USA. Air Dominitor weapons for attacking suddenly detected ground targets from the air
Boeing is developing a next-generation munition called Air Dominator, which will loiter over a battlefield and strike targets of surprise. The ground-attack munition, expected to be used in the next decade, will be able to loiter over a battlefield for days, waiting for targets that appear briefly, such as enemy armored vehicles and mobile missile launchers, or strike high-priority targets such as anti-aircraft missile systems.
Each set (combat unit) must carry several submunitions, with which it can attack several targets before the final attack, during which it is destroyed.
The management of the Boeing Company noted that the main principle that experts adhere to in the work on weapons "Air Dominor", is to demonstrate its durability (endurance). Many customers of the company believe that in their work the company seeks not to meet the requirements of the future with regard to priority (with a short warning time) and even moving targets, but to ensure domination over the area with the help of ammunition with high endurance with a flight time from 24 to 48 h, and possibly more.
The Boeing company completed two flights of the first prototype Air Dominitor weapon in order to evaluate its maneuverability. It was manufactured by a firm in Hampton, Virginia, as part of its independent research until it won a tender to receive a 2003-month demonstration contract from the US Air Force in July 60. technology aviation weapon designs "Air Dominitor."
The basic concept for the Air Domineitor weapon is to deploy at supersonic speeds from the multiple ammunition delivery system on the F / A-22 multi-role fighter. The Boeing company is considering the integration of these weapons on the delivery system of four combat units, which it designed for its proposal of a small-diameter SDB bomb (see EI, 2003, No. 37, c. 3), which won the competition.
The size and configuration of the advanced demonstration model, the flights of which the company will carry out in the middle of the decade, will approximately correspond to the parameters of the demonstrated model. For an advanced model, folding wings and an internal weapons bay are provided to accommodate its submunitions, but there are no wheels.
Boeing has yet to decide on the engine, and it is considering additional flight control options, such as active flow control, that go beyond the front-wing aerodynamic duck (front horizontal tail) approach and wing twist approach used in the current model.
As part of its flight assessment, the firm intends to demonstrate the concept of scattering submunitions. Options are being explored such as the end of an STS weapon with selective targeting of Skit hitting elements (see EI, 2003, No. 44, c. 4, 5) developed by Textron.
The company Boeing intends to show the feasibility of refueling ammunition in flight.
Although the Air Force is interested in significant autonomy of the munition, nevertheless, according to existing plans, the final decision on the attack must still be made by the “man in the loop”.
Just as in the Air Domineitor weapons program, Boeing expects to begin flight tests of the Miniature Cruise Missile miniature cruise missile, another Air Force funded initiative, in the middle of this decade. The missile belongs to a class with a mass of about 453 kg, designed to be placed in the internal compartment of an F / A-22 aircraft and to double the load on guided missiles compared to the JASSM cruise missile (see EI, 2003, No. 39, c. 4) on media such as B-1B, B-2A, F-15E and F-16.
The MSM is a subsonic guided missile deployed from a carrier at high altitudes, penetrating hundreds of kilometers into enemy airspace, descending to low altitudes for short-term searches in a given area and then deploying submunitions to hit several priority or moving targets.
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