Iran Makes Mediocre Better

Iran recently announced the introduction of upgraded Russian anti-aircraft missile systems. The Taer-2 missiles appear to be updated SA-6s (a 1970s design Iran obtained in the 1990s). The Taer-2 missile is part of a new anti-aircraft system (Raad) that borrows some technology from the more recent Russian SA-11/17 (9K37 Buk M2), obtained via Syria (who bought them from Russia with Iranian cash).

The Russian SA-11 uses a 680 kg (1,500 pound) missile with a range of 30 kilometers. The latest SA-6 missile is about ten percent lighters and has a max range of 24 kilometers. Iran says it has improved some of the Buk M2 components had substituted Iranian built radars and fire control systems. Thus the Taer-2 missile claims a range of 50 kilometers and max altitude of 22 kilometers (70,000 feet). This seems too good to be true and this new Raad system may be more publicity stunt than new weapon.

Four of the SA-11 missiles are mounted on a tracked transporter, which appears to be if Iranian design. The SA-11 is combat proven, having recently been used in Georgia, by both sides to shoot down aircraft and UAVs. But not everyone is so confident in the SA-11.

For example, three years ago Finland decided to replace, at a cost of over $700 million, its three year old Russian SA-11 anti-aircraft missile systems, with Norwegian NASAMS. Norway developed this system in the early 1990s and deployed the first missiles and radars in 1995. NASAMS uses the American AMRAMM radar guided air-to-air missiles fired from a six missile container. This ground based AMRAAM weighs 159 kg (350 pounds) and has a range of 30 kilometers (it's radar can see out 50-70 kilometers), and can hit targets as high as 21 kilometers (65,000 feet). The AMRAAMs are protected inside their canister, which means fewer maintenance problems. What makes the AMRAMM so effective as a SAM is the capabilities of its guidance system (which is about two thirds of the $400,000 missiles cost.) AMRAAM can also be used to shoot down cruise missiles. Norway pioneered the use of AMRAAM as a surface to air missile.

The Finns received the SA-11s in payment for the $300 million debt that would have taken much longer to get paid off in cash. Russia has paid off many of its older (often Soviet era) debts with modern military equipment. Some of the recipients have found that the stuff wasn't modern, or effective, enough. Even with upgrades, the accuracy and reliability of the AMRAAM is superior to the Russian missile. The Finns believe the AMRAAM (also combat proven) based NASAMS is a better long term choice. There's also the suspicion that Russia may know things about defeating the SA-11 that they are not sharing with the Finns. The Iranians may have had similar qualms.

 

Missiles Suddenly Can't Handle The Cold

The U.S. Air Force has another mystery on its hands. The first one is why the F-22 air supply is making it difficult for some pilots to stay conscious. The second problem, which is actually almost as old, is all about defective rocket motors for AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. As a result of the rocket problem no missiles have been delivered for nearly two years. The delays have been due to faulty solid fuel rocket motors, which was discovered during testing the air force performs on a few of every new batch of missiles. The problem is that rocket motors that are exposed to very cold conditions (as would happen when an aircraft is flying at a high altitude), they become unreliable. The air force is withholding over half a billion dollars in payments until the reliability problem is fixed. At the same time, the manufacturer is frantically trying to discover the cause of the failures. The manufacturer insists that it is building the rocket motors the same way it has for three decades. So far, it is a mystery as baffling as the one with the F-22 air supply.

AMRAAM has been around for a while and undergone several upgrades, without problems appearing in components that are often built the same way they have been for decades. But there have been many changes to components, including lots of new stuff. Thus it's likely that some of the components of the solid fuel (a slow burning explosive) rocket have changed and chemists are scrambling to find out what it is.

AMRAAM entered service in 1992, more than 30 years after the first radar guided air-to-air missile (the AIM-7 Sparrow) appeared. AMRAAM was designed to fix all the reliability and ease-of-use problems that cursed the AIM-7. But AMRAAM has had only had a few opportunities to be used in combat, and over half of those launched have hit something. The AIM-120D version entered service five years ago and has longer range and greater accuracy and resistance to countermeasures. So far, AMRAAMs have spent nearly 2 million hours hanging from the wings of jet fighters in flight. Some 2,400 AMRAAMs have been fired, mostly in training or testing operations. That’s about a quarter of those produced.

AMRAAM weighs 172 kg (335 pounds), is 3.7 meters (12 feet) long, and 178mm (7 inches) in diameter. AMRAAM has a max range of 70 kilometers. These missiles cost about a million dollars each. They are complex mechanical, electronic, and chemical systems and each of them, on average, suffers a component failure every 1,500 hours.

The air force and the navy have had an increasing number of incidents where their suppliers of high-tech weapons and equipment screwed up. Cancelling orders and taking manufacturers to court has not eliminated the problems. The military accuses the manufacturers of having a bad attitude, feeling that if there are problems it's easier to cozy up to members of Congress than it is to fix the technical problems. So far, that seems to be working, while the weapons and equipment don't.