Derek Lyons wrote:

Pat Flannery wrote:


At these speeds even slight turns mean miles away
in a matter of a few seconds.



Keep in mind that this applies to the cruise missile as well as the
interceptor, the closer the cruise missile comes to it's target, the
less it can maneuver.

The trick is to have it's target be at the end of a last violent
maneuver; and hope the enemy doesn't suspect what exactly the target is
until it's too late.


Take a notional hypersonic cruise missile taking a path from Soviet
Russia to Offut AFB. While it's still over the Canadian Shield, it
can maneuver practically freely. However, as it approaches the US
border, the 'wedge' it can be in and still strike it's target narrows
pretty rapidly, since even a minimum radius turn can throw it miles
off target. At some point the incoming missile can no longer turn,
but must remain more or less on a direct course.

What this means is that your defense problem changes from a long range
intercept well down range into something close to (but not quite) a
point defense intercept. Difficult, but not perhaps requiring
directed energy weapons.


It's still going to be a very challenging intercept, especially if the
incoming missile uses stealth; another thing that has been looked into
is have the incoming missile release submunitions as it approaches it's
target, making the task of the defenders more difficult as multiple
submunitions must then be dealt with before they arrive. If that
technique is used, then the parent missile can zig and zag all over the
place as long as it passes at some point close enough to its target or
targets in its trajectory that the maneuver capabilities of its
submunitions allow the objective to be reached. In either case you have
to disperse your ACM (Anti Cruise Missile) interceptor missiles to more
potential target sites so that they can have the time to reach any
incoming missile or sub-warhead as it approaches. And if you put rocket
engines on the submunitions, they may arrive at speeds substantially
higher than their parent missile.

Pat