SP, MLRS and SPAA Developments

[DRG]

In many ways this is a weapon system that is beyond the scope of the game........at best borderline

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by DRG

In many ways this [Typhon] is a weapon system that is beyond the scope of the game........at best borderline

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/

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.

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.