Article

2003-02-13 Iraq

US-British planes hit missile base near Basra again

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Posted by Steve 2003-02-13 10:51 am|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 They're really, really serious about this target. You have to wonder if they had details on the warheads that were there.

Posted by Chuck 2003-02-13 11:02:54|| [blog.simmins.org] 2003-02-13 11:02:54|| Front Page Top

#2 Question for you military guys from an ignorant civilian:
Why does this short range surface to surface missile have a radar? Is it a 'firefinder' radar for locating artillery positions?

Posted by JAB 2003-02-13 12:36:40|| 2003-02-13 12:36:40|| Front Page Top

#3 Tracking the bird after launch to check and adjust trajectory, probably.

Posted by mojo 2003-02-13 12:57:55|| 2003-02-13 12:57:55|| Front Page Top

#4 So, like do you think they would start the war without telling us, maybe hoping the French might not notice?

Posted by Michael 2003-02-13 13:43:36|| 2003-02-13 13:43:36|| Front Page Top

#5 From a military guy.
The Nike-Herc system [double function as both an AA missile and Surface to Surface missile] had three radars. Two for target tracking and the third which was the missile tracking radar [MTR]. This radar functioned as part of the guidance system. Being a circa 50/60s design without advantage of transistors, the calculation for guidance were done on an analog computer in a van with the initial coordinates and corrections relayed via the MTR. If you don't have a good microprocessor technology to fab your own advance avionics, then this system design would provide something on a lesser scale but still viable. On the other hand, it always made for a very large target for the other guys.

Posted by Don 2003-02-13 13:50:31|| 2003-02-13 13:50:31|| Front Page Top

#6 If you know what you're doing, you can assemble a decent guidance system from COTS parts. I've seen it done. As far as Iraq's claims of not having a guidance system yet, and that the added weight would affect the range, I think not. The system I saw built weighed about two pounds.

Posted by Dishman 2003-02-13 13:59:41|| 2003-02-13 13:59:41|| Front Page Top

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