In 1976, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization held a joint military exercise in the Atlantic. During this period, a new fighter on the US aircraft carrier "Kennedy", the F-14 "Tomcat", fell into the sea due to flight failure. The U.S. Navy has sent a large number of aircraft and warships, using a variety of advanced electronic equipment to find the lost "Tomcat". It took a few days, and it took a lot of effort, and finally found it. The "Tomcat" lay intact on the surface of the sea, but the most precious "undead bird" carried by the "Tomcat" was gone.
▲ The "Undead Bird" missile that sank to the bottom of the sea in the 1976 accident
What is an "undead bird"? Originally, the "Undead Bird" is a long-range air-to-air missile used by the U.S. Navy to equip the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and its English name is Pho enix, which translates to Chinese which means the undead bird, or the mythical phoenix.
▲ The U.S. Navy F-14 fighter jet launches the AIM-54 Undead Bird air-to-air missile
In fact, compared with other missiles of the same type in the world, the "Undead Bird" is indeed worthy of being a pearl. It can shoot down enemy aircraft about 120 kilometers away, while general air-to-air missiles can only fly a few kilometers or more than a dozen kilometers, and there are not many hundreds of kilometers, which is counted as a long-range air-to-air missile. The total length of the bullet is nearly 4 meters, the weight is nearly half a ton, and the diameter of the bullet is nearly 40 centimeters.
The emergence and development of the "immortal bird"
Before the 1960s, air-to-air missiles could only hit one target at a time. In 1960, the U.S. Navy proposed a new combat code that required the design of a long-range air-to-air missile that could intercept multiple targets at the same time. Development began in 1961 by the Hughes Aircraft Company of the United States. The first unpowered launch test was conducted in March 1965 and the first guided launch in May 1966, in which the missile was launched from an A-3A attack aircraft and successfully hit the target.
▲ In May 1966, the AIM-54A "Undead Bird" air-to-air missile was launched for the first time, and the missile carrier was an A-3A attack aircraft
There are two types of "Undead Bird", one is the AIM-54A developed in 1966, which has been used in conjunction with F-14 fighters and equipped with the U.S. Navy. The second is the modified AIM-54C, which entered service in 1989.
An F-14 aircraft can carry six Undead Bird missiles and can be launched simultaneously to attack six enemy aircraft. This is what people usually call a missile salvo.
▲ F-14 fighter aircraft carrying six AIM-54 Undead Bird air-to-air missiles, which belong to the 211st Fighter Squadron
"Undead Bird" missile system
The combination of the "Undead Bird" missile and the fire control system (mainly the AWG-9 radar) mounted on the aircraft to control the flight of the missile is called the "Undead Bird" missile system.
The warhead of the "Undead Bird" missile weighs 60 kg and is equipped with 27 kg of high-energy explosives, which is more powerful. A single-stage rocket engine loaded with solid propellant, it can fly up to 5 times the speed of sound and fly for about 3 minutes.
▲ Schematic diagram of part of the structure of the AIM-54A Undead Bird air-to-air missile
The on-board instrument can be roughly divided into three parts: one is the program control part, the role is to make the missile climb high at the initial stage of launch; the second is the semi-active guidance system, the role is to make the missile accept the command of the fire control system mounted on the carrier aircraft and control the operation of the missile to fly toward the target; the third is the active guidance system, the role is to use the radar installed at the front end to directly grasp the target when the missile is close to the target, and control the missile flight until it hits the target.
The AWG-9 fire control system was also very advanced at the time. It is mounted on the F-14 aircraft, is the command and control center of the missile, and the fire control radar can catch enemy aircraft up to 213 to 278 kilometers away, and measure the position, speed and heading of the enemy aircraft.
▲ Schematic diagram of radar scan of the F-14 fighter
One AWG-9 can track 24 targets simultaneously. On the F-14 aircraft, in addition to controlling six Undead Bird missiles, it can also fire and control Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles, and can also be used for aiming and firing airborne artillery.
▲ AIM-54 "Undead Bird" air-to-air missiles (bottom) and AIM-9 air-to-air missiles hanging from the F-14 fighter pylons
"Undead Bird" launcher
The flight principle of the "Undead Bird" missile is more complicated, with both program ballistic flight and guided ballistic flight. As far as guided ballistic flight is concerned, it is not a single form, but semi-active and active.
The initial trajectory of the missile after leaving the aircraft is the program trajectory, which is the missile's climbing and flying according to the command of the predetermined programming device that has been installed. Then, the semi-active guidance system began to work, the receiver on the missile received the target reflection wave of the radar pulse radiation of the fire control system, which was processed by the electronic instrument on the missile, and then converted the electrical signal into a mechanical force through the steering gear, and the rudder surface was deflected. Finally, when the missile is several kilometers away from the target, the guidance radar on the missile is automatically switched on to automatically track the target.
F-14 fighters of the U.S. Navy's 103rd Fighter Squadron are launching AIM-54 Undead Bird air-to-air missiles
A fire control system can control multiple missiles to fly to different targets at the same time, the principle is that each missile receives the reflected waves of different targets reflected by AWG-9 according to time, without interfering with each other and in an orderly manner. When the missile enters active guidance, the task of the carrier aircraft and the onboard fire control system is completed, and it can be disengaged or withdrawn from the battle.
The combat capabilities and future of the "Undead Bird"
By the early 1980s, the "Undead Bird" had fired nearly 200 rounds in electronic countermeasures, with a hit rate of more than 85%. In 1973, an F-14 aircraft fired six Undead Birds in 38 seconds, four of which hit targets at 50 to 80 kilometers. In another test, the Soviet Tu-22M Backfire supersonic bomber and the Soviet MiG-25 aircraft were successfully intercepted using jamming tactics. At the same time, a salvo of two targets only 300 meters apart was successful. Ultra-low-altitude target aircraft (simulated cruise missiles) that are only 50 meters above the sea surface have also been successfully intercepted. In addition, the "interception" test of the British "Concorde" aircraft has also been successful.
▲ In March 2020, the second Tu-22M3M bomber prototype flew for the first time
In short, as a long-range, high-performance, multi-purpose missile weapon, the "Undead Bird" has successfully conducted many actual combat tests, so the missile system is in a leading position in the US military expenditure and the US Navy's combat deployment at the end of the 20th century, and is listed as the focus of developing tactical missiles.
In 2008, the last F-14 fighter jet was retired from the U.S. military, and the AIM-54 Undead Bird air-to-air missile, which was used in combination with it, was also retired from the U.S. military's equipment sequence. Although the AIM-120 series of air-to-air missiles that succeeded it are more advanced and smaller, the AIM-54 "Undead Bird" has always occupied a place in the minds of practitioners and military enthusiasts.
【Author: Zuo Shichen】