Air Defense · 5:53pm Nov 12th, 2013
Following up from my last blog about jets, I'll now go into the ways to shoot them down.
Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) and Air Defense Artillery (ADA, also called Anti-Air Artillery: AAA) are the biggest reason the United States has lost airplanes in combat.
Fun fact: The biggest reason foreign countries loose aircraft is being destroyed in air strikes before they ever take off. This is why a lot of foreign countries have cammo paint on their planes - so they're harder to spot on the ground!
ADA is generally only dangerous to low, slow aircraft. Modern jets at cruise altitude are usually safe. The weapons can be anything from machine guns up to more than 100mm bores. Most modern systems are tied to radar to make them more accurate. The larger caliber guns are made more effective through the use of airbursting ammunition (flak).
Chinese Type 90 twin-35mm guns
SAMs have come a long way and are only getting better. The Vietnam War was the first extensive use of them and we had to develop special aircraft and tactics to take them out. These days, not only are the missiles more deadly but the equipment is highly mobile, making it hard to locate SAM sites. Most of them can't shoot while moving, but many new systems can be set up and operating only a few minutes after stopping.
Vietnam era SA-2 GUIDELINE site. Notice how the missiles themselves are figgin' huge like flying telephone poles. Also notice the large number of vehicles and systems around the radar.
Diagram of modern SA-10 GRUMBLE system. As you can see, all you need are three radar vehicles, one command vehicle, and then as many launchers as you want. Things like "Big Bird," "Clam Shell," and "Flap Lid" are NATO Reporting Names. TEL stands for transporter-erecter-launcher, which is what those vehicles do.
Fun Fact: Just like all fighters have NATO names that start with F, all SAMs start with G.
Fun Fact: If it's a Russian missile, the code starts with SA. If it's a naval variant, it's SA-N Chinese missiles are CSA or HQ. If it's a naval variant, it's HHQ.
A subset of SAMs are MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems). They're shoulder fired missiles. They have a limited range. Terrorists won't have large SAMs, but they might have these.
So, how do we go about taking out all this stuff? It's best to remember that most Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) take a layered approach. They put multiple long and short range missiles together and maybe throw in some ADA for good measure. There could also be fighter aircraft controlled by IADS. All this is controlled by a centralized command where they have an overview of the situation, like a top down graphic similar to an RTS game. (Okay, I'm exaggerating, but in the case of first-world countries' IADS, only slightly.)
This is the (former) air defenses of Libya. You can see how the circles of three different kinds of missiles overlap each other. The circles represent the maximum distance that each system can shoot.
Obviously, we don't want to put our pilots at risk. Taking out the longest range SAMs with cruise missiles or other means is probably a good idea. Then, we'll move on to air-dropped weapons to mop up the rest. Radar jamming can be used to blind the enemy systems so we can get close enough to destroy them. Radar-seeking missiles like HARM also work.
Alternately, we can take out their control structure. One radar can control a whole area, so if you zap the command post the actual shooters won't have target information coming from the top. In some countries where orders to fire are restricted to only the central leadership and shooters aren't allowed to think for themselves, taking out the command post also keeps those orders from coming.
Here is a forum where much more information about the actual SAM sites is available.
Dis be gud information
Now if only I could fined such a simple explanation for military rank and personnel organisation.
This, of course, excludes the helo component of this deal. Helos tend to get fucked up by AAA and IADS a helluva lot more than our fighter and bomber fixed-wing aircraft do. To a Helo, EVERYTHING is a threat, and AAA... well AAA is just brutal.
Also, I think the role of "door kicker" aircraft such as the F111 Aardvark and F22 Raptor merits an explanation here.
how come nato gives our stuff all those weird names?
How many personnel is needed to operate a SA-10 GRUMBLE system, without the TELs, and how many per TEL ?
1502754 Because the original name was weirder.
1502741 Wild Weasel!
1502735 Wikipedia is actually pretty good. Also, this
1502766 yeah right, because letters and numbers as name makes less sense than "big bird" and "flip lid".
Wow. Your first blog was an fun read, but this completed the duo.
Of course my interests lay in armored vehicles, but jets (and how to bring them down) are a cool topic.
Ok, now your challenge is to shoot down a pegasus flying surveillance over your country. What do?
I highly doubt you could get a large enough radar cross-section to shoot one down. Are WWII-era caliber flak cannons still used?
1502842 blind with lasers and blow with remote-controlled missile
1502934
Riiiighht.....
Also, 1502775 it's because they're a whole lot easier to say, for one.
Sir, you are my hero. This is the kind of information that I obsess over, I just wish there were more (or any) pony stories with submarines and/or zeppelins! I know Ive seen a fic with a tank that popped into Equestria with its crew (ala Those Who Hunt Elves), and quite a few battleship stories. So why not these great craft that travel above or below the sea! Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.
1502766 Thanks! Though I still have a little digging to do myself. I fairly sure where I live, England, does thing a little bit differently if not significantly so.
If I may, Air Defence is a pretty broad topic, and there's more to it than just the ground-to-air component.
If we wanted to get really complicated, we could also add that there are ground radars and control centers to vector in Interceptors to deal with hostile aircraft, as well as Naval vessels which have the capacity to act as mobile anti-air platforms.
The British know more than anyone else that a strong, competant partnership between ground radar and dedicated Interceptor squadrons is the best defence against hostile air attacks. After all, they stopped an invasion of their country with their Air Force alone, simply by gaining air superiority in their airspace.
If your Air Force can retain air superiority, then the job of the SAM crews becomes a whole lot easier. The only reason the Americans lose more aircraft to ground fire in modern times is because their ability to gain air superioriy almost anywhere they like allows them to operate as they see fit, once the hostile Air Force is effectively neutralised as a threat.
That said, it's pretty easy to gain air dominance over someone who can't competently fight back on equal terms.1503223 It is indeed a broad topic, which is why I just stuck to the basics. I did include a bit that mentions fighters controlled as part of the overall IADS system. While ships can also come into play, there aren't very many countries with significant naval SAMs.
Most countries put either fighters first or missiles first. More developed countries with significant command and control can afford to put up fighter interceptors hundreds of miles off their coast to meet incoming aircraft. Less developed countries usually rely on missiles first. Plus, less developed countries tend to be smaller and closer together, so just a few missile sites can cover their whole border.
Somewhat on topic:
I always thought of pony warfare as a rock-paper-scissors match.
Unicorns can shoot down harrassing pegasi, earth ponies can charge the frailer unicorns, and the pegasi can divebomb the vulnerable earth pony infantry.
There are solutions to this, not involving cruise missiles.
The F-4G Wild Weasel.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/F-4G_Phantom_II_wild_weasel.jpg
Or, if you prefer something newer, the Block 50 F-16C.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/USAF_F-16CJ.jpg
1503635 This is true - if the terrain allows. The F-105 was one of the first dedicated Wild Weasel aircraft, and of the 833 F-105's ever built, 334 were shot down in Vietnam. Wild Weasel works, but it sure isn't easy.