The Navy's Smart New Stealth Anti-Ship Missile Can Plan Its Own Attack
Tyler Rogoway
Filed to: US Navy12/04/14 12:20pm
The Navy's Smart New Stealth Anti-Ship Missile Can Plan Its Own Attack
America's primary anti-ship missile, the Harpoon, has been in service now for close to 40 years and the Navy has been very reluctant to evolve when it comes to its anti-ship capabilities. Times are changing, with China's Navy on the rise and Russia flexing its muscle, the Cold War staple just won't do. Enter Lockheed's ninja-like Long Range Anti-Ship Missile to save the day.
The Navy's Smart New Stealth Anti-Ship Missile Can Plan Its Own Attack
The Harpoon was once the 'gold standard' of anti-ship cruise missiles, but its subsonic flight profile, limited range, less than stealthy design, and relatively simple targeting and navigation methodology have left it as almost an afterthought in the Navy's quiver. Sure, it is still able to strike ships at sea, but its ability to safely do so against an advanced foe with anti-access capabilities and advanced defenses is highly questionable. Lockheed's LRASM program began in 2009 in hopes of righting this wrong and was originally part of a two-pronged anti-ship missile procurement concept.
This two-prong next generation anti-ship missile approach saw the development of the LRASM-A, the subsonic, low-flying and stealthy weapon that is still in development today. The other was the LRASM-B, a high-altitude supersonic, ramjet powered anti-ship missile, similar to the Russian Brahmos supersonic anti-ship missile. LRASM-B was cancelled in 2012 under tightening defense budgets, with DARPA focusing on the lower risk and more pressing LRASM-A concept.
The Navy's Smart New Stealth Anti-Ship Missile Can Plan Its Own Attack
LRASM is a cousin of Lockheed's stealthy JASSM cruise missile and is aiming to replace and expand the mission of both the AGM-84 aircraft-launched and RGM-84 ship-launched Harpoon. The video below depicts generally how LRASM works and some of the capabilities it brings to the table. In it you will see its most prominent feature is that it will "intelligently" sense and avoid hostile threats via an on-board passive radio frequency and threat warning receiver. Additionally, LRASM is equipped with an on-board data-link, advanced artificial intelligence software, low probability of intercept radar, imaging infrared sensor and an inertial navigation system with embedded GPS. All of this is tied to the sneaky missile's autopilot and cutting-edge computing core.
Basically, this stealthy missile will have enough AI on-board to survive via the automatic dissemination of high-quality electronic service measure (ESM)/radar warning receiver data. In other words, it sniffs out the enemy's electronic emissions (especially radar emissions) classifies them, geolocates them, and then figures out its own a route of best survival, or it decides to attack one of these threats directly.
In addition to LRASM's own electronic 'sniffing' abilities, high fidelity off-board data can be sent to it via data-link from external sensors. This means and aircraft like the P-8 Poseidon, E/A-18G Growler, MQ-4C Triton or EP-3 Aeries or AEGIS cruisers and destroyers can help build a real-time 'picture' of the enemy's electronic order of battle, so that the missile has a very high chance of making to its target area alive.
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Not only can LRASM avoid threats in order to sneak into an enemy's naval operating area alone, but it can also work with other LRASMs to infiltrate and prosecute an attack cooperatively, as a swarm. In fact, working with other LRASM missiles would most likely make their attack that much more potent, as they could use their threat emission detection and geolocating capabilities together, communicating among themselves in real-time. Such a tactic would provide a much higher resolution picture of exactly where the bad guys' threatening emissions are coming from via triangulation. Keep in mind this is all done passively, minus short transmissions via low-power data-link, so LRASM would remain almost totally emissions silent.
The Navy's Smart New Stealth Anti-Ship Missile Can Plan Its Own Attack
LRASM can also search for its own target autonomously, hundreds of miles away from its launch point. It does this using its primary active sensor, its radar, and its passive sensors, such as its imaging infrared and its aforementioned radio frequency listening and threat warning (electronic service measures) sensors. Once it is in an area where enemies may be operating, or if it 'sniffed' an enemy radar belonging to a ship it was programmed to attack, it would activate its radar, sweeping the area quickly while hopping frequencies in order to remain undetected. It could also have a 'radar picture' sent to it from virtually any aircraft or ship via data-link, allowing it keep its radar in standby mode, thus giving the enemy one less chance of detecting it. The missile's networking abilities, via its data-link allow the missile to maintain total emission silence all the way through its terminal attack if external targeting data is available.
If that data is not available, and LRASM uses its own radar, once LRASM picked up a radar return that matches that of an enemy ship in its memory banks full of 3D targeting models, it would begin prosecuting its attack, planning a route based on the threats in the area and its target's unique defenses. Once within range of its infrared sensor's view, it would use both it and its radar to pick the part of the targeted ship that is most vulnerable to strike. Then it would drop just feet above the water, possibly with its radar turned off (as long as its IR picture stayed consistent) and it would make its final, highly tailored attack run at the enemy ship.
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