Home
Latest images
Register
Log in
AFAIK Morfei will be a very ambitious weapon whose capability will be rather impressive.
It is a force unified missile so the Air force will use it as the standard short range IR guided missile, while the Army will use it as a short range SAM and the Navy will use it as a CIWS short range missile.
It is reported to use IIR QWIP sensor that actually sees the world in images rather than hot points like old IR guided missiles.
Just as importantly it has a datalink that allows lock on after launch capability... in other words on a ship or submarine you can have these missiles in vertical launch tubes... when the target is detected a missile is launched on autopilot and it flys in the direction of the target and starts looking with its IIR sensor... finds the target and locks on.
this is critical for 5th gen stealth aircraft as it allows the missile to be ejected from an internal weapons bay and fly towards the target and then get a lock. In comparison the fairly clumsy arrangement on the F-22 has the Sidewinders extended out of the weapon bays to allow the seekers see their targets before launch.
Lock on after launch or LOAL means much shorter periods with bays open and also opens the possibility for similar seekers to be used in situations like tank gun launched anti tank weapons where the target is acquired after launch including a top attack munition with a diving top attack profile.
QWIP sensors wont be cheap initially but over time their costs should drop the way CCD sensor chips have to a few cents... making diving top attack munitions cheaper but also much more capable.
The datalink can be used to select targets from the launch platform so firing multiple missiles does not lead to them all locking on to the same target or each other.
It is a force unified missile so the Air force will use it as the standard short range IR guided missile, while the Army will use it as a short range SAM and the Navy will use it as a CIWS short range missile.
It is reported to use IIR QWIP sensor that actually sees the world in images rather than hot points like old IR guided missiles.
Just as importantly it has a datalink that allows lock on after launch capability... in other words on a ship or submarine you can have these missiles in vertical launch tubes... when the target is detected a missile is launched on autopilot and it flys in the direction of the target and starts looking with its IIR sensor... finds the target and locks on.
this is critical for 5th gen stealth aircraft as it allows the missile to be ejected from an internal weapons bay and fly towards the target and then get a lock. In comparison the fairly clumsy arrangement on the F-22 has the Sidewinders extended out of the weapon bays to allow the seekers see their targets before launch.
Lock on after launch or LOAL means much shorter periods with bays open and also opens the possibility for similar seekers to be used in situations like tank gun launched anti tank weapons where the target is acquired after launch including a top attack munition with a diving top attack profile.
QWIP sensors wont be cheap initially but over time their costs should drop the way CCD sensor chips have to a few cents... making diving top attack munitions cheaper but also much more capable.
The datalink can be used to select targets from the launch platform so firing multiple missiles does not lead to them all locking on to the same target or each other.
franco
