UglyMowgli
09-28-05, 09:19 AM
German Navy Pursues Sub-Launched Missile
By MARTIN AGÜERA, MUNICH
In the next legislative term, the German Navy hopes to revive an effort to develop a submarine-launched missile that may ignite a multinational development and marketing effort, said officials and industry executives.
The weapon would be intended to work against anti-submarine warfare helicopters, small surface and littoral targets, industry officials said.
Last year, the German military’s central procurement agency, the BWB in Koblenz, began to explore the idea through a working group dubbed IDAS, for Interactive Defense & Attack System for Submarines. The group is composed of representatives from the BWB and several companies which split the proceeds from the contract. The contract’s value has not been publicly disclosed, but the firms and their shares of it are:
• Diehl BGT Defense, Überlingen, 40 percent.
• ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems’ Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW), Kiel, 40 percent.
• Norway’s Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace, Kongsberg, 20 percent.
Kongsberg will provide the weapon control system and HDW will integrate the missile into the submarine itself. HDW will build the container and perform other integration, said Klaus-Eberhard Möller, head of anti-radar and naval missiles with Diehl BGT Defense.
Funding is being provided through the country’s research and development resources, said one Ministry of Defense (MoD) official.
No existing missile fully met the IDAS requirements, Möller said. IDAS would replace Triton, a fiber-optic guided missile program based on EADS-LFK’s Polyphem missile and scrapped in 2002 primarily for budgetary reasons.
“Back then,” said the MoD official, “the procurement of a new missile from scratch was deemed too expensive.”
IDAS’ primary sensor likely will be based on the infrared image-processing seeker of the six-nation IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missile. Other components will be new, such as the fiber-optic data link and the one-stage solid-fuel rocket engine with a range of 15 kilometers, said the MoD official.
The IDAS working group will also make use of the complete IRIS-T hardware and software guidance package. Each will trail a lightweight fiber-optic cable to send images from the missile’s infrared seeker back to a controller aboard the sub.
“By this, we have eliminated a share of the development costs already, which is very significant for such a program,” said Möller.
IRIS-T Model
The IDAS team said it can use management methods of a multinational program like IRIS-T to reduce redundancies, said Möller.
“With IDAS, we strive to develop a new missile for submarines that applies to the mission scenarios of the future,” said Joachim Reuter, IDAS project manager for HDW. “It is a suitable weapon for effects-based operations.”
HDW, a platform maker, has never built a munition, said Reuter.
“But the torpedo as the only main armament system of the submarine limited the ships somewhat for future missions,” said Reuter. “Now, the main focus is not any more on destroying ships totally.”
Instead, a weapon must be able to deliver a variety of punches, depending on the situation.
Preparations for tests are under way. By the end of next year, the IDAS team could demonstrate a dummy driven by a hot-water propulsor out of the submerged submarine’s torpedo tube to the point where fiber-optic guidance would begin.
The MoD official said a heavyweight torpedo tube would hold a launch container with several missiles, which will be launched separately.
The MoD official said several navies had already expressed an interest. “It would be ideal to find suitable partners for this development effort, which could begin in 2007,” said the MoD official. “Those who deal with missiles also know how expensive development work can be … That’s why putting it on a multinational level can help.”
But tight German MoD budgets are complicating the effort.
Möller expects that a number of countries — basically, all the ones that operate HDW submarines — could become customers for IDAS: Greece, Israel, Norway, Pakistan, Turkey and others.
The Diehl BGT Defense executive said the working group is already in talks with Norway.
By MARTIN AGÜERA, MUNICH
In the next legislative term, the German Navy hopes to revive an effort to develop a submarine-launched missile that may ignite a multinational development and marketing effort, said officials and industry executives.
The weapon would be intended to work against anti-submarine warfare helicopters, small surface and littoral targets, industry officials said.
Last year, the German military’s central procurement agency, the BWB in Koblenz, began to explore the idea through a working group dubbed IDAS, for Interactive Defense & Attack System for Submarines. The group is composed of representatives from the BWB and several companies which split the proceeds from the contract. The contract’s value has not been publicly disclosed, but the firms and their shares of it are:
• Diehl BGT Defense, Überlingen, 40 percent.
• ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems’ Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW), Kiel, 40 percent.
• Norway’s Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace, Kongsberg, 20 percent.
Kongsberg will provide the weapon control system and HDW will integrate the missile into the submarine itself. HDW will build the container and perform other integration, said Klaus-Eberhard Möller, head of anti-radar and naval missiles with Diehl BGT Defense.
Funding is being provided through the country’s research and development resources, said one Ministry of Defense (MoD) official.
No existing missile fully met the IDAS requirements, Möller said. IDAS would replace Triton, a fiber-optic guided missile program based on EADS-LFK’s Polyphem missile and scrapped in 2002 primarily for budgetary reasons.
“Back then,” said the MoD official, “the procurement of a new missile from scratch was deemed too expensive.”
IDAS’ primary sensor likely will be based on the infrared image-processing seeker of the six-nation IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missile. Other components will be new, such as the fiber-optic data link and the one-stage solid-fuel rocket engine with a range of 15 kilometers, said the MoD official.
The IDAS working group will also make use of the complete IRIS-T hardware and software guidance package. Each will trail a lightweight fiber-optic cable to send images from the missile’s infrared seeker back to a controller aboard the sub.
“By this, we have eliminated a share of the development costs already, which is very significant for such a program,” said Möller.
IRIS-T Model
The IDAS team said it can use management methods of a multinational program like IRIS-T to reduce redundancies, said Möller.
“With IDAS, we strive to develop a new missile for submarines that applies to the mission scenarios of the future,” said Joachim Reuter, IDAS project manager for HDW. “It is a suitable weapon for effects-based operations.”
HDW, a platform maker, has never built a munition, said Reuter.
“But the torpedo as the only main armament system of the submarine limited the ships somewhat for future missions,” said Reuter. “Now, the main focus is not any more on destroying ships totally.”
Instead, a weapon must be able to deliver a variety of punches, depending on the situation.
Preparations for tests are under way. By the end of next year, the IDAS team could demonstrate a dummy driven by a hot-water propulsor out of the submerged submarine’s torpedo tube to the point where fiber-optic guidance would begin.
The MoD official said a heavyweight torpedo tube would hold a launch container with several missiles, which will be launched separately.
The MoD official said several navies had already expressed an interest. “It would be ideal to find suitable partners for this development effort, which could begin in 2007,” said the MoD official. “Those who deal with missiles also know how expensive development work can be … That’s why putting it on a multinational level can help.”
But tight German MoD budgets are complicating the effort.
Möller expects that a number of countries — basically, all the ones that operate HDW submarines — could become customers for IDAS: Greece, Israel, Norway, Pakistan, Turkey and others.
The Diehl BGT Defense executive said the working group is already in talks with Norway.