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Missile Madness
Charles R. Smith
Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004
Clinton Legacy Inside Russian Missiles
For nearly three decades the U.S. Navy has depended on a missile designed in 1948. The MQM-8 Vandal was derived from the ramjet-powered Talos missile that protected the Navy during the Cold War.
The massive missile duplicated the performance of deadly Russian anti-ship missiles, flying faster than a rifle bullet for more than 50 miles at extremely low altitude.
In 1991, the Navy canceled the replacement for the Vandal. The AQM-127 SLAT (Supersonic Low-Altitude Target) project was terminated because of climbing costs and long delays. The move left the Navy with a limited inventory of usable Vandal missiles to act as realistic targets.
In 1992, the Clinton administration took over and three years passed before a replacement for the aging Vandal was selected. However, President Clinton decided to purchase a Russian-made missile for the U.S. Navy.
The Clinton decision came after Vice President Al Gore tripped to Moscow in 1995 and shook hands with Russian leaders. As a result of U.S.-Russian politics, the Navy was stuck with the Zvezda-Strela MA-31 ? a derivative of Zvezda's Kh-31 NATO, code name "Krypton," anti-ship missile.
Yet the Russian Krypton was not ready. It required more money and lots of additional development to turn it into an operational weapon. Thus, the Clinton administration gave U.S. defense dollars to Moscow.
In 1995, according to the official U.S. Navy documentation, McDonnell Douglas proceeded under Clinton administration orders to help Russia develop the Krypton missile as part of a U.S. Navy target drone project. The catch: The missile did not work, was highly dangerous to fire and needed improvement to meet the specifications.
U.S. Improves Russian Missiles
According to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, U.S. Navy and McDonnell Douglas engineers suggested a series of "P3I," or "pre-planned product improvements," to extend the range of the Krypton, improve its flight performance and enable jet fighters to safely fire the weapon without blowing up.
"The MA-31 [Krypton] target will need P3I [pre-planned product improvements] in order to meet the range and ground/surface launch requirements for the Supersonic Sea Skimming Target program (SSST). The range of the MA-31 target in its FCT configuration is approximately 15 nm [nautical miles] at low altitude," states the 1995 review document.
According to the 1995 McDonnell Douglas review, one "extended range option" given to the Russian contractor Zvezda "adds an auxiliary fuel ***, a reduced drag nose cone, changes the fuel to JP-10 (which has a higher specific energy content than the Russian fuel), and modifies the ramjet nozzle. The extended range modification is intended to increase range to approximately 42 nm [nautical miles] at 10m [meter] altitude."
Another more crucial design improvement given to Russia involved "Ground Jettison Testing" done by the U.S. defense contractor against the Russian missile. According to a 1995 program review document, the Russian-built AKY-58M missile launcher for the Krypton was fatally flawed and could destroy the firing plane.
"In three emergency jettison tests, the lanyard stayed with the launch rail instead of with the target. In all cases the booster would have been armed, and ignition could have occurred for any of several reasons," stated the 1995 report.
"MDAC [McDonnell Douglas] has determined that use of a longer lanyard and slower separation velocity would allow proper operation of the emergency jettison sequence. The problem has been turned over to the Russians for resolution," states the 1995
review document.
http://www.softwar.net/kh31p.html. |
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