The deadly elements of cruise missiles or the use of shot-down rifles Tomahawk

Cruise missiles must fly in pre-programmed trajectories and have some self-correction, but in general it is low-flying and less orbital so it is easy to pick up.

What is cruise missiles?

First of all, what is the definition of cruise missiles?

Cruise missiles, also known as winged missiles, are actually low and very low-flying unmanned aircraft.

Why does it have to fly low?

It flies low to avoid detection of enemy radar. But when the missile flew low, its owner radar could not track it, so the cruise missile was executed according to the "shoot and forget" tactic, meaning that when it left the launch pad, it had to manage itself. .

The missile must fly in a pre-programmed trajectory and have some self-correction, but in general it is low-flying and less orbital so it is easy to pick up.

It easily escaped the modern air defense because the radar could not catch it, but it could not escape the human ears and eyes and the anti-aircraft fire picked up with infantry guns. Just a shot of a rifle is enough to destroy it.

Cross section of Tomahawk rocket.

Why is the cruise missile launched from a distance?

It is launched from a distance to surprise the enemy and limit the opponent to attack its host, such as a sea-going vessel from the sea.

It flew away and flew low so it couldn't fly fast because the air density was very low, so if it flew quickly, it would be heated and unbearable.

If it was launched to the target at a distance of about 1,000 km, it would be more than an hour after it flew at its maximum speed to reach the target. At that time, the opponent had more time to deploy a simple yet effective anti-aircraft fire network.

Long-distance cruise missiles must carry a lot of fuel. In order to avoid having to carry too much, there is no other way it must use a motor that only needs to carry a combustion substance and oxygen from the air.

So its body must have a suction mouth and when the air flow into its mouth must be stable, the engine will work well. That forced it to fly in a stable and almost mobile way. The consequences are very easy to pick up.

Mechanism to destroy targets of cruise missiles Tomahawk (above) and Kalibr (below).

Why do we see cruise missiles in long form?

In addition to the necessary compartments like all missiles, it must carry a lot of fuel, so on the body it must arrange a longer fuel tank and not even a compartment.

When flying fuel is consumed, it leads to the center of the bullet changes. As a result, if the stability decreases, the missile is easily lost, if the stability increases, the missile is very quiet and easy to catch.

When flying away and being forgotten by the owner, it must lead itself to the road. In the first stage it must certainly fly by inertial navigation method, but the principle of this method is cumulative, so when there are errors, the error is accumulated as the interest of mother tongue.

To overcome errors in this principle, there is no other way to correct the trajectory with another principle.

Usually today people adjust with satellite navigation but this is also limited because locating a fast moving object violates a principle of uncertainty - when determining the position of it was not in that position anymore.

In short, the flight trajectory of cruise missiles is difficult to guarantee accurately. If corrected by satellite navigation, it is also very susceptible to interference.

Why must cruise missiles be afraid of infantry guns?

When flying low, cruise missiles hardly dared to fly into areas with complicated terrain because if they were equipped with high measuring devices, the adjustment according to the altitude was also very limited. If calibrated according to the high pressure gauge, it cannot fly in the hilly area because this high-level measuring kit only gives missiles a height above sea level, not compared to the actual terrain.

So, on the cruise missile, it is necessary to combine the radio altimeter that operates its principle like radar. It launches radio signals to the ground, captures reflected signals, compares it to height. This receiver signal is much more noisy when fast-moving missiles require devices to be processed very quickly. This is very difficult.

Flying trajectory of Kh-35 cruise missiles.

We imagine that when we meet the missile hill, we must measure the height from the hill to it, the devices on it must be processed to determine the exact height and transmitted to the controller. The controller commands a high-angle steering wheel to shift the wing to an appropriate angle to lift the rocket. But with that time, the rocket still rushed and sometimes crashed into the hill.
As such, it must avoid complex terrain areas, making it easier to get around. Moreover, it is very easy to interfere with the radio height meter.

The above fixes the weakness of lack of accuracy as mentioned above, at the stage near the missile target is adjusted according to the digital map or according to the television camera.

This is actually very easy to deal with because people can use disguise method to change the terrain near the target to be protected, of course it must be secret not to let the spy stay in the know. In addition, can cause smoke to blind TV cameras and missiles do not recognize the target.

In summary, to deal with cruise missiles, it is not necessary to use modern air defense systems or rather cannot use them, but need to practice the pick-up with infantry guns of all kinds. In order to detect the target, it is necessary to have intelligence to be on guard, and when there is a situation, it can be detected by ear and eyes and communicated by normal phone.

Research directions: Interfering with GPS waves, causing interference with radio high-level measuring devices and detecting the target of stealth by mobile phone network according to the principle of spider web - a fly caught in the network makes the whole network shake.

The article by Colonel, Dr. Phan Van Tu, former head of the high-tech department, Institute of missiles, Ministry of Defense.