BAe VSRAAM

[JAZZ]

British Aeropsace was looking a a project called very short range air-air missile mid-late 90's, it had a multi-spectral seeker 5km range and about 2m long. Attached is schematic and rendering...does anyone know what happened with this project...when it happened and why.

 

[Sentinel Chicken]

No warhead? I presume it was meant to kill on kinetic energy alone?

 

[Firefly 2]

Must have been some booster then

 

[elmayerle]

I would presume this was for very close in encounters where anything with a warhead would accomplish an "own goal"? I suppose a decent cannon would work just as well, save that "smart bullets" are at least as expensive.

 

[JAZZ]

Should have said, hit to kill and it was to be used from aircraft against incoming anti-aircraft missiles...is this project alive? or is this conceptualy a non-starter.

I don't think mounting a rear gun on a fighter would work...weight and radar implications. Prehaps a version of sweden's Abraham AA projectile would be better suited.

 

[elmayerle]

Ah, I assumed it was air-to-air against other aircraft. As a hit to kill against incoming missiles, it might work as it's basically the same principle as the KKV concepts for ABM and ASAT weapons.

 

[CJGibson]

Forgive my flippancy, but what was the date of this post?

KB

 

[Firefly 2]

Ah, I assumed it was air-to-air against other aircraft. As a hit to kill against incoming missiles, it might work as it's basically the same principle as the KKV concepts for ABM and ASAT weapons.

I just wonder about tactical usage...
Using these puppies would mean sacrificing hardpoints that could be used for more conventional offensive or defensive ordnance.
It could work if a flight consisted of a couple of aircraft with strike ordnance and a relative minority carrying a shitload of these babies.
But is it worth the hassle?

 

[JAZZ]

This first reported in Janes Defence Weekly 17-4-96. And Kelly I don't forgive your flippancy.

 

[CJGibson]

Thankyou for the reference, which puts a different slant on it, even if it is in the April issue. You may recall De Havilland Propellors' "Fireguard", which explains my scepticism.

KB