a cyclic rate of half a dozen to 60 cycles per second. T h e exhaust pulsations resonating in the tailpipe of the engine produce a very loud vibration, which gives use to nicknames such as "stuttering stovepipe" or "buzz bomb." Since the pulse jet has only one moving part, the inlet-valve bank located in the intake diffuser, its primary advantage is its simplicity. T h e valve bank consists of a series of one-way flap valves or shutters, which periodically open and close. To analyze this system, assume for simplicity that only two pairs of flap valves (greatly enlarged) are used instead of a multiple bank of them. Visualize the motor moving through the atmosphere fast enough to ram air into the intake diffuser (Fig. 18). This is the intake phase.

FLAP

VALVES

CLOSED TAILPIPE

II Fig. 1 8 . The essential components of a pulse-jet engine. 72

¿-SPARK

PLUG

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Because of the ramming action, the velocity of the air decreases a n d the pressure builds u p until the valves open. At the same time fuel sprays into the high-pressure, low-velocity air stream (Fig. 19). This is the compression phase. FLAP

Fig. 19. The compression phase of a pulse-jet engine.

VALVES OPEN

«—|ru— FUEL ZZ « C _JI

Next comes combustion. The fuel-air mixture ignites (initially by a spark plug), and the "explosion" that follows sharply raises the pressure and temperature in the combustion chamber. The combustion chamber pressure is now much higher than the diffuser pressure, and the flap valves close (Fig. 20). T-FLAP \

Fig. 20. The ignition phase of the pulse-jet engine.

VALVES BY

CLOSED

PRESSURE

"ll^ •—IR

L,*-

Y

IGNITION

Finally comes the exhaust phase. T h e burning mixture under high pressure violently rushes out the open tailpipe, creating the reactive thrust force that propels the missile forward (Fig. 21).

Fig. 21. The exhaust phase of the pulse-jet engine.

1 > ^ GASES~J^ZJST ¡ ^ "jr— .*~

Now that the first cycle is completed, let us take another look at the intake phase to see how the cyclic rate is perpetuated. The inertia of the exhausting gases is so great that they continue to move down the tailpipe until the air pressure in the combus73

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tion c h a m b e r is lower t h a n not only the diffuser pressure but the outside atmospheric pressure as well (Fig. 22). The flap valves

HIGH PRESSURE OPENS VALVES

-^jjj^ —

G

A

STILL S

E

"BURN/NG S

Fig. 22. The intake phase on the second cycle of the pulse-jet engine.

will therefore automatically reopen and admit the fresh air, which is again sprayed with fuel. Also, some of the burning gases do not leave the tailpipe, but are sucked back into the combustion chamber. These hot gases and the heated walls of the engine ignite the fresh charge, and the spark is no longer needed. Note that the motion of air into the intake duct is necessary; hence, to get the missile into motion, the launching crew usually employs a rocket booster or catapult. Once ignited, a pulse jet will produce thrust while stationary, but not enough for rapid takeoff. Being a light, simple mechanism using a cheap kerosene fuel, the pulse jet is ideally suited, from the point of view of economy, to guided-missile application. However, the compression is not good enough for efficient operation, a n d models thus far developed are relatively slow (maximum speed, 450 miles per hour) and have too low an altitude ceiling (10,000 feet). The German V - l missile was the first a n d most famous pulse jet. Pulse-jet engines are now used for guided-missile training, for target drones, and for experimental helicopters. They will have combatmissile application in the future only if their speed can be radically increased.

The

Turbojet

T h e next step in the direction of higher power a n d speed is the turbojet. It overcomes a major disadvantage of the pulse jet in that it provides an internal mechanical means of obtaining 74

FLYING

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high compression instead of d e p e n d i n g u p o n r a p i d forward motion in the atmosphere to get good intake a n d compression. T h u s , a m u c h wider range of speeds is possible. T h e schematic d i a g r a m of Fig. 23 shows how the turbojet works. Air is pulled FUEL-,,

rCOMBUSTION

CANS

EXHAUST DIFFUSi QOMPRt COMSiJ^

« ivi v

w i i n m u ^ n

-TAfLPIPE -AFTERBURNER -TURBINE

Fig. 23. The components of a turbojet engine.

into t h e ring-shaped intake d u c t a r o u n d t h e rotor of t h e compressor (intake). T h e first b a n k of r o t a t i n g compressor blades catches the air a n d forces it into the next bank, a n d so on with ever-increasing velocity a n d pressure until it is exhausted into the combustion c h a m b e r (compression). As the compressed air leaves the compressor at several times atmospheric pressure, it enters a combustion c h a m b e r of constantly increasing crosssectional area. Within the combustion c h a m b e r are perforated pipes, which consume about one-fifth of the total air mass. Fuel sprays into the air within the pipes a n d ignites (combustion). T h e s e pipes are k n o w n as ignition pipes or c o m b u s t i o n cans. H o t b u r n i n g gases rush from the cans, rejoin the u n b u r n e d air, pass t h r o u g h the t u r b i n e blades, a n d exhaust t h r o u g h the tailpipe (exhaust). Note that the various phases of the power cycle occur at different positions in the turbojet simultaneously, whereas the pulse-jet operation is intermittent. T h i s is why the turbojet has a smooth, steady delivery of power. T h e action on the turbine blades produces rotation, which in t u r n drives the compressor. T h e intense heat of combustion would soon destroy the turbine blades if it were not for the fact t h a t the large volume of air t h a t passes a r o u n d the combustion 75

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cans rejoins the combustion products. T h e resulting mixture is cooled to a temperature (about 1500°F or less) that the blades can stand. T h e combustion cans are necessary to get the ideal air-fuel ratio (about 15:1) for efficient high-temperature burning. T h e energy converted into mechanical work in the turbine is just enough to drive the compressor, yet it absorbs a considerable part of the available power. Actually, the combustion cycle can be prolonged and the thrust increased by burning more fuel in the airstream after it leaves the turbine blades, by means of an afterburner. The purpose of this technique is to raise the temperature higher than the turbine blades could have endured. T h e hotter the exhaust the higher its exit velocity, and the more powerful the engine. With an afterburning turbojet engine, missiles will be able to attain supersonic speed. T h e schematic diagram of the turbojet shows an axial-flow compressor. A centrifugal compressor has also been developed that has some advantages, but the small frontal area and excellent performance of the axial type make it the most desirable for guided missiles. An outstanding advantage of the turbojet is that since it mechanically provides its own compression it can be operated at a standstill. However, a large portion of the available energy is used by the compressor when the craft is stationary or moving slowly and little is left to produce thrust. Because of low power at low speeds, long runways are necessary for turbojet aircraft. As a missile (or plane) gains speed, the increased ram effect of the air into the diffuser eases the burden of the compressor and more energy is available for thrust. T h e turbojet has these other advantages: it uses fuel more economically than any other jet engine; it has reached a high state of development; it is reliable; and it is available for use. It is, however, a relatively expensive and complicated power plant 76

FLYING

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which is designed for long duration. Therefore, to use a turbojet on a craft that will fly only once, and perhaps only for a few minutes before it destroys itself, tends to be wasteful.

The Ram

Jet

T h e ultimate in ducted-jet engines for guided missiles is the ram jet, because it is capable of supersonic speeds, and yet it is potentially a simple and inexpensive engine. This is the "flying stovepipe." It was previously noted that the ram effect of the air in the turbojet relieved the compressor of a lot of its work at high speed. If the speed can be increased sufficiently, the compressor, and therefore the turbine, can be removed entirely, because the ramming effect alone is enough to provide the needed compression. T h e result is a lightweight engine with no moving parts whatever. This is the w a y the ram jet works: Assume once again that the missile (Fig. 24) is moving rapidly to the left. Intake is

DIFFUSE

COMBUSTION CHAMBER Fig. 24. The components of a ram-jet engine. accomplished by the flow of air into the duct. Because of the large cone-shaped "island" located in the nose, air flow is momentarily restricted and slows down considerably.Actually, as the air flows around the nose toward the inlet, it passes through a series of shock waves, which raises the pressure and lowers the speed. As the air moves through the expanding diffuser section its pressure is increased and its speed decreased still more until it reaches the combustion chamber, where fuel is added and ignited. T h e expanded combustion gases rush out of the exhaust 77

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nozzle with vastly increased m o m e n t u m (mass times velocity) compared to the momentum they had upon entering the motor. T h e resultant thrust forces the missile forward at high speed, well u p into the supersonic region. Two points deserve special mention. First, the question why the burning gases do not move forward out of the open nose of the missile as well as out of the exhaust needs to be answered. Principally it is because the ram-created high-pressure region forward in the diflFuser section offers much higher resistance to motion in that direction than the open exhaust at merely atmospheric pressure. Also, the gases still have considerable speed rearward a n d their inertia makes them tend to continue to the rear. The net effect, therefore, is to expel all gases rearward. T h e other point to be mentioned is related to the air velocity during combustion. Despite the slowing-down process, the air is still moving so fast t h a t it blows out a n y flame placed in it unless some means is available to hold the flame there. Therefore, r a m jets have a flame holder, usually a perforated metal plate, just after the fuel injectors. It provides a n u m b e r of small local regions where the air velocity is so low t h a t blowouts will not occur. T h e flame is initially ignited electrically, and the flameholder maintains a continuous flame throughout the combustion chamber. Summing up, the value of the ram jet lies in its simplicity and light weight combined with enormous power output at high speed. A ram jet with thrust and velocity equivalent to a 2000horsepower engine need weigh no more t h a n 60 pounds. This means 0.03 pound per horsepower for a missile capable of supersonic speed. Its high altitude ceiling, perhaps eventually up to 70,000 or 80,000 feet, is another important advantage. But for all its powerful thrust at high speed, it has none at a standstill. A booster or catapult must get a r a m jet missile u p to some minimum speed before it will work at all. It is not par78

FLYING

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ticularly efficient until near sonic velocity. Also, a designer creates a r a m j e t for a particular speed a n d altitude combination, a n d it is not m u c h good at any other. Hence, a r a m j e t is relatively inflexible in its use, once designed.

Rockets A rocket is a jet engine that, instead of using atmospheric oxygen for combustion, carries its own oxygen along. This makes the rocket-powered missile completely independent of the medium in w h i c h it operates. It is t h e only k n o w n power plant that is able to operate in space beyond the atmosphere. I n the case of the rocket the compression phase of the power cycle is accomplished when the propellant is formed. I n t a k e is the placing of the propellant in the combustion c h a m b e r a n d may be done before or d u r i n g flight. C o m b u s t i o n a n d e x h a u s t follow as in air-breathing jets. Rockets are classified according to the type of propellant (fuel a n d oxidizer) used and according to their application. There are two common types of propellant: liquid a n d solid. Less common a n d thus far of little practical value are gaseous propellants a n d combinations of the three.

Solid-Propellant

Rockets

A solid rocket p r o p e l l a n t is a s l o w - b u r n i n g explosive (cont a i n i n g oxygen for complete c o m b u s t i o n ) f o r m e d into a single large grain a n d placed within the combustion c h a m b e r . W h e n the propellant is ignited, it burns evenly on all exposed surfaces, t h e l i n e a r r a t e of b u r n i n g p e r p e n d i c u l a r to t h e surface being dependent primarily upon the chemical content and the chamber pressure. T h e more propellant surface exposed, the more combustion gases are produced, the higher the pressure a n d thrust, a n d t h e higher the rate of burning. If high thrust a n d short b u r n i n g duration are desired of a given 79

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propellant, as much burning surface should be exposed as possible. A rocket motor with such a propellant is known as an unrestricted-burning motor, and is schematically shown in Fig. 25.

Fig. 25. An

unrestricted-burning

rocket motor that uses a solid propellant.

«

BURNING SURFACES

Usually the charge is so shaped that, as combustion progresses, the area of the burning surface remains constant. The chamber pressure a n d thrust are therefore a p p r o x i m a t e l y constant. In Fig. 26 the ever-decreasing outer surface area is compensated for by the increasing inner surface area of the hollow charge. Constant thrust means not only steady a n d predictable performance, but reliable a n d safe operation as well. Radical increases in chamber pressure may cause detonation and destruction of the entire motor. Radical pressure decreases may cause the flame to go out, for most solid propellants will not burn below a specific pressure. T h e thrust of unrestricted propellants may be very high but the burning time is usually short. If a longer burning time is needed, a large solid charge is fitted tightly into the combustion c h a m b e r so t h a t only the end will Fig. 26. A rocket motor in which the solid propellant burns only at the end closest to the exhaust nozzle.

lp

END BURNING

be exposed to the flame (Fig. 26). When ignited, the charge will b u r n cigarette-fashion, beginning at the end closest to the exhaust nozzle. In contrast to the former, restricted-burning propellants usually have lower thrust and longer burning time. 80

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T h e outstanding advantage of using solid-propellant rocket motors on guided missiles is simplicity. Missiles with such a propellant system are easily launched. The short-duration, highthrust characteristics make such rocket motors ideal for boosters and for short-range guided missiles. On the other hand, solid-propellant motors have some drawbacks that severely restrict their use. T h e necessary weight and size of the motor, in order to contain all of the propellant to be burned, are generally large. Solid rocket propellants do not have a long burning time. Very slow-burning grains do not have good performance characteristics even when long duration is possible. Overheating of the combustion chamber is a knotty problem, because a good cooling system is not easily adaptable to a solidpropellant motor. Also, the burning time and thrust cannot be easily varied. Once ignited, the propellant burns at full thrust until all fuel is exhausted. To control either of these variables is difficult. Other technical problems are created by the gradual consumption of the propellant. T h e volume of the combustion chamber steadily increases. This tends to change the pressure and temperature, which in turn alters the thrust. Proper design shape of the propellant grain can partially compensate for this, but to get a constant thrust for a considerable period of time is not easy. Also, aerodynamic problems arise, because the missile rapidly becomes much lighter, causing changes in wing loading, the location of the center of gravity, and other factors. If solid-propellant missiles are fired in extremely hot or cold weather, their performance may be radically affected, too. In spite of all these problems, the military user instinctively prefers the solid propellant because of its simplicity in field use.

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Rockets

During the centuries when only solid propellants were available, no satisfactory means could be f o u n d to give both high thrust and long duration. The answer was finally discovered in propellants that are fed in liquid form into the motor from storage tanks within the missile (Fig. 27). A typical liquid-propellant

Fig. 27. The components of a liquid-rocket motor.

system would consist of a fuel t a n k (containing, for example, alcohol), an oxidizer tank (containing liquid oxygen), the motor, and a means to force the liquids into the motor. The propellants are sprayed into the combustion c h a m b e r , where, upon being thoroughly mixed, they are burned. The hot, high-pressure gases formed are violently expelled through the nozzle, producing the thrust. Since the burning creates pressure within the motor, the fuel a n d oxidizer in the storage tanks must be u n d e r even greater pressure or else the propellants would not flow into the motor. Therefore, the missile carries along a pressure tank, as shown in Fig. 27, filled with a high-pressure gas (air or nitrogen, for example), which will force the propellants into the combustion chamber. For larger missiles with long burning time (about V2 minute a n d up), this type of feed system is excessively heavy because of the necessarily large size and weight of the pressure tank. Turbine-driven p u m p s are often used instead to force the fuel 82

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into the motor. The turbine is usually run by chemically generated steam. With the heat developed, the motor would soon melt if there were no cooling. T h e most common solution to this problem is regenerative cooling. With this system either the fuel or the oxidizer is pumped through a jacket around the motor to act as a coolant before being fed into the combustion chamber. The liquid-propellant rocket motor can have a longer burning time than the solid, and its thrust and duration are controllable. T h e heat problem is more easily solved by regenerative cooling and other methods. The liquid-fuel motor gives high performance with low weight. The V - 2 , for example, at its maximum velocity develops 16 horsepower per pound of weight of the missile. Weighed against these advantages is the complexity of the liquid-propellant rocket missile. Manufacture is expensive; preparation in the field is involved and time consuming. Storage and handling of fuel and oxidizers is complicated because many are dangerous or toxic or must be kept at extremely low temperature (liquid oxygen at minus 200° F). All rockets have a high rate of propellant consumption. The V - 2 burned 9 tons of alcohol and oxygen in 60 seconds. Such high propellant consumption makes the rocket unsuited for longrange level flight. However, it is the only propulsion system that is potentially capable of carrying a missile away from the earth, never to return. There is almost no limit to the size, thrust, or speed of a rocket-propelled missile. It is the newest, most modern and dramatic means of propulsion known; yet it is the oldest, dating back to Chinese antiquity.

Jet-Motor

Nozzles

Perhaps one has noticed that usually the exhaust portion of a jet motor contains a narrow section which is followed by an expanding section to the end of the motor. This apparent restric83

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tion to flow is known as an exhaust nozzle, a n d under certain conditions it vastly improves the effectiveness of the motor. Ordinarily when a fluid moving down a pipe comes to a narrow section, it speeds up, a n d then slows down again when the restriction is past. In the case of a jet motor, if the chamber pressure is sufficiently high, the speed of the combustion gases in the narrowest portion, the throat, will become equal to the speed of sound; but beyond the throat it will tend to further increase in velocity until, when exhausted into space, it may be several times sonic speed. Without attempting to make a technical analysis of the reason for this, we can see that this phenomenon is highly desirable, because the higher the exhaust velocity, the greater the thrust. An equally interesting fact is t h a t as t h e gases move in the diverging section from the t h r o a t to the exhaust the pressure decreases. If the exhaust is designed so that the exit pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure about the missile, the motor is more efficient than if any pressure difference exists. Obviously, if a rocket must travel from sea level to extreme altitudes, some compromise amount of expansion must be used. Also, a rocket motor is most efficient when the flight speed equals the exhaust velocity. From these few facts it can be seen that the shape of the exhaust nozzle of a jet engine is critical a n d must be carefully designed. Modern guided missiles are almost exclusively powered with jet propulsion systems. These systems, whether of the "cuspidor" or "stovepipe" variety, have n u m e r o u s advantages a n d disadvantages, as previously mentioned, but their big selling point is their speed potential. T h e rocket has the additional capability, of course, of being able to operate in space. One will see jet propulsion with increasing frequency not only in guided missiles and other weapons of war but in peacetime applications as well. 84

A N a v y Viking rocket just before launching. The oxygen vapor escaping f r o m the vents indicates all tanks are full a n d the missile is r e a d y for take-off. This missile reached an altitude of 1 0 7 miles. Another Viking fired later exceeded 135 miles.

A boost for air offense. The Navy Bat, a World W a r II automatic targetseeking A S M . (Official U. S. Navy photograph.)

7

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WITH MISSILES

In these chapters discussing the combat employment of guided missiles, the three divisions of warfare (air, sea, a n d land) are purely arbitrary. T h e subject might just as well have been organized on some other basis. T h e three types of warfare are discussed objectively and without regard to the present organizational structure of the A r m e d Forces of the U n i t e d States. To what service S A M units employed in air defense, or SSM units supporting a l a n d - c o m b a t operation, should belong is irrelevant here. In both air defense and land operations singleness of comm a n d is imperative. But this book is a study of weapons, not organization. Actually, it is difficult to separate the three types of warfare at all, because they are mutually interdependent. Therefore, one will find not only a nation's air force but its army and navy as well very much involved in some aspects of air warfare. This is necessary and is the reason why a single national military 87

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establishment must have over-all control of the armed forces. Guided missiles will have a decided influence on air warfare; but the influence will be a tactical one mostly, for guided missiles will not change the strategic objectives of air power. The mission of an air force is to destroy or neutralize the ability and will of an opposing power to threaten the nation it defends. This is accomplished by the air attack of the a r m e d forces of the enemy, his communications and sources of supply, and strategic and tactical objectives within the enemy's national structure. Guided missiles will not change this mission, b u t they will radically affect the m a n n e r in which it is carried out. T h e biggest step thus far in the evolution of air strategy came with the postwar development of intercontinental bombers. T h e strategic objective of air warfare includes the attack of an enemy nation's vital targets to disrupt its military production and communication system and to weaken the will of that nation to continue hostilities. This is the primary mission of a strategic air force. How will guided missiles affect that mission? Offensive

Air

Operations

M o d e r n long-range air weapons utilize direct routes to the enemy and his resources. The ability of bombers and long-range missiles to fly directly to enemy targets forces greater emphasis on air action. If another great war were to erupt, it is entirely possible that air weapons would deliver devastating attacks from one continent to another. By what means will long-range attacks be launched? Consider first the piloted bomber. T h e aircraft operating radius needed depends u p o n the relative location of the belligerents. The operational radius for United States bombers that is needed to reach most potential targets in Europe or Asia (using bases in Alaska, Greenland, and Newfoundland) is about 4000 miles. If operations are to be launched from bases within the United States proper, the minimum radius is about 5000 miles. 88

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Obviously, strategic bombers should have the range necessary for the task, the ability to accomplish the attack mission after reaching the target area, and the means to protect themselves from attack while en route. To obtain the ultimate in these characteristics, the basic problem is one of properly combining speed, range, armament, and payload. I m p r o v e m e n t of one of these four factors tends to be at the expense of the other three. But modern bombers are gradually improving in all respects. Consider, for example, the jet bomber, the B-47. 1 This weapon represents the first step toward supersonic intercontinental bombardment. Aerodynamically, it is an extremely clean aircraft with long, tapered fuselage and swept-back wings. This cleanness of design, plus its six powerful turbojet engines, accounts for its ability to cross the United States in 4 to 6 hours, at an average speed of over 600 miles per hour. T h e r e is so much automatic electronic equipment (18 miles of wiring) in the plane that it is about half guided missile itself. It is a good example of the gradual evolution in aircraft of substituting electronic and mechanical components for crew members. Interesting features of the bomber are the auxiliary means e m p l o y e d in take-off and landing. T h e 35° swept-back wing plus the inherent low power of turbojets at low speed necessitates a very long runway unless the pilot uses J A T O rockets to boost the plane into the air. Also, upon landing, a parachute is ejected from the tail to help the smooth, low-drag aircraft slow down. T h e B-47 is not an intercontinental bomber, but will fly from advanced bases. As bomber range and speed are increased, overseas bases of operation will be pulled back until they are behind the nation's boundaries, marking the day of an intercontinental supersonic air striking force. T h e 8-jet B-52, recently made public, will outperform the B-47 in almost every respect. Yet, with all the speed and range of such bombers of the near 89

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future, they are worthless if their payload cannot hit the intended targets. Even when the bombardier uses atomic weapons, accuracy is important. It is a fallacious theory that a weapon which has effect over a certain large area can be dropped anywhere within that area. Certainly the most outstanding limitation of the conventional unguided aircraft bomb is its lack of accuracy when dropped from high altitude. Good accuracy can be achieved only by close-in attacks without prohibitive losses. What is the solution? The air-to-surface missile. The military value of a bomber will be increased many times if it can release its payload a great distance from the target without sacrificing accuracy. The A S M capable of meeting this need will permit far fewer flights and far less tonnage of bombs dropped to accomplish a particular mission.

Air-To-Surfaee

Missiles

All A S M ' s can be divided into three basic types. The first is the controlled bomb whose ballistic trajectory can be varied somewhat for greater accuracy by remote control or by a targetseeking device. Its accuracy advantage in a sense gives the missile a greater range, since the plane can bomb from higher altitudes and at greater speeds than with an unguided bomb. The degree of improvement depends upon the type of guidance being used, but the opportunity for improvement is unquestioned. Even if the trajectory data of a conventional bomb were completely known and a perfect bombsight could be used, atmospheric disturbances would make consistently accurate bombing almost impossible. The Army Air Corps gave an indication of the improvement possible during World War II. Using the Azon (azimuth control only), a standard 1000-pound bomb with a new tail containing a flare, a radio receiver, and guidance equipment, the bombardier kept the missile on a line with the target by observing the 90

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flare and remotely steering the missile right or left by radio signals. It was a relatively crude arrangement by today's standards, yet in one series of tests 16 Azons averaged an azimuth error of 42 feet, whereas the average error of 8 uncontrolled bombs dropped simultaneously with the Azons was 1215 feet. 2 In combat against the Japanese forces in Burma the Azon was spectacularly successful. Of the first 116 controlled Azons dropped in Burma on narrow, single-track railway bridges, and in the face of considerable antiaircraft fire, 35 were direct hits, and 15 bridges were destroyed. The Razon (range and azimuth control) and the Tarzon (12,000-pound bomb) are outgrowths of the Azon and, as a n n o u n c e d by the Air Force, were employed in Korea. 3 T h e second type of ASM is the glide bomb. By the use of wings on the bomb one can increase its range, resulting in less exposure of the launching plans to antiaircraft fire. T h e United States N a v y Bat is an example. 4 C a r r y i n g a heavy general-purpose bomb, the Bat is 12 feet long and has a 10-foot wing span. Also a World War II project, the Bat employed radar to "home" on the target. The radar transmitter and receiver combination within the missile was "locked o n " the target before the launch. When the missile was released it automatically steered toward the target. Obviously useful against targets with good radar reflectivity, it has particular value against surface shipping. The Bat is now considered obsolescent, but it is indicative of the weapons that are to come. T h e third and ultimate in ASM's is the powered missile. The weapon has its own propulsion system and can fly a considerable distance after being launched. An outstanding World War II exa m p l e of this type was the air-launched G e r m a n V - l missile. More than 150 miles from London, the target, German bombers dropped the V - l , which then carried its 2000-pound warhead under its own power. 91

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ASM's are most effective against ships, bridges, structures, and other targets easily distinguished from their backgrounds, because the use of automatic target-seeking devices is permitted. They will be particularly valuable against well-defended targets, since their increased accuracy and range permit launching outside of antiaircraft-artillery range. Some potential disadvantages of using ASM's are their complexity and extra space requirements, but against certain targets these are far outweighed by the advantages. An aerial striking arm equipped with fast long-range jet bombers and armed with ASM's is one of the most powerful military forces in existence and must have a high priority in a nation's military development. But if the potential enemy is capable of producing the same weapon, what defense is there against such a force? The Air-Defense

Problem

T h e margin of safety once provided by time and distance is constantly being reduced. T h e enemy is only hours away, regardless of his location on earth and we must have a defense against his attack. There are two fundamental approaches to air defense, equally important and necessary. One is to protect critical areas with an efficient air-defense system, and the other is to build an offensive air arm capable of attacking enemy air power at its source. Neither of these methods can be neglected. T h e concept has been advanced that there is no adequate solution to the air-defense problem a n d that the only certain way for a nation to stop strategic bombardment is to engage in strategic b o m b a r d m e n t . 5 This school of thought includes the premise that, if two warring nations have strategic air forces, the first target for each is the other's ability to employ those forces. Once the victor of that conflict is decided, a writer states, destruction by strategic bombardment can be controlled, and the total 92

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destruction caused by the war may even be lessened. 6 General Vandenberg, former United States Air Force Chief of Staff, once observed, " T h e whole proof of defense against an enemy power is attrition and destruction on the other end." 7 T h e strategic capability contributes greatly to air defense, but it is not in itself sufficient. It is certainly true that a totally defensive attitude is fatal in warfare, but air defense should not be discarded as useless. O n the contrary, the defense is just beginning to show its hand in the guided missile. Air Defense

and Guided

Missiles

Any air-defense system devised suffers from inherent handicaps. The most important disadvantage of the defense is that the attacker has the initiative. T h e offense has the choice of time, place, and means of attack. T h e defense can act only when the aggressor has indicated his intentions. It follows, then, that the greatest single problem in air defense is to determine the attacker's intentions at the earliest possible moment. But there are technical difficulties in the solution of this problem. For example, radar has the shortcomings of inability to distinguish friend from foe, of susceptibility to interference, and of inability to cope with the curvature of the earth, since radar energy travels in a straight line. Other means are necessary for indentification. It may even be necessary to control rigidly all friendly civilian and military air traffic. T h e n when an unidentified plane appears where it is not supposed to be, it is shot down. This is severe treatment for a friendly erring pilot, but there may be no alternative. To preclude an enemy's low-altitude u n d e t e c t e d a p p r o a c h , supplementary observation by a trained ground observer corps over thousands of square miles of territory must be organized. Since to use military personnel for this observation duty would be prohibitively costly in manpower, the most practical solution is to utilize citizens already living in the area where observation is 93

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needed. Watching for hostile aircraft throughout the hours, weeks, a n d months is an almost thankless task, but it is as vital as any other element of air defense. Despite the complexity of the problem, air defense does have some points in its favor. With an efficient early-warning system, it can detect approaching aircraft in time to counter their attack. Although bombers have an almost infinite n u m b e r of routes of approach to a high-priority target, they must approach it ultimately and expose themselves to attack. This attack will not be merely a token effort by the defenders, for modern air-defense weapons are rapidly approaching a high level of effectiveness. Although strategically on the defensive, guns, missiles, and interceptor aircraft are tactically on the offensive and may well inflict staggering losses on a bomber force. An adequate air-defense weapons system should consist of longrange interceptor aircraft, short-range, extremely high-performance interceptors, a n d surface-to-air missiles. Consider each of these in turn. Interceptors

and Air-To-Air

Missiles

The long-range interceptor should be a fast, all-weather fighter with sufficient range to meet the enemy far from the target area. The long range also permits interceptors at widely scattered bases to be mutually supporting. The interceptor should be armed exclusively with guided or unguided rockets and be semiautomatic in operation. But why the rockets? It was stated in Chapter 2 that as bombers a n d fighters approach a n d exceed sonic velocity aerial c o m b a t with conventional guns becomes almost impossible. If both planes are flying 600 miles per hour toward each other, their relative velocity is 1200 miles per hour. This means that, if the pilot were so fortunate as even to see his adversary a mile away, 3 seconds later he would have passed him. H e would be within gun range less 94

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than 1 second. A right-angle approach is equally futile because the target is in the line of fire only an instant. To turn into the bomber in a pursuit curve is no good either until the fighter is actually on the tail of the bomber, because at high speed the radius of turn is so great that the bomber is never within range. Of course, once the interceptor is on bomber's tail, gunnery will be effective if the fighter is close enough a n d the target can be seen; but that is also the time when the fighter is most vulnerable to the tail guns of the bomber. Thus the fighter carries free rocket missiles to fire a large volume of highly lethal projectiles in the shortest possible time. An example of an air-to-air rocket (unguided) in the United States Navy "Mighty Mouse," developed for high-speed interceptors. With an explosive charge greater than that of an antiaircraft artillery shell, it represents a significant advance in air defense. 8 But even with rocket fire power the high-speed interceptor flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet or more not only has an extremely short time of interception with an enemy bomber but doubtless will have no opportunity to make more t h a n one or two passes. M o d e r n aircraft also are more rugged t h a n their predecessors and must receive direct or near hits to be brought down. Ultimately the air-to-air guided missile will be the only lasting answer for piloted interceptors. Once launched, the robot projectile streaks forward at several times the speed of sound, automatically flying an interception course. Fighters are not necessarily the only aircraft that will use AAM's. Bombers also may be armed with these new weapons, increasing their ability to fight their way through interceptors to distant targets. But the A A M is of more a d v a n t a g e to the fighter than to the bomber. Not having the heavy fuel and bomb load t h a t the b o m b e r does, the fighter can devote nearly all available space to missiles a n d electronic e q u i p m e n t to guide them; but the bomber must sacrifice b o m b load or range to carry 95

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an appreciable number of AAM's. Of course, it is entirely possible that in a bomber fleet some planes could be equipped mostly with missiles, having as their primary mission the protection of the bombers. What shall we call them, antiaircraft aircraft? And what n a m e shall we give the aircraft designed to attack them? O n e should beware of false optimism over the AAM. Its development is beset by many difficulties. T h e pilot must still find a n d close on the target before attack can be made. Even with g r o u n d - r a d a r control this is sometimes difficult. T h e size and weight of the A A M limits the n u m b e r of missiles that can be carried. The requirement for smaller size necessitates miniaturization of all components without loss of performance or reliability. To launch a missile laterally or rearward is desirable, but it will always tend to turn into the airstream. It is such problems as these that the theorist often overlooks. T h e short-range interceptor, also using missiles, will be the next defensive weapon the bomber must meet if it survives the first attack. An extremely high-performance supersonic aircraft with a high rate of climb, it may operate on rocket power only. Such a short-range fighter has been suggested to be particularly useful in defense of valuable extended area targets such as the metropolitan Connecticut, N e w York, a n d New Jersey area. 9 Ultimately this piloted weapon will be replaced by the surfaceto-air missile. Surface-To-Air

Missiles

Has the balance of power in air warfare begun to swing to the defense? According to a British motion-picture film, which has been released to the general public, this change in favor of air defense began with a single dramatic incident in 1950. The movie depicted a fanatically aggressive nation attacking its neighbor, a relatively defenseless a n d peace-loving people, and accompanying its assault with a bombing raid on the defender's major city. 96

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As the bombs began to drop, the most spectacular event in the history of air warfare occurred. Just outside the city a group of military officials, civilian engineers, and technicians waited tensely at the launching ramp of a new antiaircraft weapon. T h e inventor of the ingenious device, and, remarkably enough, his fiancée as well, stood confidently at a safe distance. With a sudden short-lived roar, the rocket booster vented its fury upon the ground beneath, transmitted its powerful thrust to the missile sitting upon its nose, and hurled it into the air. T h e missile's own motor took over and thrust the sleek aerial torpedo toward the enemy air fleet. Unerringly, it steered itself into the nearest craft, exploded violently, and brought the attacker down engulfed in flames. T h e title of this very up-to-date British film is " T h e Love Affair of the Inventor of the Aerial Torpedo," a Stone Film Release, first shown to the British public in 1909. T h e fiancée provided the conventional love interest to the silent flicker. T h e most remarkable aspect of this movie is that, in using the year 1950, it missed by only one year predicting the time of the first successful S A M firing.10 In choosing the guided missile as the hero's answer to air attack, it hit the nail on the head. A n air-defense system will include not only interceptors but also surface-to-air missiles. T h e most certain method of destroying an enemy bomber is to fire at it a missile that not only has great speed, range, and lethality but also the ability to change its course, thus overcoming any feint or evasive action of the target bomber. This weapon is the surface-to-air missile. S A M ' s will be propelled by either rocket motors or ram jets. In general, rocket propulsion systems are preferable for shorterrange missiles, and ram jets are more practical at long range. Compared with a conventional antiaircraft gun, the S A M will be characterized by a large warhead, greatly increased range, and a high probability of destroying the target with a single round. 97

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This does not necessarily mean that conventional antiaircraft artillery will soon become o u t m o d e d . Targets within effective gun range will probably always be attacked best by guns, but it is true that maximum effective gun range is an ever-decreasing distance. For effective air defense, guided missiles and interceptor aircraft must be coordinated into a single air-defense system. Each of the two weapons has distinct limitations that the other overcomes. O n e can easily visualize the intricate early-warning and target-identification system t h a t will be necessary in this integrated air defense. It must have great detection range, and it must be almost completely automatic in operation.

Intercontinental

Guided

Missiles

T h e so-called " u l t i m a t e " weapon in air warfare is the longrange surface-to-surface missile capable of spanning the oceans a n d directly attacking a nation's heartland. W h a t are the characteristics of such missiles and how will they actually fit into air warfare? Guided missiles with sufficient range to attack targets on other continents will be either rockets or air-breathing jets. Consider first the rocket. To attain extreme range the rocket missile will initially climb steeply into space. It will consume all of its fuel and oxidizer at the rate of tons per minute simply to get above the atmosphere. Following a great-circle arc, it will glide powerless several hundred miles high before starting its descent. Once free of the drag of air the range is limited only by the velocity of the missile (4000 to 8000 miles per hour). By the use of multistage rockets, whereby a missile fires a smaller rocket from its nose when its own fuel is exhausted and the smaller launches still another, and so on, the range can be extended indefinitely. 98

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T h e air-breathing jet is quite different. If instead of carrying oxygen, as a rocket does, a jet engine uses the oxygen in the atmosphere, a larger fraction of the missile weight may be devoted to fuel and warhead. The missile velocity can be supersonic, and a range up to several thousand miles may be expected. The best air-breathing power plant for this missile is the ram jet, a potentially simpler and more powerful high-speed jet engine than the commonly used turbojet. To attain its operational altitude (40,000 to 80,000 feet) the atmospheric jet may be boosted by a rocket stage that detaches itself automatically after its fuel is consumed. Which of the two is the more appropriate for intercontinental bombardment? With its ballistic trajectory in space and its flashing speed, several times that of sound, the rocket is less vulnerable to countermeasures. The arguments in favor of the atmospheric jet are primarily logistic. In order to deliver a 1-ton warhead 4000 miles by rocket, the total weight of the weapon at take-off may be 200 tons or more. On the other hand, the ram jet, once boosted to flying speed, need weigh no more than about 20 tons to carry the same 1 ton of explosive 4000 miles. Thus, the jet appears to be the more practical of the two. If this weight difference of the ram jet and the rocket is difficult to believe, compare the German atmospheric jet ( V - l ) and rocket ( V - 2 ) missiles of World War II. T h e Germans delivered a ton of explosive per missile to London, less than 200 miles away from the launching sites, with both types of missile. Even at that "short" range the rocket weighed 14 tons at take-off compared with 2'/a tons total weight for the atmospheric jet. True, the V - l could be shot down rather easily, but its modern counterpart will rip through the upper atmosphere at such speed and altitude that defense against it will be far more difficult than in World War II. W h y turn to the missile in preference to the conventional strategic bomber? Today the piloted bomber is the most prac99

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tical weapon for waging intercontinental warfare. But will it always be? A bomber making a long-range bombing raid must sacrifice b o m b load to carry a crew a n d sufficient fuel to return to its base. The guided missile is a one-way aircraft stripped of all the crew, armament, pressurized cabin, landing gear, and other such "nonessentials." Consider the relative cost of piloted plane and missile. For a given bomb load, accuracy, and range, the guided missile will be much smaller t h a n the plane a n d will cost, in mass production, perhaps one-tenth as much to build and launch. But if the average combat life of a bomber were ten missions, to use it would be no more economical t h a n to fire ten missiles. Therefore, it can be seen, even disregarding the value of human lives, that missiles may become cheaper for the attacker if the air defense inflicts losses on the bombers in excess of 10 percent per raid. Such an attrition rate on the enemy is quite possible, and may even be much higher with S A M battalions added to the defense. This comparison is oversimplified, but the principle is valid. This situation may force the use of long-range guided missiles. But one should investigate further. There is the problem of flying the robot weapon thousands of miles accurately to the target. There are enough obstacles to the accomplishment of this feat to make the old saying, "It is easier to hit the moon than to hit a target on the other side of the earth," true for years to come. Even if complicated guidance control equipment in the missile proves itself in tests, there is no guarantee that any given missile will fly reliably for thousands of miles when employed operationally. Yet it must be assumed that a reasonable degree of accuracy and reliability will eventually be attained. The SSM-Defense

Problem

Consider the problem of an enemy guided-missile "strategist." 100

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Visualize his studying the shortest approaches to the industrial centers of the U n i t e d States f r o m the Eurasian Continent. A cursory examination of a global m a p will reveal that American cities are not easy to reach. Pittsburgh is 3000 nautical miles away from the closest point in Western Europe. The distance from the eastern tip of Siberia to Southern California with its defense industries is more t h a n 2600 miles. To fire SSM's at these ranges might result in great inaccuracy and in an excessive number of failures. Therefore, until highly reliable and accurate 3000-mile missiles are developed, launching bases would have to be established much closer to American cities. Alaska, Spitzbergen, Iceland, a n d Greenland become i m p o r t a n t in this respect. From these closer bases the time of flight could be 2 hours or less, giving the defense a m i n i m u m of time to counter the attack. The shorter range also means greater accuracy and fewer failures in flight. Equally alarming are the possibilities of launching sites at sea. Any potential target on the surface of the earth is within 1700 miles of the sea. Large missile-launching ships a n d submarines are likely to fit into guided-missile warfare. Yet the closer the launcher, the more easily it can be attacked, and the longer and more vulnerable the supply line from the other side of the world. W h a t of the cry of no defense against the strategic guided missile? The situation is not utterly hopeless. First, many of the same passive means of defense t h a t are used against bombers m a y be employed. T h e defense should disperse critical installations, construct b o m b shelters, confuse homing-type missiles with d u m m y targets or electronic j a m m i n g , a n d establish an efficient air-attack warning service. But there are active means of defense, also. Aircraft will search out a n d destroy the attackers' launching sites, communication lines leading to potential l a u n c h i n g areas, a n d guided-missile production plants. If an enemy uses atmospheric-jet missiles 101

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which are launched in spite of these efforts m a n y could still be destroyed in flight. They will be vulnerable to surface-to-air missile fire a n d to supersonic interceptor aircraft. For, despite the high altitude and velocity of the incoming enemy missile, it p r o b a b l y will have little ability to sense d a n g e r a n d take an evasive course when attacked in flight. One cannot be so optimistic, however, as to ignore the rocketpropelled ballistic-trajectory missile. If the attacker can get close enough to fire it profitably, he will do so; for once launched, it is extremely difficult to counter. T h e defensive guided missile must still meet this threat, though its development poses some of the most formidable problems science has ever been asked to solve.

Push Buttons

and

Manpower

There is a tendency on the part of some to minimize the importance of the human element in a future war. One prominent writer has stated that " a u t o m a t i c warfare cancels out the importance of h u m a n qualities except in passive form." 11 Surely some basic facts were not recognized when this premise was made. Perhaps it may become normal procedure some day for a bomber to move out to the runway or launching rail a n d take off without a single person aboard. But the pilot, a highly qualified and trained individual, will still be there. H e merely operates by remote control from the ground or a piloted plane. He may even give the craft the entire course in advance and have no control after launching, but he must be there. All of the crew chiefs, armorers, mechanics, electronics and propulsion technicians will still be there too. Guided missiles will not completely eliminate the necessity for piloted combat aircraft either. No missile can duplicate the ability of the a i r m a n to recognize a rapidly changing battle situation and act accordingly with good j u d g m e n t . T h e future of guided 102

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missiles in air warfare lies in joint employment with other weapons. What, then, will be the effects of guided missiles on air warfare? Most of the combat missions in air warfare will gradually be taken over by guided missiles, though the transition will be more a tactical evolution than a strategic revolution. Guided missiles will not necessarily replace all combat aircraft. They are a step forward in weapon development a n d will be used jointly with piloted aircraft, particularly d u r i n g this period of military transition. Guided missiles will temporarily add more to air defense than to offense. T h e air-to-air missile will be of more value to the interceptor than to the bomber a n d will a d d greatly to the power of air defense. Surface-to-air missiles will sharply curtail conventional strategic bombing. Ultimately, however, long-range, air-to-surface and surface-to-surface missiles will again give the offense the lead. A strategic air force in being, especially including long-range SSM's, will continue to be a valuable element in national military strength. T h e strategic air arm acts as a powerful political and psychological deterrent to enemy attack because of its retaliatory power. Such modern weapons make the individual man more important than ever in air warfare. Without trained, capable personnel the most modern equipment is useless.

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With guided-missile firepower the submarine becomes a powerful offensive weapon. Here the USS Cusk launches a Loon for a test flight. (Official U. S. Navy photograph.)

GUIDED-MISSILE NAVIES

Do automatic target-seeking guided missiles portend the disa p p e a r a n c e of the surface warship? Is c o m m a n d of the sea no longer important because of intercontinental bombers and missiles? These are typical questions raised whenever the future of naval warfare is discussed. But there is no need to spend time here justifying the value of sea power. One cannot say that naval supremacy will soon become unimportant because of some new means of destroying shipping. It is true that the relative importance of sea power changes with the relative location, land mass, economic independence, a n d political aims of the belligerents. It may also be true that the increasing capabilities of long-range air weapons a n d the increasing vulnerability of nations to decisive air attack will tend to decrease the naval role in war. But for at least the next decade, if two warring nations are widely separated by an ocean a n d both occupy large productive land 105

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masses, ultimate victory will come to the one that can maintain naval supremacy. It is interesting, if not amusing, to note that the introduction of the rifled gun, the torpedo, the aerial bomb, and atomic weapons were all accompanied by the prediction that the surface fleet would become obsolete. We see now that all four of these implements of war have been tested against naval vessels. Yet the major powers of the world still have sizable surface fleets and continue to build more and better warships. It has been proposed in the past that "Navies exist chiefly to aid and sustain armies a n d air forces, a n d it is the latter which achieve the final decision. 1 But in the light of modern technology, naval forces need to be reexamined to see if they should not have an additional strategic mission, as well as tactical innovations. Guided missiles will have as great an influence on naval operations as on air operations. Indeed, it is difficult to separate the two. T h e impact of guided missiles on the air war is profound, but it will result principally in changes in tactics. T h e strategic mission of an air force existed for some time before guided missiles entered the scene. But these robot weapons affect the naval arm in a strategic sense, for they substantially increase a navy's strategic capabilities. Navies may radically alter their tactics as well. Admiral Denfield, former U n i t e d States Chief of Naval Operations, called guided missiles " t h e basic naval weapon of the future." 2 Air-launched missiles are as important to a naval air arm as they are to a land-based air force. We discussed the capabilities and employment of AAM's and ASM's in the previous chapter. Their impact on naval strategy must be as carefully considered as that of the ship-launched missiles, covered here is some detail. O n e must consider the guided missile objectively. It is very easy to predict that a new weapon will bring radical changes 106

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in naval warfare. Recall how quickly the popular cry was raised d u r i n g World War II that because of the airplane the battleship was obsolete. This cry was largely ignored by the United States Navy, fortunately for the soldiers a n d marines who were engaged in bitter amphibious warfare. At m a n y opposed landings, battleships h u r l e d tons of high explosives into e n e m y positions with a n effectiveness t h a t at t h a t t i m e could have been achieved in no o t h e r way. Yet one should not i n d u l g e in t h e "intellectual vulgarity," as Samuel Johnson termed it, of prejudiced hindsight criticism of those who were wrong. Perhaps the perfect example of the objectivity we seek was the reported remark of the captain of the British Courageous, when he saw a German torpedo headed straight for his ship, " I say, t h a t was a d a m n e d good shot!" 3

Guided

Missiles

on

Shipboard

H a v i n g guided missiles on shipboard involves not only serious problems of storage space but inevitable compromises with other requirements as well. O n e cannot simply remove a few 16-inch shells or the ice-cream p l a n t a n d substitute " t i n birds." W h a t are some of the more i m p o r t a n t considerations? First, these w e a p o n s must h a v e sufficient space for storage, for assembly a n d testing, a n d for l a u n c h i n g . If the missiles are to be large surface-to-surface missiles similar to the G e r m a n V - l or V - 2 , the space requirement per missile, with wings removed, will v a r y f r o m 250 to 1000 c u b i c feet for storage alone. Even with smaller surface-to-air missiles t h e figure will be high. O b viously, this places a definite limit on the n u m b e r of " r o u n d s " t h a t can be carried. Because some missiles are larger t h a n any shells or torpedoes a n d heavier t h a n some aircraft, naval planners will have to work out new shipboard arrangements a n d handling procedures. A n o t h e r p r o b l e m is t h a t of h a n d l i n g guided-missile fuels on shipboard. M a n y fuels present dangerous fire hazards, a n d some 107

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are toxic to h u m a n beings. T h e design of the missiles themselves is affected by these considerations. Fortunately, some of the most c o m m o n fuels have proved to be satisfactory in some jet-propulsion systems and will be used whenever possible. L a u n c h i n g guided missiles at sea also presents its own special difficulties. C e r t a i n types of l a u n c h e r s must be stable, a n d all types must be able to grip the missile firmly to prevent damage or erratic flight a n d t h e n release it p r o m p t l y at the instant of firing. If the missile requires a booster, the booster impact area must be free of other ships. Visualize the chagrin of the guidedmissile officer who accidentally deposits a large booster shell on the bridge of the Admiral's

flagship!

N a v a l " g u i d e d missileers" must avoid d a m a g i n g their own ship when firing the missile, too. T h e deck directly beneath the launcher must be able to withstand the heat of the jet exhaust. If a misfire or accident occurs, the ship must be capable of absorbing the shock of a missile explosion on the launcher. These are serious problems, b u t not i n s u r m o u n t a b l e ones. M a n y such difficulties are being investigated a n d overcome on the United States Navy guided missile ship, the Norton Sound. This 9000-ton former seaplane tender is a floating laboratory capable of firing rockets weighing u p to 14 tons. 4 T h e r e are a n u m b e r of advantages in the use of guided missiles on ships that the other services cannot share. T h e most obvious is the advantage of strategic mobility of the launching platforms. W h e n a n a v y places on s h i p b o a r d a missile with a 1700-mile range, no potential target on the surface of the earth will be beyond its reach. A n o t h e r a d v a n t a g e is t h a t on s h i p b o a r d crews can m a k e m a x i m u m use of mechanization in assembling, moving, a n d firing the "birds." For mobile land-based units in the field, however, the required weight a n d complexity for such mechanization would often be excessive. Also, m u c h of the preparation of naval 108

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missiles can be accomplished under controlled weather conditions below decks. Shipboard use of missiles in lieu of conventional guns will alter ship design as well. Missiles can carry warheads several times the weight of the gun-fired projectiles they replace; yet they produce no recoil when fired. Their use, therefore, should result in much topside weight saving. It has always been desirable to reduce the displacement of battleships, but until the advent of guided missiles the reduction was always at the expense of armament. But guided missiles may permit the designers to retain or even increase firepower a n d effect drastic weight reduction at the same time. It has been suggested t h a t by using guided missiles a 45,000-ton battleship could be replaced by a 25,000-ton ship without sacrificing either a r m a m e n t or armor protection. Similarly a heavy cruiser could have its main-battery firepower greatly increased; or conversely, the present firepower could be retained and the displacement radically decreased. 5 But it must be remembered that firepower is determined by more than the size of a single warhead alone. It involves also effective range, lethality, rate a n d accuracy of fire, a n d the n u m b e r of rounds available. Smaller ships with less storage space mean less total firepower. Yet experimentation with smaller ships is evidenced by the installation of guided missiles on cruisers by the navies of both the United States and Russia. 6

Guided-Missile

Ships or Guided

Missiles

on Ships?

T h e naval architect must a c c o m p a n y the introduction of a m a j o r shipboard innovation with a decision either to install it as additional gear on existing ships or to develop a specialpurpose vessel for its use. In the case of guided missiles it actually involves two decisions, because considerations affecting surfaceto-air missiles are quite different from those affecting the employment of surface-to-surface missiles. 109

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Consider the ships that will carry a n d launch surface-to-air missiles. O n e school of thought holds that every vessel afloat needs air defense, a n d t h a t therefore every warship t h a t can spare the space and weight for missiles, missile fuels, launchers, and shipboard guidance equipment will carry SAM's. If the developers could make all such components sufficiently small, even a destroyer or submarine might include them. The contrasting view is that there is a need for the SAM ship— a vessel that has as its primary function air defense. One justification for this opinion is that, in order to be able to carry a large n u m b e r of missiles, the SAM ship cannot have aboard a significant amount of any other heavy armament. Also, highly trained guided-missile personnel should be concentrated in a few ships for most efficient use. Those who oppose the idea of the specialized SAM ship strongly object to the total use of cruisers and destroyers in the antiaircraft role. T h e objection is that such ships would be the first targets in an air attack. O n c e these defensive ships were eliminated, enemy aircraft could remain beyond the reach of antiaircraft guns a n d leisurely sink the r e m a i n d e r of the fleet with air-tosurface missiles. The decision is not an easy one. An equally difficult problem is that of deciding which ships should transport surface-to-surface missiles into battle. Because of the large size a n d complexity of these weapons the field is n a r r o w e d down at once by the r e q u i r e m e n t t h a t a large ship with a m p l e space for missiles a n d allied gear must be used if sustained firepower is a requirement. There are, once again, two choices open. Either a n existing battleship, cruiser, or aircraft carrier must be modified into a dual-purpose ship capable of performing both its original mission a n d that of firing SSM's, or the ship must be completely converted, so that it has but one main function: that of firing surface-to-surface missiles. Although there is no specific precedent to follow, guided mis110

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siles being the novelty they are, there are m a n y examples in naval history of attempts of naval architects to design satisfactory combination or general-purpose warships. D u r i n g World War I the British, trying to give the s u b m a r i n e the power of a cruiser, built a submersible hull a r o u n d a 12-inch gun in a turret. T h e French Navy built an even more unusual submarine, the 2880ton Surcouf, which was lost in action in 1942. T h i s r e m a r k a b l e " p i g b o a t " was a c o m b i n a t i o n s u b m a r i n e , aircraft carrier, a n d cruiser. It carried on deck a one-plane h a n g a r , two 8-inch guns, a n d several antiaircraft guns. T h e United States Navy originally h a d two aircraft carriers fitted with 8-inch guns. W h e n battleships first took reconnaissance planes a b o a r d , there was a temporary interest in crowding on a little air fleet, even at the expense of some of t h e ship's a r m a m e n t . O n e military writer predicted that the future capital ship would be a combination aircraft carrier a n d battleship. But none of these innovations have been permanent. T h e only guns on carriers are for air defense. T h e missions of a battleship or cruiser are so different from those of a carrier that a combination of the two is impracticable. O n e now finds a m i n i m u m of planes, perhaps only helicopters, on cruisers and battleships, and t h e latest s u b m a r i n e s have no guns at all. Past experience indicates t h a t a satisfactory dual-purpose ship is difficult to design. Yet the use of each new weapon must be considered in the light of its own merits. T h e r e are some a r g u m e n t s favoring the combination of surface-to-surface missiles with either planes or heavy guns. A carrier could easily be converted to l a u n c h surface-tosurface missiles as well as aircraft. T h e carrier task force could t h e n attack a distant target with either planes or missiles or both. If surface-to-surface missiles a r e c o m b i n e d with 16-inch guns on a battleship, t h a t ship m a y c o m e into its own again as the d o m i n a n t element of a b a t t l e fleet. It has been suggested that if t h e chief p u r p o s e of t h e b a t t l e s h i p is to defeat t h e strongest 11 1

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forces that the enemy can send to sea, nothing could be more powerful than a heavily armored capital ship whose main arma m e n t might be, perhaps, a highly accurate, 200-mile range, V - 2 type missile that delivers a 2000-pound warhead with an impact velocity of 2500 feet per second, a n d whose secondary armament might be the 16-inch rifle. T h e contrary view is that surface-to-surface missiles aboard a carrier or battleship would only reduce the effectiveness of the original vessel. The tactical employment of a ship firing surfaceto-surface missiles at some distant fleet or inland target would not permit its simultaneous use as a carrier or battleship. T h e surface-to-surface missile ship must be an entirely new ship. By using missiles exclusively it will combine the range of carrier-based planes with the protective armor of a battleship. Specialization of ships and fleets is the modern trend. 7 A single ship is no longer required to conduct m a n y types of operations, but is designed to perform a particular function. Both SSM and S A M ships will appear in modern navies. T h e first S A M ship for the United States Navy has already been launched, according to a statement by the former Secretary of the Navy, Dan Kimball. 8 Guided-Missile

Submarines

Because of the introduction of guided missiles and atomic energy, the military significance of the submarine is increasing more rapidly than that of any other naval vessel. Yet even before these two developments the s u b m a r i n e was a potent weapon. Submarines have sunk a greater tonnage of ships than all other means put together. It has been estimated that before the German undersea fleet in World War II was defeated, several millions of tons of shipping were lost, a h u n d r e d billion dollars h a d been expended, and a fourth of the scientific talent of the United States a n d Great Britain h a d been occupied with submarine defense. 9 112

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Missiles and atomic power have not been the only important recent developments in undersea warfare. T h e snorkel tube was built to decrease radar detection and still permit the submerged craft to draw air from the atmosphere. A tube the size of a barrel or less is far more difficult to locate t h a n a 300-foot hull. High submerged speed has been m a d e possible not only by improvements in propulsion, but in hull design as well. True submarines are replacing surface ships that were merely able to submerge. Submarines of the future will "fly" through the water using control vanes as an airplane would use them. Atomic power and improvements in food and oxygen supply will permit submarines to stay at sea submerged for months at a time, if necessary. T h e uses of submarines have been expanded considerably. For example, large aircraft-carrying submarines have been developed. The Japanese Navy built three such carriers during the last war and had planned to complete eighteen. 10 These giants were 400 feet long and had a surface displacement of 5700 tons. The aircraft hangar, 102 feet long, could hold four small seaplanes (one disassembled). A r m a m e n t included a 105-mm or 140-mm gun mounted aft of the hangar and eight torpedo tubes. The remarkable ship could dive to 300 feet and had a 30,000-mile range at 16 knots. 11 Visualize the potentialities of a larger modern counterpart of this undersea carrier launching jet-powered seaplanes such as the delta-wing Convair Sea Dart. A fleet of these vessels could launch jet fighter-bomber strikes on targets almost anywhere on earth a n d safely disappear again into the depths of the sea. To c o m b a t the u n d e r w a t e r menace, a n t i s u b m a r i n e devices a n d techniques are constantly being investigated. Sonar and the homing torpedo have been included with aircraft and radar as dangerous enemies of the submarine. T h e h o m i n g torpedo is, of course, an underwater guided missile. Nuclear power will greatly extend the range and speed of 113

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submarines, for even with heavy shielding a n atomic propulsion system will p r o b a b l y weigh less t h a n the conventional engines, fuel tanks, a n d batteries. 1 2 B u t the m a i n a d v a n t a g e s lie in the system's power a n d ability to o p e r a t e without air, in its lack of c o m b u s t i o n p r o d u c t s , a n d in its n e g l i g i b l e fuel r e q u i r e m e n t s . T h e U n i t e d States N a v y Nautilus, the first atomic-powered submarine, was launched early in 1954, a n d the second, the Seawolf, in 1955. U n d e r s e a craft h a v e been used a n d m a y see greatly increased use as troop transports, oilers, c a r g o carriers, rescue vessels, photo-reconnaissance a n d r a d a r picket ships, a n d even as subm a r i n e killers. At least seventy Axis s u b m a r i n e s were destroyed by Allied submarines in the last war, 1 3 a n d m o d e r n developments still indicate the necessity of " a n t i s u b " submarines. But the most d r a m a t i c a n d significant event in the history of submarine warfare occurred in October 1949. During maneuvers off Hawaii, United S t a t e s N a v y s u b m a r i n e s s u r f a c e d a n d fired g u i d e d missiles at the surface fleet u p to 80 miles away. 1 4 T h e missiles were deliberately g u i d e d past the fleet r a t h e r t h a n directly at it, b u t the lethal w a r h e a d they were c a p a b l e of carrying might easily have spelled disaster for any ship. T h e missile-firing s u b m a r i n e has extraordinary potentialities. It c a n m o v e within target r a n g e u n d e r w a t e r , surface, a n d fire at ship or shore targets h u n d r e d s of miles a w a y , a n d disappear a g a i n even before the missiles reach their destination. T h e s u b m a r i n e does h a v e limited c a p a c i t y a n d s p e e d comp a r e d to s u r f a c e vessels, b u t n e w w e a p o n s , especially A S M ' s , m a y force greater a n d greater dependence upon the submersible c o m b a t vessel. T h e guided-missile s u b m a r i n e is a weapon of great strategic import. W h a t , then, is the i m p a c t of guided missiles on naval strategy itself?

114

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Role of Naval

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Forces

Long-range SSM's on shipboard—surface vessels or submarines—give a naval fleet the ability to attack distant inland targets. T h e implications are that naval strategy itself may undergo the greatest change since the adoption of steam power. What is this change? T h e great naval strategist, Admiral Mahan, with remarkable vision in his own time described sea power as fundamentally the control of sea communications. H e also wrote that "Naval strategy has for its end to found, support, and increase, as well in peace as in war, the sea power of a country." 15 For many decades there was no alteration to this f u n d a m e n t a l concept. Even in recent years some prominent writers have placed the total emphasis on control of sea transportation. One may read, "All naval enterprise—with the exception of bombardment of land objectives from the sea, which is only an incidental use of sea power—is directed toward the single aim of affecting the movements of the lowly freighter or transport." 16 Technology may be forcing this philosophy into obsolescence, for the growing importance of air weapons in naval warfare may thrust an additional strategic mission upon ships at sea. Not only do SSM's extend the range of a ship's striking power, but the ship extends the range of SSM's even more. Atomic-powered capital ships will have an almost unlimited range and at least a 20-percent increase in speed. 17 T h e strategic possibilities are already evident in the performance of carrier-based bombers, but the advent of the shipboard strategic SSM has brought those possibilities into even sharper focus. T h e ability of SSM's to carry atomic warheads makes even a small submarine carrying one or two missiles a powerful strategic weapon. But what of the relative value of the ship-launched SSM and the intercontinental missile against targets deep in a nations's 115

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interior? Each type has some advantages. T h e naval missile would need a range of only about 1000 miles to attack the same targets that a 5000-mile home-based missile could reach. For a given warhead, the ship-launched S S M can be m u c h smaller t h a n a 5000-mile missile. It will be less expensive a n d may be more accurate at the shorter range. Also, with a shorter flight time greater surprise will be possible. T h e closer the target to the sea, the more pronounced are these advantages. O n the other h a n d , more rapid delivery to another continent is possible by flying all the way. Also, the cost a n d possibility of detection of the missile ship must be weighed against the cost of the landbased missile. The problem is one of technology as well as strategy. Strategic missiles will be employed; technological developments will determine the type. Probably tactical considerations will dictate the use of one or the other at different times. But the potential ability of ship-launched missiles to attack the enemy, wherever he may be found, cannot be questioned. Tactics and The

Man

It is difficult to evaluate the effect of guided missiles on naval tactics. One might recognize at once a new relation between the ASM-carrying patrol plane and the task force, especially when the ASM may be atomic. Naval combat at extreme ranges may diminish the value of such maneuvers as the "crossing of the T," a n d b o m b a r d m e n t of shore positions may likely be done at greater range because of land-based antiship missiles. There may be no need for a missile ship to t u r n into the wind when launching, as a carrier must. But tactics are a part of the art of war, not the science. No prescribed formula can be dictated as the solution to a certain battle situation even after combat experience with missiles at sea has been g a i n e d — a n d there has been little experience. The launching of an F6F drone from the carrier 116

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Boxer against a North Korean target is only a beginning of what is to come. But there is one element in sea power, as in air a n d land power, that will not diminish, a n d that is the importance of the individual m a n . His value is aptly described in the three-word article title, " P u s h b u t t o n s N e e d M e n , " in t h e F e b r u a r y 1949 issue of the United States Naval Institute Proceedings. T h e atomicpowered guided-missile ship will require m e n of high caliber to m a n it. T h r o u g h o u t the fleet skilled technicians will be needed; the complex e q u i p m e n t will d e m a n d it. Fire-control personnel, a m m u n i t i o n handlers, a n d eventually almost everybody will be affected by this new weapon. Therefore, the d e m a n d for quality in the individual seaman is greater t h a n ever. It appears, then, that guided missiles will have several import a n t effects on naval warfare. T h e mission of naval forces m a y be no longer confined to c o m m a n d of the sea. W i t h the advent of s h i p - l a u n c h e d guided missiles a n d a t o m i c energy (both for propulsion a n d for weapons) a modern navy will have the capability of applying military force directly to the enemy, wherever he m a y be found. This does not m e a n that strategic bombardment will b e c o m e a p r i m a r y mission; p r o b a b l y it will not. But the strategic capability can be used to great advantage. T h e naval fleet, though severely taxed to defend itself against a myriad of missiles, guided or otherwise, not only will survive, b u t , with t h e a d d i t i o n of guided-missile firepower of its own, m a y forge a h e a d with n e w offensive s t r e n g t h . T h e n e w navy will have the guided missile as its basic weapon. T h e submarine, especially w h e n atomic-powered a n d armed with l o n g - r a n g e guided missiles, will gain u n p r e c e d e n t e d imp o r t a n c e as a strategic w e a p o n of offense. It will become more independent of a base a n d lines of communication than any other w a r m a c h i n e in existence. It does not necessarily follow, however, that it will become the capital ship of the future. 117

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The air-to-surface missile capable of attacking individual ships is as great a threat to the surface fleet as the atomic bomb. But atomic weapons and propulsion increase the wartime value of naval forces rather than decrease it. A n d finally, because of the inherent complexity of guidedmissile warfare at sea, the quality of navy personnel will be more important than ever before.

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The United States anti-aircraft missile Terrier can be launched from ground or ship. (Official U. S. N a v y photograph.)

A n A r m y must have high-caliber men in this a g e of missiles. A soldiertechnician at W h i t e Sands Proving G r o u n d checks a V - 2 rocket in preparation for upper-atmosphere research. (U. S. A r m y photograph.)

Ordnance

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LAND

IN

WARFARE

Because of the interdependence of air, naval, and land warfare, the introduction of guided missiles in one of these types of combat influences the other two. This phenomenon is particularly true of land warfare because this type is so often supported by air or naval action. But what types of guided missiles must be an integral part of a modern army? The missiles needed are surfaceto-surface, surface-to-air, and reconnaissance missiles. Included in the first group will be three types of SSM's. The first is a short-range assault or demolition guided rocket with high accuracy and penetrating power. The second is a fieldartillery missile, a large rocket with ballistic-type trajectory and powerful warhead. It will supplement and extend the range of gun and free-rocket field artillery. The third is a long-range missile that will bombard distant targets of direct importance to land operations. 121

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T h e second category, SAM's, is needed to defend ground forces from air attack. It is possible that three different missiles will be required. O n e will seek out and destroy the high-altitude bomber at great range. A second will attack m e d i u m - a l t i t u d e aircraft in a more close-in defense of ground forces. A third missile will be necessary to counter the treetop-level ground-support fighterbomber. The reconnaissance missile is needed for obtaining vital battlearea intelligence data. T h e extent of the battle area and the need for rapid a n d accurate collection of tactical intelligence necessitate the development of this craft. Surface-To-Surface

Missiles

T h e range of SSM's u n d e r a r m y control will vary tremendously. At one extreme is the small missile with a range of only a few thousand yards. At the other is the large rocket or atmospheric jet type carrying a powerful warhead hundreds of miles into enemy territory. Consider first the short-range assault missile. The Assault

Missile

Assault weapons have been used in recent wars for direct fire on prepared positions a n d fortifications and for defense against heavily armored tanks. In form they have included many varieties of towed and self-propelled mounts. Special-purpose weapons have been developed which can meet to a limited extent either the offensive or the defensive requirement, but not one satisfactory weapon exists that can be superior at both antitank defense a n d assault fire against a prepared enemy. T h e closest thing to it is the tank. The argument is sometimes advanced that a guidedmissile carrier would improve u p o n the tank armed with a conventional gun. Is this a reasonable proposal? T h e characteristics of a r m o r t h a t are to be exploited are its battlefield mobility, armor-protected firepower, and shock effect 122

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u p o n ground troops when used in mass. T h e greater value of the tank lies in its ability to exploit a breakthrough, not to create it. It is used to best advantage in the fast-moving offensive, not in passive antitank defense. It is true that because the tank is still the best defense against enemy armor a commander threatened with an enemy armored attack must tie his own tanks down to a defensive antitank role. 1 A frequent suggestion is that an inexpensive tank-destroyer vehicle firing guided missiles could free the conventional tank of its defensive role. Another theory is that the tank is inadequate in its p r i m a r y role, because its great weight a n d size limit its mobility, both for cross-country operations and for air transportability. One recommended replacement is a much smaller tank armed with guided missiles.2 An answer for the defense does lie in the short-range guided missile. There is almost no limit to the size of the warhead that can be delivered. Large booster rockets now in existence can accelerate almost as rapidly as a bazooka round. But a generalpurpose assault missile could have an effective warhead without being excessively large. As an artillery-type weapon firing from behind a hill or other protected area, its attrition rate in battle should be far less than that of tanks because of difficulty of location by the enemy. There are several possible guidance systems that could be employed to produce high accuracy. The requests that tanks be relieved of a purely defensive mission or t h a t they be given greater tactical a n d strategic mobility are understandable. But the missile-armed carrier would have to be a great improvement on the t a n k to justify its existence as an offensive weapon. As for improving tank mobility by arming the tank with missiles, the philosophy is questionable. Missile rounds will be much larger t h a n tank-gun ammunition; therefore, fewer rounds can be carried. They could not be carried outside the armored hull, 123

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for they would be d a m a g e d too easily. T h e missile-launching tank would have to carry more electronic equipment for guidance, a more highly trained crew, and far more expensive ammunition. If there is no other way to get armor-protected firepower into an airhead, and assuming the missile tank can be much smaller than the conventional, the development may come. But the prospect seems unlikely. But against a prepared enemy in a defensive position there is much opportunity for improvement. Consider the weapons now available. In the attack of prepared positions a n d fortifications the tank is the only adequately armored vehicle with a gun that has direct-fire accuracy and penetrating power. But it falls short of the desired goal, because its firepower is not sufficient for destruction of heavy reinforced-concrete pillboxes and heavy embankments of earth, stone, and logs. Direct fire with large-caliber field artillery is also often inadequate even when it can get close enough. Aircraft bombs and rockets have the power, but not the accuracy, to hit such small a n d usually camouflaged targets. The Infantry is looking for just such a weapon when it mounts a 1 0 5 - m m recoilless rifle on a j e e p or other carrier. Whatever the final form of the e q u i p m e n t , there is a need for a highly accurate, lethal, and preferably recoilless weapon for assault and antitank fire. Ultimately, the assault guided missile will be that weapon.

The Field-Artillery

Missile

T h e reasons an a r m y needs SSM's in the field-artillery role are discussed in Chapter 2. The role of the SSM in land warfare is to attack surface targets in conjunction with conventional weapons or when the latter either c a n n o t be used or are less desirable because of their inherent limitations. The ballistic-type SSM, like the artillery shell, is almost completely invulnerable to enemy countermeasures, yet its lethality a n d range are far supe124

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rior to those of artillery. N o lives are risked as when aircraft are used, a n d little or no advance warning is given the enemy. Also of i m p o r t a n c e to the g r o u n d c o m m a n d e r is the fact t h a t the weapon will be directly u n d e r his c o m m a n d a n d immediately available for attacking targets at his discretion. Tactical

Employment

Consider how this weapon might be tactically employed. SSM targets must have two important characteristics: they must have an area commensurate with the accuracy of the missile, and they must be of unusual military importance. At ranges of 20 to 100 miles some targets that may be considered appropriate for SSM attack are major troop concentrations, marshaling yards, supply depots, important command centers, ports, and beachheads. At closer ranges, perhaps up to about 50,000 yards, smaller targets that might be particularly appropriate for SSM attack are heavy fortifications, i m p o r t a n t bridges, troop concentrations, supply dumps, and vehicle concentrations. S S M units will often attack targets deep in enemy territory for the purpose of isolating the battle area. In Western Europe, for example, the Rhine bridges were prime isolation targets during World War II. The first truly tactical employment of SSM's was an isolation-bombardment mission against a Rhine bridge at Remagen. T h e Germans fired about a dozen V - 2 rockets at the bridge, but the accuracy was so poor that most of the United States troops in the vicinity did not even know that they were being attacked. SSM's will also attack many targets for the destruction of the target itself rather than to disrupt the enemy communication system. Guided-missile fire, like conventional artillery fire, may to some extent be committed in mass, both for fire control and for its effect on the enemy. To w h a t extent SSM's will be used in 125

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mass depends upon the types of warheads used, the propulsion and guidance system, and the accuracy that is attainable. Technique

of

Employment

In offensive operations an army can employ SSM's to support almost any maneuver. In a penetration SSM's can support the main effort directly and also conduct isolation bombardment of the area to prevent the enemy from committing his reserves against the penetrating force. In an envelopment, isolation bombardment will immobilize the enemy being engaged and hinder the movement of his reserves to the critical flank. The attack of any communication bottleneck developing in the enemy rear area as a result of the completed envelopment may also be effective. In a pursuit operation or in a turning movement the long range of SSM's can be used to great advantage. In fact, guided missiles will be particularly useful in any operation where the rate or nature of movement makes conventional artillery support inadequate or impossible. For example, in amphibious, airborne, jungle, and mountain operations, SSM fire can supplement normal fire-support weapons from great distances. In the defense guided missiles will play a most vital role. If the enemy is on the offensive, he must a b a n d o n his protective positions a n d concentrate his forces for the attack. J u s t as he attacks he is highly vulnerable, and these artillery units do not have to move long distances to meet an attack at an unexpected point. T h e range of the weapon will permit the rapid shift of fire to any point along an extremely wide front. The potentialities of guided missiles in the hands of a defender who is numerically inferior to the attacker are awesome. For many years to come no preponderance of enemy forces on the ground or in the air will be able to eliminate defensive guidedmissile fire until the launching sites are physically overrun. The continuous employment by the Germans of the V - l a n d V - 2 126

United States A r m y N i k e g u i d e d missiles o n their launchers at Lorton, Virginia. (U. S. Army photograph.)

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to the very last, in spite of overwhelming opposition in the air and on the ground, proved this principle. Only the inferior performance characteristics of the V-weapons prevented their widespread use in this defensive role. Tricking the enemy into attacking to his own disadvantage was made a classic at Cannae; with SSM's in the hands of a bold defender the Cannae maneuver is as modern as atomic energy itself. T h e artillery missile is the newest member of an army's firesupport team, not an independently controlled weapon. How would a fire support accomplish coordination? Visualize a combat situation such as the following: Assume that this powerful fire-support team (guns, heavy rockets, planes, a n d guided missiles) is f u n c t i o n i n g in actual battle. T h e "Fire-Support C o o r d i n a t o r " is in his combat-unit headquarters. This problem is one of defense, a n d his unit has been assigned the mission of preventing a river crossing. It is midnight a n d the enemy forces have l a u n c h e d an attack in a desultory snowstorm. Their infantry has succeeded in crossing at one point and is holding a small bridgehead. T h e attacker has constructed successfully at least one heavy-duty floating bridge. It is known that a large e n e m y force of a r m o r a n d mechanized infantry has assembled in a small valley just 10 miles behind the bridgehead. This force probably plans to move down the highway leading to the bridge site, cross the river, and break out of the bridgehead at dawn. Friendly artillery is already firing on the enemy foothold; hostile counter battery fire is heavy. Now the commanding officer turns to the fire-support coordinator with these words: " T h e assembled force in the enemy rear must be neutralized before it starts moving. What type of fire do you r e c o m m e n d ? " Artillery, aircraft, a n d SSM's are all available, but how does he go about choosing the proper weapon? First, analyze the target. Is the target unusually important? Does it represent a serious threat? The commander has answered 128

A U. S. A r m y g u i d e d missile Corporal, a n S S M , is prepared for flight at White S a n d s Proving Ground. (U. S. A r m y photograph.)

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his first question with his decision to attack the target. Is this target of sufficient size to justify the use of any, or all, of his fire support? C a n it be accurately located? Assume that it can be. To what type of fire is the target most vulnerable? Will the target be able to recuperate sufficiently to become a serious threat again? J u s t what does the c o m m a n d e r w a n t to accomplish in this attack? If the coordinator considers each of these points in turn, he has properly analyzed the target. Again, the six essential elements are these: importance, size, accuracy of location, vulnerability, recuperability, a n d the mission to be accomplished. Second, the weapons must be analyzed. Since conventional artillery is generally used whenever possible, determine its usefulness here. Heavy artillery will have sufficient range to shell the target if the guns are displaced to positions close to the river. Although this displacement will require several hours and places the weapons in vulnerable position, the fire will be effective and m a y be the most economical means of attack. Is the gun the weapon to use? How about heavy rocket artillery? It can soon be placed within range and is capable of massing fire. But at this range, is the dispersion excessive for the size of the target a n d the ammunition available? The answer to this question determines whether heavy rocket artillery should be used. In such weather the air support cannot attack in mass, but a limited n u m b e r of aircraft can operate by electronic navigation a n d b o m b "blind." Enemy antiaircraft artillery is known to be radar controlled and is probably defending the area. Is the plane the answer? Lastly consider the SSM's. Their firing positions are over 40 miles f r o m the target, yet they can easily reach it with good accuracy. Assuming that mass fire is possible, the SSM batteries can deliver a devastating blow in a single "time-on-target" attack. T h e missiles are expensive and limited in number, but they can 130

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open fire without delay. A r e guided missiles practical for this target? T h e above problem is obviously slanted to favor the SSM and is oversimplified. But it would apply with or without atomic warheads. Actually it is entirely possible that all weapons available would attack the target in a coordinated effort. The point to be emphasized here is the importance of fire-support planning by one agency which is responsible to the ground-force commander. It is reassuring to note that this powerful fire-support team is with us today. In April and M a y of 1954 the United States Army conducted field maneuvers called "Exercise Flashburn," in which all these weapons participated in coordinated fire-support operations. Included were the powerful 280-mm gun, firing an atomic shell, the "Honest J o h n " heavy field-artillery rocket, and the Army's new field-artillery guided missile, the "Corporal." 3 The necessity for military security prohibits the publication, at present, of any details on these weapons; but this combination airborne-atomic maneuver should leave little doubt as to the vastly increased firepower and mobility the United States Army now has.

The Long-Range

Ground-Support

SSM

Some SSM's will be needed for attacking distant tactical and strategic targets that directly influence the land campaign. Such high-level "artillery" will have a range of several hundred miles. Technological advancements have caused many targets once considered strategic, because of their distance behind enemy lines, actually to become tactical. Indeed, the concept of dividing strategic and tactical employment by a measure of distance is an erroneous one. If troops or materiel that can be moved into battle within a few hours are tactical targets, then is not an enemy airborne division assembling a thousand miles away for a combat mission a tactical target? 131

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A modern enemy force will have the capability of attacking with airborne units or long-range weapons only hours or minutes after launching from distant points. T h e army commander must have the means under his direct control to attack these very real and immediate threats to his command. L o n g - r a n g e SSM's are also n e e d e d because the a r m y will attack over great distances. Not only are enemy air fields, supply centers, strategic reserves, and other targets moving deeper into hostile territory, but also one's own troops. A modern army will no longer be forced to accomplish a n i m p o r t a n t mission at a location hundreds of miles away by painfully fighting overland to the objective. Airborne units can now move directly to that objective. Within the next ten years airborne movement will become a normal operation for almost all combat units. SSM fire support of such maneuvers from distant launching sites will be essential. T h e question sometimes arises, is this land or air warfare? It is primarily land warfare but the two cannot be separated. The employment of long-range missiles in support of the ground effort represents coordinated action toward a common goal. Such unity of purpose can be achieved only by unity of c o m m a n d .

Surface-To-Air

Missiles

T h e need for tactical use of SAM's was discussed in Chapters 2 a n d 7. But in land warfare the employment of SAM's differs somewhat from that in strategic air defense of the homeland. First, it is a f u n d a m e n t a l precept in land combat that every unit must be responsible for its own local security—and the term "local" is relative. T h e field commander must be held responsible for his own defense against attack from any source, including the air. W h a t will be the nature of the air defense? T h e air defense of a large unit in the field will be a highly integrated, centrally controlled system, semiautomatic in opera132

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tion. Antiaircraft weapons will be rapidly assigned and reassigned aircraft targets as the planes sweep across the defended area. T h e long- and medium-range SAM's needed by an army in battle can be the same weapons used in defense of a strategic target in the homeland except that their firing units will be more mobile. An outstanding, and the first, example of these weapons is the U n i t e d States A r m y " N i k e . " A sleek supersonic guided rocket, it can easily cope with any operational combat aircraft existing today and represents only the beginning of what is yet to come. Because piloted aircraft will have an increasingly difficult time surviving at higher altitudes, they will begin to rely more on very low-level attacks. At treetop height they can escape detection longer as they approach the target, take better advantage of surprise, and better avoid being shot down. A forward-battlearea air defense may counter low-flying planes somewhat differently f r o m a strategic air defense. It was stated in C h a p t e r 2 that there may always be a m i n i m u m range within which the fixed-trajectory weapon (guns a n d u n g u i d e d rockets) will be superior to guided missiles. This is especially true in the field army in combat because enemy aircraft can approach their targets low over their own territory, thus giving the defenders mini m u m warning time. T h e defense will find itself suddenly engaged at close range. But the defense may eventually meet even this type of attack with SAM's. Reconnaissance

Missiles

Adequate battle-area surveillance is essential not only for the e m p l o y m e n t of guided missiles but also for the conduct of all aspects of combat operations. C o m b a t units must discover and accurately locate the forward-area targets a n d targets deep in enemy territory. After attacks, intelligence specialists must make damage analyses of targets. T h e commander must determine the 133

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intentions of enemy forces m a n y miles away. Superior combat intelligence is a prerequisite to success in modern battle. Two of the important requirements for the achieving of superior combat intelligence are that the agencies collecting current combat intelligence for a command must be a part of that comm a n d and that reliable means of collection must exist. Consider the second requirement for a moment. Obviously, visual, photographic, and radar reconnaissance must be utilized to the fullest extent. These means are all used with piloted reconnaissance aircraft but it appears that eventually the reconnaissance plane will have difficulty surviving over e n e m y ground forces, especially if they have both air cover and SAM's. Thus the battle-area reconnaissance missile will be introduced. It will be a fast, returnable, and reusable atmospheric jet craft utilizing many advanced scientific techniques to gather military information. Whatever means is used, there is a requirement in the field a r m y for rapid, frequent, a n d accurate surveillance over hundreds of square miles of enemy-held territory. Eventually the reconnaissance guided missile will prove to be the superior means. Conclusions Guided missiles will have several direct effects upon land warfare. First, the land combat zone will be greatly deepened. M a n y targets once considered strategic because of their distance behind enemy lines will actually become tactical. T h e combination of airborne mobility and atomic firepower may give a modern streamlined field army a combat capability equal to that of several World War II field armies. Increased dispersion of troops and materiel will be necessary. T h e massing of troops will have to be done quickly and secretly, followed by rapid dispersal. It may become a common technique to force the enemy to mass, to reveal the location of his main 134

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effort, for then he is most vulnerable to guided missile attack. Increased dispersion of forces means greater demands on smallunit leadership and discipline. Commanders at every level are likely to find themselves operating independently. A sustained and definable front may be abnormal rather than normal. Greater continuity of ground action, regardless of weather conditions, will be possible. T h e

field-artillery

missile, like con-

ventional artillery, will have a mobile launching base, ballistic trajectory, and the ability to deliver fire on any map coordinate within range with a minimum of delay. Since the guided missile is an all-weather, day or night weapon, ground forces will no longer be wholly dependent upon piloted aircraft for the neutralization of critical ground targets that are beyond the capability of conventional artillery. Military operations including guided-missile units will become increasingly dependent upon logistic support; hence the increasing target importance of supply lines and sources of supply. T h e vulnerability of conventional supply lines may in turn necessitate radically new methods of supply, including extensive use of aerial supply. As in air and naval warfare, the employment of guided missiles will necessitate high standards of quality and training in the individual man.

135

Missiles of war can be missiles of peace. With superior weapons in quantity in the hands of a nation that hates war, a potential aggressor would scarcely risk self-destruction by initiating an attack. (Official U. S. Air Force photograph.)

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As a result of guided-missile research and development great strides have been made in electronics, propulsion, aerodynamics, and many related fields of science and engineering. Yet these advances have only revealed the vast unexplored horizons that still exist. T h e guided missile is as new and undeveloped today as the piloted airplane was in the 1920's. Thirty years of aircraft development have brought about outstanding advances in aircraft capabilities. What of missiles thirty years hence? Militarily speaking, the importance of guided missiles can only grow, and even in combat form can increase the probability of peace. Guided missiles in the hands of a people that hate war can be missiles of peace. In adequate strength and in conjunction with other weapons and courageous men trained to use them, they deter any aggressive nation from initiating a war. In all military services more and more personnel will find them137

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selves assigned to guided-missile duty. T h e y may not necessarily be transferred to a guided-missile unit; the weapon may be brought to them. Directly or indirectly, every airman, sailor, and soldier will eventually be affected by this new weapon. It is obvious that the most powerful destructive force in military operations is the nuclear warhead and that the most potent carrier is the guided missile. T h e atomic guided missile is a most deadly weapon, and all military operations will be radically influenced by it. It will result in greater demands for dispersion, protection, and outstanding leadership everywhere. However, it does not appear that the large-scale use of guided missiles in total war will result in any significant change in the requirement for air, naval, and land military forces combined in the proper proportion for the strategic missions at hand. There is little evidence that automatic war machines will diminish the need for manpower, either quantitatively or qualitatively. T h e importance of individual members of the Armed Forces only increases as military technology increases. O n the subject of future warfare, there are two extremes of thought. T h e one more frequently heard is the "push-button" concept, which holds that future wars will be won or lost solely by intercontinental battles with atomic guided missiles. T h e other contention is that the atomic missile is merely a bigger bomb, the use of which does not alter the fact that war must be won on the ground, that all weapons of war exist to help the ground soldier advance. T h e most reasonable concept appears to lie somewhere between these two extremes, for we live in a period of military transition. But even if the weight of decisive military action were to shift to nuclear warfare, ground troops and naval units repel enemy invasion attempts, seize, hold, and support bases needed for launching air operations, and physically occupy critical enemy territory. In any of these operations there will be targets beyond the capabilities of unguided projectiles. 138

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T h e guided missile will complete the weapons team, providing fire support whenever and wherever needed.

Missiles

in

Peacetime

T h e nonmilitary uses of robot craft are potentially as extensive as the combat uses for which they were originally designed. Not that an antiaircraft missile can be converted overnight into an automatic wild-goose retriever or mail carrier; it cannot. But if in war, for example, consideration is being given to the use of a reconnaissance missile, or a transport missile, cannot one envision similar craft having peacetime applications? But it is the individual components of these weapons that principally have peacetime possibilities. A good part of the money spent on missile development goes into basic studies of propulsion, supersonic aerodynamics, and electronics, and into the development of practical h a r d w a r e in these fields. Although it is difficult to predict the contributions of these efforts, the possibilities are in evidence. M a n y of the propulsion systems found on missiles will have commercial application, a n d industry is investigating to determine what these applications may be. T h e Guggenheim Foundation has already established two research centers to study missile propulsion. With peacetime uses their main objective, the centers will conduct high-altitude weather and atmospheric research and study supersonic passenger air travel and space flight. Knowledge gained in the study of supersonic missile aerodynamics is as important to the piloted-aircraft industry as it is to the guided-missile industry. Supersonic long-distance commercial flights may someday be a normal mode of transportation. Similarly, many missile-guidance and control devices will have nonmilitary applications. If a guidance system can steer a missile accurately to a ground target, could not a similar system be employed to place high-speed commercial aircraft precisely on the 139

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r u n w a y in any weather? And if a guidance system can continuously predict the future position of a bomber a n d can guide a missile to insure interception, could not a modification of that same device be used to insure that two planes in danger of collision would not intercept each other? Some British commercial aircraft already use collision-warning radar. T h e automatic pilots a n d remote-control devices now being used in missiles will be found increasingly in other types of craft. Whenever it is desirable to make any kind of flight without personnel aboard (whatever the reason), or to control the flight of aircraft at times when h u m a n ability is not adequate because of high speeds or atmospheric conditions, these devices can be put to work. It may be that very high-altitude, rocket-powered weather missiles will be used extensively to permit not only complete weather data, but long-range prediction as well. Flights over polar regions or into violent storms for weather data could be made by pilotless craft. Some enthusiasts predict regular mail and air-express runs the world over by u n m a n n e d supersonic vehicles. By removing the human pilot from the "mail-jet," the designer could automatically eliminate much weight and space-consuming equipment, which was there solely for the well-being and safety of the pilot. Higher accelerations, velocities, and altitudes would be permissible if the pilot were left at home. No industry has had its products improved by guided-missile development more than the electronics industry. The reliability, weight and space requirements, and capabilities of electronic devices have greatly improved because of missile requirements. New a n d vastly improved automatic computers now exist. T h e development of a replacement for the vacuum tube, the transistor, was accelerated by d e m a n d s for high reliability, long life, low power requirements, a n d small size. As a result radio and television e q u i p m e n t (less the picture tube) can be shrunk to 140

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one-tenth the space of conventional sets a n d operate reliably almost indefinitely with a fiftieth of the power now necessary. Because of the need for sending technical information to the ground from a test missile, telemetering developed. Now engineers can observe a piloted aircraft undergoing test maneuvers, know at any instant conditions at various parts of the plane, and advise the test pilot accordingly by radio. Telemetering, which one might say is the art of measuring conditions on a vehicle in flight and radioing the information back to earth, has developed until it is a science itself. Guided missiles have been in use since the end of World War II for upper-atmosphere research. Some means is needed to transport research devices 100 miles a n d more above the earth, and the large guided rocket is the only vehicle capable of accomplishing this. T h e objectives of such research are many. The atmospheric density, temperature, composition, and wind velocities at various levels are sought not only to learn more about the atmosphere itself but also to learn to use it better in flight. Improved study of cosmic rays, the sun, moon, a n d planets, including the earth itself, is possible because of high-altitude research. At Holloman Air Developments Center, for example, the famous "sunseeker" camera developed by the University of Colorado was used to photograph the sun from high altitude. The 1952 annual press release of the Air Research and Development Command revealed that researchers h a d rocketed the device 50 miles into the air to take direct photographs of the sun unfiltered by the lower atmosphere. This unusual camera was rugged enough to stand the high acceleration and vibration of launching, yet sensitive enough to locate automatically and accurately point at the sun for half a minute to photograph its spectrum. One of the imp o r t a n t results of such work was the p h o t o g r a p h of the ultraviolet spectrum of the sun recently o b t a i n e d by Dr. Richard Tousey, Naval Research Laboratory. 141

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T h e series of " b l o s s o m " e x p e r i m e n t s is a n o t h e r e x a m p l e of high-altitude research. In this program rocket-borne instruments collected valuable information a n d t h e n were ejected from the missiles a n d lowered safely by parachute. Ultimately, the knowledge gained from such experiments m a y even permit travel to other bodies in space.

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