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35-656: AGM-45 Shrike is an American anti-radiation missile designed to home in on hostile anti-aircraft radar . The Shrike was developed by the Naval Weapons Center at China Lake in 1963 by mating a seeker head to the rocket body of an AIM-7 Sparrow . It was phased out by U.S. in 1992 and at an unknown time by the Israeli Air Force (the only other major user), and has been superseded by the AGM-88 HARM missile. The Israel Defense Forces developed

70-564: A Shrike which was not returned. About 95 AGM-45s were used in 1991 during Desert Storm against Iraqi air defense, mostly by F-4Gs. There are many subvariants, each tuned to a different radar band. Angle gating , used to prioritize targets, was included in every subvariant of the AGM-45A and B after the A-2 and B-2. It was also slow and the lack of punch in the warhead made it difficult for bomb damage assessment , as well as inflicting any damage to

105-552: A conflict in order to increase the chance of survival for the following waves of strike aircraft. They can also be used to quickly shut down unexpected surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites during an air raid. Often, SEAD escort aircraft also carry cluster bombs , which can be used to ensure that, after the ARM disables the SAM system's radar, the command post, missile launchers, and other components or equipment are also destroyed to guarantee that

140-539: A measure of surprise) and they can have a longer range. In the 1970s, Hughes Aerospace had a project called BRAZO (Spanish for arm ). Based on a Raytheon AIM-7 Sparrow , it was meant to offer an air-to-air capability against proposed Soviet AWACS types and also some other types with extremely powerful radar sets, such as the MiG-25 . The project did not proceed. Bomb damage assessment Bomb damage assessment ( BDA ), also known as battle damage assessment ,

175-699: A version of the Shrike that could be ground-launched with a booster rocket, and mounted it on an M4 Sherman chassis as the Kilshon (Hebrew for Trident ). The Shrike was first employed during the Vietnam War by the Navy in 1965 using the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk . The Air Force adopted the weapon the following year using F-105F and G Thunderchief Wild Weasel defense suppression aircraft, and later

210-511: Is a variant of the Blohm & Voss BV 246 radar guided bomb. Most ARM designs to date have been intended for use against ground-based radars. Commonly carried by specialist aircraft in the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) role (known to United States Air Force as " Wild Weasels "), the primary purpose of this type of missile is to degrade enemy air defenses in the first period of

245-435: Is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target from a stand-off weapon , most typically a bomb or air launched missile. It is part of the larger discipline of combat assessment . Assessment is performed using many techniques including footage from in-weapon cameras, gun cameras , forces on the ground near the target, satellite imagery and follow-up visits to the target. Preventing information on battle damage reaching

280-619: Is used to home in on enemy radar, ECM or communications. This makes these missiles significantly harder to defeat with ECM and distraction countermeasures, and makes the use of semi-active missiles against them dangerous. Surface launched anti-radiation missiles also found application in the Israeli defense forces, such as an AGM-45 shrike variant which could be fitted on an M4 Sherman tank chassis. Due to experiences with jamming by US-built aircraft in Vietnam and during Middle Eastern wars in

315-531: Is working on the Rudram series of anti-radiation missiles for Indian Air Force . SIATT with Department of Aerospace Science and Technology of Brazilian Air Force are jointly developing MAR-1 . Several surface-to-surface missiles , like the P-700 Granit , P-500 Bazalt , MM40 Exocet , B-611MR , and Otomat , include a home-on-jam capability wherein the receiver component of their active radar homing

350-475: The AGM-78 Standard ARM , AGM-122 Sidearm , and AGM-88 HARM missiles, which have inertial guidance systems (INS) built-in. This allows them to remember the radar's direction if it is turned off and continue to fly towards it. ARMs are less likely to hit the radar if the radar is turned off shortly after the missile is launched, as the longer the radar is off (and assuming it never turns back on),

385-585: The F-4 Phantom II in the same role. The range was nominally shorter than the SA-2 Guideline missiles that the system was used against, although it was a great improvement over the early method of attacking SAM sites with rockets and bombs from F-100F Super Sabres . A Shrike was typically lofted about 30 degrees above the horizon at a Fan Song radar some 15 miles (25 km) away for a flight time of 50 seconds. Tactics changed incrementally over

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420-676: The Lockheed U-2 and the Lockheed SR-71 . During the Vietnam War, U.S. special operations and regular ground components often performed on-the-ground BDAs in operational areas where U.S. forces had a presence. BDA may be performed using information released accidentally by the enemy. In World War II, United Press International transmitted a report on the damage caused by the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor including details on

455-794: The People's Republic of China developed the FT-2000 system to counter AEW and AWACS targets. This system is based on the HQ-9 , which is in turn based on the S-300PMU . These anti-radiation missile systems have been marketed to Pakistan and various other countries. More recently, air-to-air ARM designs have begun to appear, notably the Russian Vympel R-27EP . Such missiles have several advantages over other missile guidance techniques: they do not trigger radar warning receivers (conferring

490-533: The Fan Song Radar vans beyond a shattered radar dish, an easy item to replace or repair. The short range, combined with its lack of speed (compared to the SA-2 SAM) made for a difficult attack. The missile had to be well within the range of the SAM radar and if a SAM was fired the SAM would get to the aircraft first. Also the missile had few tolerances and had to be launched no more than + or − 3 degrees from

525-464: The SAM site stays down. Early ARMs, such as the AGM-45 Shrike , were not particularly intelligent; they would simply home in on the source of radiation and explode when they got near it. SAM operators learned to turn their radar off when an ARM was fired at them, then turn it back on later, greatly reducing the missile's effectiveness. This led to the development of more advanced ARMs such as

560-802: The Shrike missile did not enter regular service with the United Kingdom, it was covertly supplied by the United States to the RAF for use in the Falklands War of 1982. RAF Shrikes were fitted to modified Vulcan bombers in order to attack Argentine radar installations during Operation Black Buck . The main target was a Westinghouse AN/TPS-43 long range 3D radar that the Argentine Air Force deployed during April to guard Falklands' airspace. The Argentine operators were aware of

595-521: The Standard cost about $ 200,000, while a Shrike cost only $ 7,000. If USAF pilots expended a Standard they would have to fill out a lengthy form during debriefing. A somewhat standard load for the F-105G was a 650 US gal (2,500 L) centerline fuel tank, two Standards on inboard pylons and two Shrikes on the outboard pylons. The mix varied slightly for jamming pods and the occasional AIM-9 Sidewinder but this

630-507: The anti-radiation missiles and would simply turn it off during the Vulcan's approaches. This radar remained intact during the whole conflict. However, air defences remained operational during the attacks and the Shrikes hit two of the less valuable and rapidly replaced secondary fire control radars. After one Vulcan made an emergency landing at Rio de Janeiro , Brazilian authorities confiscated

665-521: The campaigns of 1966 and 1967 until the advent of the AGM-78 Standard ARM . That new weapon allowed launches from significantly longer range with a much easier attack profile, as the Standard could be launched up to 180 degrees off target and still expect a hit and its speed allowed it to travel faster than the SA-2. Even after the Standard missile entered service, the Weasels still carried the Shrike because

700-407: The conflict and retrospectively. In the opening days of the air campaign of the 1991 Gulf War it was used to assess the damage to key Iraqi installations including its nuclear reactors. At the conclusion of the 2003 invasion of Iraq a joint team from the allied nations (including Britain, the United States and Australia) assessed the damage caused to almost 400 sites across the country to determine

735-446: The effectiveness of weapon strikes. As the field has advanced and the quantity of available data has increased, statistical techniques have been introduced to improve the speed and quality of data analysis. The advent of publicly available satellite imagery such as NASA 's FIRMS has allowed also for open-source intelligence to do BDA. Bomb damage assessment has a number of objectives. The assessment will attempt to determine if

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770-406: The enemy is a key objective of military censorship . For nuclear weapons special techniques may be required due to the extensive damage caused and difficulty in approaching the site. Originally, BDA was required due to the disconnected nature of aerial bombardment during World War I . It became necessary to send ground forces to an area to determine whether the damage was effective, or to overfly

805-505: The extent of the damage caused. In particular the analysis did not reliably identify whether a target had been damaged (but remained militarily viable) or was no longer a threat. Information on bomb damage is highly valuable to the enemy and military intelligence and censors will endeavour to conceal, exaggerate or underplay the extent of damage depending on the circumstances. Following the Bluff Cove Air Attacks during

840-412: The future of BDA. Possible future techniques involve using lasers or particle beams in a manner similar to side scan sonar to map, in three dimensions, the condition of a target. Boeing has developed (as of 2002 ) a system whereby a BDA "sensor" is towed a third of a kilometer behind the munition. This system is supposed to be capable of near real-time BDA by directly observing the interaction of

875-671: The late 1960s, the Soviet Union designed an alternative tracking mode for their S-75 (SA-2) missiles, which allowed them to track a jamming target without needing to actively send out any radar signals. This was achieved by the SAM site's radar receiver locking on to radio noise emissions generated by an aircraft's jamming pod. In cases of heavy jamming, missiles were often launched exclusively in this mode; this passive tracking meant that SAM sites could track targets without needing to emit any radar signals, and so American anti-radiation missiles could not be fired back in retaliation. Recently,

910-403: The more error is introduced into the missile's course. The ALARM even has an added loiter mode, with a built-in parachute, enabling it to descend slowly until the radar activates, whereupon the rocket motor will re-ignite. Even a temporary shut down of the enemy's missile guidance radar can be of a great advantage to friendly aircraft during battle. Defence Research and Development Organisation

945-404: The munition functioned properly and according to its design. An estimate will be made of the extent of physical damage (through munitions blast, fragmentation , and/or fire damage effects) to the target. This assessment is based upon observed or interpreted damage. Collateral and additional damage is also assessed in this process. Estimates will be made of the degree to which the military value of

980-425: The munition with the target. BDA relies on humans to interpret and analyze the data collected from various sources. Despite improvements in the data capture techniques limitations were exposed following the 1991 Gulf War in the assessment process when the data supplied by on-board cameras was not analysed correctly. This flawed analysis resulted in incorrect or incomplete information being given to local commanders on

1015-520: The number of damaged warships and shore installations. In more recent conflicts, special operations forces (SOF) have taken part in BDA, both through physical presence, and conducting overflies with equipment such as the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV . The Israeli Defense Forces includes two teams dedicated to both target designation and BDA. BDA was used during the two Gulf Wars, both during

1050-518: The range of the missile. As for warheads, the Mk 5 Mod 0, Mk 86 Mod 0, and WAU-8/B could all be fitted to the AGM-45A and were all blast-fragmentation in nature. The AGM-45B made use of the improved Mk 5 Mod 1 and Mk 86 Mod 1 warheads, as well as, the WAU-9/B, again all blast-fragmentation in type. The following table provides information on what radar bands were associated with certain guidance sections, and

1085-403: The subvariant designation. AGM-45B-2 AGM-45B-3 AGM-45B-3A AGM-45B-3B AGM-45B-4 AGM-45B-6 AGM-45B-7 AGM-45B-9 AGM-45B-9A AGM-45B-10 The -5 (targeted at Fan Song and M-11 Shtorm ("Head Lights") and -8 (targeted at P-18 radar "Spoon Rest" and P-14 radar ("Tall King") weapons never left development. Anti-radiation missile The earliest known anti-radiation weapon

AGM-45 Shrike - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-588: The target again. Either situation was difficult to accomplish safely. Starting with this conflict, specialized equipment has been used specifically for BDA type missions. Originally these were aircraft which were converted fighters or bombers (which in the USAAF were given a new RQ designation). Photographic reconnaissance was used extensively in World War II . From the 1950s onwards satellites became available, as well as high altitude surveillance planes such as

1155-638: The target has been degraded in respect of its intended mission. Finally the overall impact on the enemy's capability will be assessed. After the end of hostilities in the 1991 Gulf War, the Battle Damage Assessment Working Group (BDAWG) was formed at the behest of MTIC, the Military Targeting Intelligence Committee. Largely, this group sought to create a standard lexicon of terminology for describing BDA, and to develop an outlook for

1190-646: The target. Many pilots in Vietnam did not like the Shrike because of its limitations and its success rate of around 25%. The differences between the AGM-45A and B are in the rocket motor used, and in the warheads capable of being fitted. The AGM-45A used the Rocketdyne Mk 39 Mod 0 (or apparently in some cases the Aerojet Mk 53 Mod 1) motor, while the AGM-45B used Aerojet Mk 78 Mod 0 which greatly increased

1225-550: Was the baseline. The Shrike was involved in a friendly fire incident during an airstrike on Haiphong on 15 April 1972. Two missiles struck USS  Worden  (CG-18) killing one crewman and injuring nine more. An American pilot apparently interpreted the PIRAZ cruiser's AN/SPG-55 radar as a North Vietnamese SAM site. Worden required ten days shipyard work at the Subic Bay Naval Base to repair. Although

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