Have you ever seen a missile that can "turn its head" in the air? The United States is currently developing a strange air-to-air missile with a deformed warhead, which can improve its maneuverability by turning its head.
[Its warhead can be twisted, it's amazing, isn't it]
Considering the NAGD sixth-generation fighter being developed by the United States, this missile may be prepared for it, how powerful is it? How should China counter it?
"Brain-opening" missiles
The name of this missile is MUTANT, and it is equipped with a special rotating structure between the warhead and the missile body, so that it can rotate flexibly.
Why would the United States want to develop such a strange missile? This has to mention the shortcomings of the current missiles and the advantages that the sixth-generation fighter will have.
[Concept map of the sixth-generation fighter]
At present, there are many types of advanced missiles in the world, among which China's Thunderbolt series missiles are particularly eye-catching.
The Thunderbolt-15 has a maximum range of more than 200 kilometers, and with the target information provided by the early warning aircraft, it can completely take the "first stage" of the enemy's aircraft outside the battlefield, and is the most advanced air-to-air missile in the world.
China's next-generation air-to-air missile has a longer strike range, and it is reported that it may reach 400 kilometers, which is completely beyond the scope of the battlefield, and the threat to the enemy is not insignificant.
China's attainments in long-range air-to-air missiles can be described as unparalleled, and this is also
In addition to this, there are two aspects of missiles that are also very important, which are speed and maneuverability.
Missiles with speed advantage can reduce the opponent's reaction time, so that they can hit the target unit faster, and the hit rate will naturally increase.
As a very simple example, a missile flying at Mach 3 and a missile flying at Mach 6, it is clear at a glance who is easier to intercept.
Maneuverability, on the other hand, greatly increases the upper limit of air-to-air missiles, and in another sense, increases the missile's hit rate.
Today's missiles generally adjust the attitude of the missile body to change the flight angle, and it is inevitable that they will appear dull when striking highly maneuverable targets.
For some backward air-to-air missiles, fifth-generation fighters can completely rely on their superior maneuverability to play with them.
And the sixth-generation fighter may be like in a science fiction movie, by constantly "flexibly" walking in the sky to get rid of the lock of air-to-air missiles.
In other words, it is difficult to hit a sixth-generation fighter with high maneuverability just by adjusting the ballistic attitude to change the locking angle.
It is based on this concept that the United States has predicted in advance the sixth-generation fighters of its competitors, and even if they are used to combat fifth-generation fighters, the effect will be unexpected.
How it can be achieved
So, how can such an advanced missile be realized? To what extent has the United States achieved?
The principle of the MUTANT missile is actually the same as that of the fish to adjust the direction by swinging, and the core is the articulated control system, which is the key to flexible control of the swing of the warhead, and the results are not yet known.
Although the principle of the MUTANT missile is very simple, it is more difficult to implement it than everyone thinks.
Because the MUTANT missile has a high speed during flight, a slight swing angle can bring great changes to the trajectory.
For example, friends who drive a car know that the faster the car, the smaller the angle of the steering wheel rotation when adjusting the body.
If a car traveling at 120 km/h on the highway wants to correct its body or adjust its lane, it only needs to adjust the steering wheel slightly.
The speed of air-to-air missiles will generally exceed Mach 2, and when correcting the trajectory, it is more necessary to accurately control it, otherwise it will be an ineffective maneuver.
Obviously, this puts forward high requirements for the internal guidance equipment, but the size of the air-to-air missile is there, and the equipment carried inside must be sophisticated and meet the control standards, which will be a huge challenge both in terms of technology and cost.
In addition, when the rapid adaptation occurs, the housing material also needs to be specially made to meet the requirements of maneuverability.
This has also greatly increased the difficulty of research and development in the early stage, and the United States has only completed the theoretical research work of the MUTANT missile, and testing and simulation experiments are underway.
How China countered
Judging from the current development of the MUTANT missile, it is difficult to say whether the United States will succeed or not.
But this can be regarded as a wake-up call to China, if the United States uses it in actual combat in the future, the threat to us is also very great, how should we counter it?
There are two ways: First, China is also vigorously developing MUTANT missiles and "treating others the way they want to be treated."
Moreover, such a cutting-edge technical concept, I believe that our staff has long been aware of it, but the relevant research has not been published, maybe our progress is faster than that of the United States.
The second point is that the MUTANT missile focuses on maneuverability, and it is estimated that there will be trade-offs in terms of speed and range, and the level of the latter two may not be very high.
Therefore, we can develop more advanced decoy bombs that have the characteristics of Chinese fighters, so that MUTANT missiles can hit the wrong target.
But in fact, it is too early for us to be so optimistic that the MUTANT missile is the trend of future air-to-air missile development.
The concept of this missile is advanced, but it only focuses on one part of the missile's performance indicators.
If it is said that the speed of air-to-air missiles in the future can be achieved to the extreme, reaching Mach 10, Mach 12 or even Mach 20, even if the trajectory is changed by adjusting the attitude of the missile, it will be difficult for the opponent's fighter to "escape", and the so-called maneuverability is no longer so important.
In the field of hypersonic weapons, China can be said to be far ahead of the world, and air-to-air missiles flying at Mach 10 are no longer a dream.
In the same way, as long as the range of missiles is long enough, even exceeding the warning range of the enemy's early warning aircraft, it will be able to seize the absolute initiative on the battlefield.
It can be seen from this that the American MUTANT missile does have a reference, but what is more important is the continuous improvement in a specific performance field.
Resources:
The Paper: "Talking about Martial Arts|The U.S. Army's "Brains Are Wide Open", Developing "Mutated" Air-to-Air Missiles