Boeing is developing the next generation Air Dominator ammunition for patrolling the area of hostilities and striking suddenly detected targets. Envisioned in the next decade, these ground attack ammunition will be able to patrol the battlefield for several days, waiting for short-term targets, such as enemy armored vehicles and mobile rocket launchers, or strike prime targets., such as anti-aircraft missile systems.
Each set (combat unit) must carry several submunitions, with the help of which it can attack several targets before the final attack, during which it is destroyed.
Boeing's management noted that the main principle that specialists adhere to in working on the Air Dominator weapon is to demonstrate its resilience (endurance). Many customers of the firm believe that in its work the firm seeks not to meet the requirements of the future with respect to priority (with a short warning time) and even moving targets, but to ensure dominance over the area with the help of ammunition possessing great endurance, with a flight duration of 24 to 48 hours, and possibly more.
Boeing completed two flights of the Air Dominator's first prototype weapon to assess its maneuverability. It was manufactured by the firm in Hampton, Virginia, as part of independent research conducted by the firm prior to its victory in the July 2003 US Air Force competition for a 60-month demonstration contract. technologies of aircraft design of weapons "Air Dominator".
The basic concept for the Air Dominator weapon is to be deployed at supersonic speeds from a multiple-ammunition delivery system on the F / A-22 multi-role fighter. Boeing is considering integrating these weapons on a four-unit delivery system that it designed for its winning bid for the SDB small-diameter bomb (see EI, 2003, no. 37, p. 3).
Dominator
The dimensions and configuration of the improved demonstration model, which the company will fly in the middle of the decade, will approximately correspond to the parameters of the demonstrated model. For the improved model, folding wings and an internal weapons compartment are provided to accommodate its submunitions, but there are no wheels.
Boeing has yet to make an engine decision and is considering additional flight control options, such as active airflow controls, that go beyond the forward wing duck and twist approach of the current model.
As part of its flight assessment, the firm intends to demonstrate the concept of submunition dispersion. Variants such as the STS weapon endpoint with selective targeting of striking elements "Skeet" (see EI, 2003, No. 44, pp. 4, 5), developed by Textron, are being investigated.
Boeing intends to demonstrate the feasibility of in-flight refueling.
Although the Air Force is interested in significant autonomy of the ammunition, nevertheless, according to existing plans, the final decision on the attack must still be made by the "man in the loop".
As with the Air Dominator weapons program, Boeing expects to begin flight testing of a prototype Miniature Cruise Missile, another Air Force-funded initiative, in the middle of this decade. The missile belongs to the class with a mass of about 453 kg, is designed to be placed in the inner compartment of the F / A-22 aircraft and to double the load on guided missiles compared to the JASSM cruise missile (see EI, 2003, No. 39, p. 4) on such carriers as B-1B, B-2A, F-15E and F-16.
The MSM is a subsonic guided missile, deployed from a carrier at high altitudes, penetrating hundreds of kilometers into enemy airspace, descending to a low altitude for short-term search in a given area and then deploying submunitions to hit several priority or moving targets.
