China's SD-10 claimed to be a dual-mode AAM

[fatman17]

ASIA PACIFIC
Date Posted: 26-Nov-2010


Jane's Defence Weekly


China's SD-10 claimed to be a dual-mode AAM.

Robert Hewson Jane's Air-Launched Weapons Editor - Zhuhai, China



China's SD-10 medium-range air-to-air missile (AAM), as exhibited at Airshow China earlier in November, may be a considerably more capable weapon than was hitherto believed, Jane's understands.

Officials from the SD-10's manufacturer, the Luoyang Electro-Optical Technology Development Center (LOEC), said the missile was designed from the beginning to function with a dual-mode seeker operating in distinct active and passive radar homing modes. If so, the SD-10 is the first AAM to enter service with this acknowledged capability.

There have been suggestions that the latest AIM-120D Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) developed by Raytheon for the US Air Force and Navy has a similar dual-mode seeker capability. The full capabilities of the AIM-120D remain classified, but its development has been problematic and it has yet to enter operational service.

The SD-10 - the current production version is the refined SD-10A - has been cleared for service on the Chengdu J-10 and late-model versions of the Shenyang J-8 combat aircraft. By the end of this year the missile is expected to be operational with the PAC JF-17s of the Pakistan Air Force.

In lengthy discussions with LOEC at the 16-21 November Airshow China exhibition, the operating modes of the SD-10A were set out to Jane's in detail. The missile has an active terminal homing capability, which has been openly described since the first details of the SD-10 were made public in the middle of the last decade.

What has remained unspoken until now is the missile's claimed ability to home in on radar or electronic warfare emissions from the target aircraft, without support from the launch aircraft or use of the missile's own active seeker modes.

A LOEC official told Jane's that the passive mode was not intended to be the missile's primary targeting mode and cited the risks to friendly aircraft of relying on passive guidance alone. It is not clear if the SD-10A's seeker can continually alternate between active and passive modes in flight or if it makes a less sophisticated 'one time' switch.

In the past, Russian sources have given Jane's a detailed account of the assistance supplied by Russian design bureaus in the development of the SD-10. A LOEC official hinted that this co-operation is continuing when he noted: "We [LOEC] have the capability to make the seeker ourselves, but obviously we want it to be the best it possibly can." He confirmed that the missile still relied on some unidentified components that were sourced outside China.

Within Russia the AGAT Design Bureau has developed several dual-mode seeker designs which it only began discussing in public in 2009. Senior AGAT officials have remained vague when asked by Jane's about who paid for these development programmes, noting only that there is no Russian application and no Russian state support for them.

During the 1990s China also gained access to the 9B-1032 passive seeker developed by Avtomatika for the Vympel R-27P (AA-10 'Alamo') AAM. A melding of these two design inputs might explain how China arrived at its SD-10 seeker design. According to a LOEC official, the dual-mode capability was designed into the SD-10 from its inception.

An SD-10A missile (underwing) is part of the weapons suite of a Pakistan Air Force JF-17 at November's Airshow China.

 

[maverick1977]

can someone tell us the benefits of both passive and active homing from launch till the end of its course..

 

[fatman17]

ASIA PACIFIC
Date Posted: 26-Nov-2010


Jane's Defence Weekly


China's airborne weapons array gets an airing at home show.

Robert Hewson JDW Correspondent - Zhuhai, China



The Airshow China 2010 show, held in Zhuhai between 16 and 21 November, was a shop window for China's latest air weapons programmes - all of which are available for export and some of which are already in service. The show underlined China's continuing development emphasis on small precision guided munitions (PGMs) and larger stand-off weapons.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is active in both fields through its FT (Fei Teng, 'To Soar') series of PGMs. Current versions include the baseline 500 kg class FT-1 and 250 kg class FT-3 INS/GPS-guided bombs. When fitted with range extension kits, these two weapons become the FT-2 and FT-6 respectively. The pop-out wings give both bombs a gliding range of up to 90 km.

According to CASC, these weapons can be used against "hostile political targets, military headquarters, [industrial] plants, harbours, power plants, transformer substations, communication centres and ground forces."

The FT-5 is described by CASC as "a small diameter bomb" and it stands apart from the other FT weapons by virtue of its smaller size and revised airframe configuration (CASC does not appear to have an FT-4). The FT-5 weighs between 55 kg and 75 kg, according to CASC data.

At Airshow China CASC made reference to "an additional seeking system which greatly improves its delivery precision", allowing the weapon to "precisely attack small point targets" with CEP (Circular Error Probability) accuracy of around 5 m. The INS/GPS-guided FT weapons are accurate to between 10 and 20 m CEP.

The new guidance system for the FT-5 is almost certainly a semi-active laser (SAL) seeker, allowing precise terminal guidance by the launch aircraft or forces on the ground. CASC is integrating the FT-5 on its CH-3 medium-range long-endurance UAV.

Drop tests with unguided weapons began in 2009 and a CASC official told Jane's that guided tests would be completed in 2011. Jane's was also told that this armed CH-3 configuration was being sold to Pakistan, with 20 air vehicles to be acquired.

A similar SAL-equipped enhanced guidance fit has been developed by the Luoyang Electro-Optical Technology Development Centre (LOEC) for two new variants of its LS-6 guided weapon family. The 50 kg LS-6(50) and 100 kg LS-6(100) use some of the basic GPS/INS guidance components of the much larger LS-6(250) and LS-6(500) but with a redesigned airframe and a new laser seeker for enhanced precision.

The two previously unseen 'small diameter' LS-6s have a specially developed tubular warhead fitted with a tail kit housing the bombs' GPS/INS guidance systems and actuated control surfaces. Four long-span, short-chord wing surfaces are strapped on to the bomb body to provide extra lift for gliding range. Each weapon is tipped with a circular SAL seeker.

LOEC says that an infra-red seeker is a future guidance option.

Development of the small diameter LS-6s does not seem to be as advanced as the CASC FT-5. LOEC says it has clients for the weapons but that drop-testing has not begun.

LOEC placed less emphasis on UAV operations with its small weapons, noting they were best suited to expanding the warload of aircraft such as the J-10 and the JH-7.

A LOEC official said that the LS-6(50) and LS-6(100) were also well-suited to internal carriage. The official added that this was not yet a design feature on any current Chinese combat aircraft but would emerge on China's coming fifth-generation fighter, which was acknowledged to be in an advanced development phase.

The CASC FT-5 guided bomb may have been further developed with a new semi-active laser seeker, although this was not evident on the models at Airshow China 2010.

LOEC's LS-6(100) is the larger of the two new 'small diameter' variants of the LS-6 series exhibited for the first time at Airshow China 2010. It combines an additional laser terminal seeker with its basic INS/GPS guidance fit.

 

[Manticore]

new goodies for our jf17 -- feed it more weapons and it will turn into a monster!

something that could never have happened so freely for gripen --)

 

[hataf]

can someone tell us the benefits of both passive and active homing from launch till the end of its course..

semi-active

fighter plain or other source AEW&C radar is used to illuminate the target and with that missile find its way to the target mean until missile reach the target you have to point the air craft nose to ward it . . . . .


Active

mean missile uses its own radar to illuminate and find the target

passive

missile uses target radar signature to find it, that is used if target try to jam the radar of missile

 

[ANG]

Hi, this article might be mean that the SD-10 comes in two flavors, one with an active radar seeker and the other with an infra-red seeker like the MICA AAM. Take care.

MICA (missile) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[gambit]

can someone tell us the benefits of both passive and active homing from launch till the end of its course..

Benefits later...But first...

Active targeting is when the missile has its own radar, which is an active sensor while infrared is a passive sensor. So in order to be an 'active' missile, there has to be an exchange of radar signals between the missile and the target's 'skin return'. In other words, the missile's radar impact the target whose body reflects back a certain amount -- an exchange.

Passive detection can be from infrared as well as EM. Please...please...please...please...please...please...Do not say anything like 'passive radar'. There is no such animal and I do not care how many online sources anybody bring on. Radar detection is a process operation: A transmission of a medium, which are EM signals. And a reception of that same medium. Combined and we have 'radar detection'. Separate them and we have radar detection PROCESSES. Anyway...A missile can use its radar in passive, or 'listening', mode alone to guide its way. But in order to do so, there must be EM signals coming from somewhere.

Take note of this comment...

...the passive mode was not intended to be the missile's primary targeting mode and cited the risks to friendly aircraft of relying on passive guidance alone.

Risks? What risks are those?

The problem here is that there is a difficulty in distinguishing 'friendly' active radar transmissions from 'enemy' radar transmissions. That is not to say there are no 'signature' of sorts that 'friendly' radar carry. There are such signatures but then the burden is remembering what they are and separate them from a dense EM environment that will include...

- Friendly,
- Unknown,
- Enemy,
- Noise or Jamming signatures.

If the missile does not have the necessary memory capacity to remember, in other words be programmed, with 'friendly' signatures, it is dangerous to install a 'passive' homing capability because we could end up with shooting at a 'friendly' aircraft.

Anti radiation missiles or 'beam rider' missiles are 'passive' but usually are best for a specific environment -- ground battles. The most basic type is all passive or 'listening' only but require the shooter to point the missile at the target. In this case, the burden is upon the shooter to distinguish, via any method, the 'enemy' from the 'friendly'. The shooter can 'eyeball' a radar station, recognize that it is a 'bad guy' station, then shoot. All the missile has to do is lock that signature and source direction in whatever tiny amount of memory it has and fly. In an air combat environment, the target is highly maneuverable and the possibility of the 'enemy' target crossing into a 'friendly' EM field is very real and if the 'friendly' signature has a more powerful presence, meaning higher wattage, the missile would go after that 'friendly'. Not good.

So is there a benefit for a missile to be in 'passive' or 'listening' mode? Yes. The victim aircraft may not be aware of the missile despite his active transmissions because the missile is so small and that would increase the odds of a successful hit. But in order to exploit that potential situation, we must have the appropriate hardwares installed in the missile.

 

[mughaljee]

Glad to know this.

 

[rockstarIN]

R-77 suppose to have this capability, when getting jammed by the counter measures, it will automatically switch to passive mode and aim to the enemy air craft.

 

[Rain]

why is the People accross the border are silent. I want there COMMENTs.

Anyway a nice piece of info indeed.

 

[fatman17]

so pakistan has ordered 20 CH-3 medium range, long endurance 'armed' UAVs. any pictures??

 

[softtec]

why is the People accross the border are silent. I want there COMMENTs.

Anyway a nice piece of info indeed.

Huh..what to comment..Good going for Chinese and good opportunity for Pakistan also..But nothing to worry for India..It developing its own and is taking or will take the best of the best from Russia,Israel,US and Europe.

 

[TechLahore]

Very positive news. So we will get some nice upgrades for the JF-17 and the UCAVs we've been wanting for a while. Is the Burraq UCAV program a completely different program altogether? That was my impression. If so, one can probably expect to see at least two, possibly three different types of UCAVs in operation with the Pakistan Armed Forces.

Also, the article doesn't mention the standoff range for the FT-5. Does anyone know what this is? I don't believe the Reaper currently employs standoff weapons.

 

[kursed]

so pakistan has ordered 20 CH-3 medium range, long endurance 'armed' UAVs. any pictures??

 

[mughaljee]

Please clear on thing,
are we only buying SD-10 or after some time will produce this like JF-17 with the help of china ?