NATO Seasparrow Surface Missile System

there was a time when self-defense might have meant or this or this but today with targets frequently launched from great distances and traveling at supersonic speeds self-defense must be a rapid reacting fully automatic weapon [Applause] [Music] system the NATO's East Barrow surface missile system is a point defense weapon system developed in a Cooperative program between Belgium Denmark Italy the Netherlands Norway and the United States initiated in 1969 it completed development and entered production in early 1974 NATO sea Sparrow is intended for installation on a variety of US ship classes fluence class destroyers fast combat support ships and ammunition ships replenishment Oilers and attack carrier also it is intended for installation on selected Frets and cruisers of the other participating NATO country during the development phase a dual director model of the system installed on the USS Downs successfully demonstrated its performance against a wide array of simulated threats aircraft air to surface missiles surface launched missiles and cruise missile NATO SE Sparrow also underwent operational evaluation aboard the Norwegian frate K&M Bergen during the harsh midwinter conditions of the Arctic Ocean at 72° north latitude the NATO SE system consists of three major subsystems which will be described in some detail the guided missile Fire Control subsystem provides automatic acquisition and tracking of a designated Target generates launcher and missile orders and in the automatic mode initiates the firing command when the target becomes engageable the director group serves to acquire and track the Target and after launch provide illumination for missile homing and fusing it consists of two antennas transmit and receive a pedestal and a director control unit NATO SE Sparrow can be configured to operate with either a single or dual director as desired to fit the user's needs modulated microwave energy is supplied to the director by the transmitter group while the microwave receiver signals are electronically processed by the radar Target data front system to provide Target detection Doppler track and range and angle track data the radar chech console provides the display monitoring and control functions required for radar system operation specifically it has Provisions for radar search track display Target Spectrum analysis mode switching electronic countermeasure indicators and controls and kill or survival assessment in the Dual director model there would be a radar set console for each director focal point of the Fire Control subsystem is the firing officer console which permits the operator to Monitor and control the progress of the engagement it contains a computer-driven engagement situation display a radar status control indicator panel a missile management control indicator panel and firing panel although most of the system's operations are carried out by the computer under automatic or semi-automatic conditions the control and indicators permit operator intervention and override at any time the computer complex core of the Fire Control subsystem consists of a realtime general purpose computer and a signal data processor together they perform all computations data storage and data distribution required by the system some of the specific functions of the computer are control radar search acquisition and track generate launcher pointing and missile orders determine Target engage ability provide Target and engage ability data for display monitor system status and performance and in the automatic mode generate the firing command when the target becomes engageable the signal data converter serves as the interface between the missile Fire Control computer and peripheral equipment an ancillary piece of equipment to the Fire Control subsystem is the low light level television system the camera is mounted on the director and board tighted to the tracking radar feam the TV monitor AIDS the radar set console operator in monitoring radar tracking evaluating multi-target attacks and assessing Target kill for survival the guided missile launcher subsystem has three major components launcher launcher drive and the interconnecting unit and maintenance panel the launcher is a ready service magazine housing up to eight operation Ally ready Rim 7h missiles in weather type cells during an operation the launcher Drive receiving commands from the fire control system can rotate the launcher through 360° and elevate it from -5 to plus 85° the third subsystem is the rim 7h missile a sparrow 3 modified for Rapid runner in addition it is equipped with folding wings and clip tails in to decrease storage requirements to approximately 25 in the rim 7h is a semi-active homing missile using proportional navigation to maintain the NATO SE Barrow system quick P detection and isolation capabilities have been built into the system continuous online performance monitoring of critical parameters is carried out out automatically by the system computer and the status of these displayed on the system performance indicator and a coded digital readout on the front shelf of each console critical functions of each major subsystem are also continuously monitored and displayed on each console as go degraded or no go when a fault has been detected in a subsystem extensive built-in test capabilities are used to further isolate the problem so that the faulty assembly can be rapidly replaced in addition to monitoring and P isolution an ancillary test set is used with a launcher subsystem to simulate the rim 78 missile and in turn test the launcher missile interface NATO C Sparrow is a rapid reaction weapon system and as such can rapidly acquire targets and launch a missile within a few seconds of Target designation a wide variety of prets can be engaged by the NATO seur including extremely small radar reflectivity targets traveling at velocities in excess of mock two the system can engage targets from sea level to medium altitude and launch missiles at elevations up to 85° four primary modes of operation are used used with the NATO C Sparrow system ready designate track and sech the ready mode exists when the system is ready for operation but does not have a Target assign all equipment is turned on the launcher and director are in SK position and the transmitters are radiating into a dummy load when a Target designation is received from an external or internal source the system enters the designate mode in this mode a director is assigned flued to the Target position and the transmitter starts radiating into space the director then scans the designated point until the target is acquired the system will accept either Air or Surface designation and the radar operator can also designate targets locally from his console once the system acquires the designated Target it enters the track mode in this mode the system can doer track gear targets to Long ranges electronically track surface targets to the radar Horizon track Targets in an ECM environment and Coast the radar to continue illumination of a Target during Target base several casualty track modes are also provided in the NATO SE Sparrow system syst in TV tracks the operator tracks the target using the television system in the slav Illuminator mode the director is slaved to a remote threedimensional tracking sour to illuminate the target for missile homing when active tracking has been made impossible a computer casualty mode enables the system to track and engage targets when the computer is disabled the final primary mode search permits the system to use its own detection capabilities to search for either an Air or Surface Target and automatically or manually designate the detected Target a typical NATO bar engagement begin when an external detection sword designates the target to the fire control computer the computer a radar to the Target and displays the designation on the firing officer's conso display when a Target return is detected by the radar Target data processor the tracking Loop is Clos via the computer and the radar is displayed on the firing officer conso if the acquired Target corresponds to the designated Target the radar symbol will be superimposed on it the computer next performs engage ability calculations on the track Target and displays a predicted Inter Point on the firing conso display prior to the Target becoming engag the launcher is pointed as the predicted Inter Point super elevation and the missiles are run up when the engage ability light comes on it indicates that The Intercept symbol on the display represent an achievable intercept point the firing command can then be initiated either by computer in the automatic mode or by the firing officer in the semi-automatic mode missile in indicators on the firing officer console and the radar that console are eliminated when the missile is away throughout the plan the radar Operator by means of his return television system and displays evaluates the fire and then assesses a Target K or survival rapid reacting automatic and effective the NATO SE Sparrow surface missile system when deployed aboard the ships of the participating will provide open capability for selfdefense against Curr and future thre [Music] the