Low flying aircraft missile system - uses multiple sensors to locate target and launches missile through tube using aircraft velocity with trajectory nearly vertical

摘要

The aircraft overflies the target at low level. A detector pivots in a plane perpendicular to the flight vector of the aircraft so that the sensors look downwards along the calculated resultant velocity of the missile after discharge. Sensors comprise a magnetic anomaly detector for large targets such as tanks, a device for detecting the electromagnetic or quasi-magnetostatic fields associated with electrical apparatus, optical and/or thermal detectors. The missile is in a fixed launch tube, inclined backwards. A tachometer measures the forward velocity of the aircraft and the missile is launched so that its resultant velocity vector points steeply downwards towards the target. Ideally the descent should be vertical but it can lie within a cone of + or -45 deg. from the vertical without loss of precision. A downwards compares the radar image with stored data of linear features such as roads so that the aircraft can navigate itself along such a feature in search of targets. For detection of moving targets, a long range sensor scans an arc of the terrain ahead of the vehicle.