Quote:
Originally Posted by DRG
In many ways this [Typhon] is a weapon system that is beyond the scope of the game........at best borderline
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Revisiting this in light of the recent news that the Army will now deploy Typhon to Europe as well.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/07/...e-its-borders/
Quote:
WASHINGTON — Come 2026, the US Army can begin deploying some of its new, longer-range munitions to Germany under a new agreement the two nations inked ahead of the NATO summit.
“The United States will begin episodic deployments of the long-range fires capabilities of its Multi-Domain Task Force [MDTF] in Germany in 2026, as part of planning for enduring stationing of these capabilities in the future,” the White House announced in a statement today.
“When fully developed, these conventional long-range fires units will include SM-6, Tomahawk, and developmental hypersonic weapons, which have significantly longer range than current land-based fires in Europe,” it added.
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While I agree with you that two (Tomahawk and future Hypersonic Weapon) of Typhon's missiles are beyond the scope of SPMBT; the third -- the SM-6 Standard Missile -- isn't.
The SM-6 is approximately 3,300 lb (1,500 kg) -- it's a very big, very long ranged missile -- comparable in size to Russian (OBAT11) Unit 294 - S-300PS which has the 5V55K S-300K weapon -- that specific Russian SAM is 3,260 lb (1,480 kg).
Additionally, SM-6 is the first major ARH SAM the US has (other than Patriot PAC-3 which is optimized more for ABM engagements) -- it has an enlarged, bigger AIM-120D seeker head; a big difference over classic PATRIOT.
US heavy SAMs have gone through three different generations of guidance:
Semi-Active Radar Homing (SARH) (Nike Ajax/Hercules) -- Radar on ground illuminates target, and missile homes in on reflected energy.
Track Via Missile (TVM) (PATRIOT PAC-1 & PAC-2) - Radar on ground illuminates target, and missile homes in on reflected energy; but can also transmit a digital "picture" of what it's seeing back to the ground unit, enabling it to deal with heavy clutter/jamming/ECM.
Active Radar Homing (ARH) (SM-6 / PATRIOT PAC-3 / S-400) -- In addition to the above modes; there's an active seeker in the missile, so the missile can autonomously home; as well as get a better picture from being much closer to the target than the launcher radar.