The AGM-86B/C/D Air Launched Cruise Missile is an air breathing missile capable of sustain subsonic flight using both inertial, Litton terrain contour matching and Global Positioning System guidance. Three distinct versions of the missile consist of the B model with a W80–1 nuclear warhead, the C model with conventional 1,000 pound high explosive blast and fragmentation warhead. The final version is the AGM-86D conventional explosives, but with a penetrating warhead.
ALCM Development
Some missiles can be fitted with any of a variety of navigation systems (Inertial navigation, TERCOM, or satellite navigation). Larger cruise missiles can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead, while smaller ones carry only conventional warheads. The Cold War-era missile was designed to saturate and overwhelm Soviet air defenses, either acting as a decoy or presenting targeting dilemmas. It could then strike missile and radar sites with blast fragmentation warheads. B-52H bombers carry six AGM-86B/C/D missiles on each of two externally mounted pylons and eight internally on a rotary launcher, giving the B-52H a maximum capacity of 20 missiles per aircraft. B-52H bombers carry six AGM-86B or AGM-86C missiles on each of two externally mounted pylons and eight internally on a rotary launcher, giving the B-52H a maximum capacity of 20 missiles per aircraft.
Pentagon Buys 1000 Nuclear-Armed LRSO Cruise Missiles to Arrive by 2030 - Warrior Maven
Pentagon Buys 1000 Nuclear-Armed LRSO Cruise Missiles to Arrive by 2030.
Posted: Sun, 05 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
US Retires CALCM Missile
The AGM-86B is then able to fly complicated routes to a target through use of a terrain contour-matching guidance system. The AGM-86C/D uses an onboard Global Positioning System coupled with its inertial navigation system to fly. This allows the missile to guide itself to the target with pinpoint accuracy. The United States Air Force (USAF) deploys an air-launched cruise missile, the AGM-86 ALCM. The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is the exclusive delivery vehicle for the AGM-86 and AGM-129 ACM.
AGM-86 ALCM
USAF awarded Lockheed Martin and Raytheon technology-maturation and risk-reduction contracts for the LRSO in 2017, with Raytheon’s design emerging as the focus of USAF’s continued development last year. Plans call for fielding the nuclear missile by the late 2020s, possibly followed by a conventional derivative thereafter. As SCAD moved from the pure-decoy role to decoy-and-attack, this meant it would be able to carry out the same mission as SRAM, but from much longer range. Accordingly, in June 1973, SCAD was canceled in favor of a system dedicated purely to the long-range attack mission. The original designation number remained, but the name changed to reflect the new mission, becoming the Air Launched Cruise Missile, or ALCM.
Air-launched cruise missile
Between 1982 and 1986, 1,715 AGM-86Bs were produced.9 Currently, the stockpile has been reduced to around 528. In 1998, a life extension program was initiated to refurbish the nuclear warheads carried by the AGM-86B and is expected to keep them operational through 2030, until its expected replacement, the Long-Range Standoff Weapon (LRSO), enters service. Looking for another solution to the Soviet SAM problem, in 1964 the Air Force began developing a new system that would directly attack the missile sites rather than confuse them. This emerged as the AGM-69 SRAM, with a range of about 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi), allowing it to be launched from outside the roughly 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) range of the SA-2 Guideline missiles it faced.
The AGM-86 missile continues to be used by the US Air Force bomber fleet and can be carried internally by the B-52 using the common strategic rotary launcher to reduce parasitic drag and increase the range of the aircraft. The missile is also certified for employment with the B-1B Lancer and B-2A Spirit fleet of bombers. Designed to carry either a conventional or nuclear warhead, it had a turbofan jet engine, flew at subsonic speeds, had a range of 1,125 kilometers (700 miles), and used an inertial navigation system with terrain-contour matching radar. Because the missile flew close to the ground, it was difficult for enemy radars to detect. Most AGM-86As were used in flight tests in 1976, and none became operational. Subsequent versions of the ALCM with conventional or nuclear warheads and a longer range have been produced and deployed on B-1 and B-52 bombers.
Pages in category "Nuclear cruise missiles of the United States"
SCAD was designed specifically to fit onto the same rotary launcher used by SRAM, allowing a single aircraft to carry multiple SRAM and SCAD and launch either at any time. This led to it being the same 14 foot (4.3 m) length as SRAM, and the use of a fuselage with a triangular cross-section, which maximized the usable volume on the rotary launchers. The system was otherwise similar to Quail, using a simple inertial navigation system (INS) allowing the missile to fly a pre-programmed course.
Initial production
A production order was not placed for the Boeingmodel and by the time President Carter made his decision to proceed with the ALCM both Boeing and General Dynamics had developed cruise missiles. Boeing won a competitive flyoff between thetwo missiles and on 25 March 1980 received a contract to produce the AGM-86B. The AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) is a long-range, air-launched standoff missile designed to give U.S. bombers the ability to launch their payload from outside the range of anti-aircraft weapons. In January 1968, a new requirement emerged for a modern version of Quail for this new mission, the Subsonic Cruise Aircraft Decoy, or SCAD.
The base AGM-86C and AGM-86D have a launch weight of 1,750 kg, whereas the Block 1 weighs 200 kg more, at 1,950 kg. The warhead for the base AGM-86C is a high explosive (HE) unit weighing 910 kg; the Block 1 is a HE weighing 1,360 kg; and the Block 2 is a HE/penetration weighing 545 kg. It has a reduced range (compared to the AGM-86B) of 1,200 km as a result of the heavier payload of conventional explosives. The CALCM was also used in Operation Desert Fox in 1998, Operation Allied Force in 1999, and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Operation Iraqi Freedom was also the combat debut of the AGM-86D, a further development of the missile which replaced the blast/fragmentation warhead of the AGM-86C with a penetrating warhead.
Flying at Mach 3, it quickly flew out in front of the bombers, reaching the missile site before the bomber flew into the range of the SA-2. The United States has deployed nine nuclear cruise missiles at one time or another. The nuclear AGM-86B was the first production version with a total of 1,715 delivered through 1986. USAF plans to cut the inventory from its current level to an eventual 528 ALCM. Some ALCMs were modified for conventional use with INS/GPS-guidance and a blast fragmentation warhead and redelivered in 1987 as the AGM-86C CALCM.
During flight, this system compares surface characteristics with maps of the planned flight route stored in on-board computers to determine the missile's location. As the missile nears its target, comparisons become more specific, guiding the missile to target with pinpoint accuracy. In 1944, during World War II, Germany deployed the first operational cruise missiles. The V-1, often called a flying bomb, contained a gyroscope guidance system and was propelled by a simple pulsejet engine, the sound of which gave it the nickname of "buzz bomb" or "doodlebug". Accuracy was sufficient only for use against very large targets (the general area of a city), while the range of 250 km was significantly lower than that of a bomber carrying the same payload. The main advantages were speed (although not sufficient to outperform contemporary propeller-driven interceptors) and expendability.
The concept started as a long-range drone aircraft that would act as a decoy, distracting Soviet air defenses from the bombers. As new lightweight nuclear weapons emerged in the 1960s, the design was modified with the intent of attacking missile and radar sites at the end of its flight. An air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) is a cruise missile that is launched from a military aircraft. Current versions are typically standoff weapons which are used to attack predetermined land targets with conventional, nuclear or thermonuclear payloads.
The 06/III (RP-216) and 06/IV (RP-212) contained gyroscopic guidance systems.[5] The vehicle was designed to boost to 28 km altitude and glide a distance of 280 km, but test flights in 1934 and 1936 only reached an altitude of 500 meters. In June 1986 a limited number of AGM-86B missiles were converted to carry a high-explosive blast/fragmentation warhead and an internal GPS. This modification also replaced the B model's terrain contour-matching guidance system and integrated a GPS capability with the existing inertial navigation computer system.
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