MBB VBW Vertical Ballistic Weapon anti-tank munition dispenser

[moin1900]

Hi everybody

Here some articles of the VBW also known as VEBAL-SYNDROM or AIRVET.
Anti-tank system for low-flying aircraft.

F-4F with VBW

FLUG REVUE - Aktuelles aus der Luftfahrt-Branche

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http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1987/1987%20-%201024.html

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1984/1984%20-%200881.html

First firing

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1987/1987%20-%201627.html

Vertikale Bordwaffe – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

Patents
Anti-tank system for low-flying aircraft DE3902129A1

DPMAregister | Volldokument - DE000003902129A1

DPMAregister stellt die amtliche Publikationsplattform des DPMA dar, mit Hilfe derer das Amt die Veröffentlichungen vornimmt, die im Rahmen der anhängigen Verfahren im Patent-, Gebrauchsmuster-, Marken- und Designsachen gesetzlich vorgesehen sind.

register.dpma.de

Arrangement in low-flying weapons carriers for combating ground targets

US4494437A - Arrangement in low-flying weapons carriers for combating ground _targets - Google Patents

In a low-flying weapons carrier, such as a manned or remote control aircr, a weapon is arranged to fire steeply downwardly at ground targets. The weapon can fire a plurality of separate ammunition members. A release for the weapon is located in the weapons carrier and a target detector separate...

www.google.com

 

[GTX]

Here are some more pictures.

 

[GTX]

I also understand that it was the result of a revisit to the SG113 concept from WWII:

 

[Voltzz]

The VEBAL and its (french) submunition

 

[TomS]

I've never been able to imagine a mode of employment for this that would be survivable. Fly low enough to avoid SA-8 and you're down into SA-7 and DShK territory. Fly higher and the SA-8/ZSU-23-4 stuff will murder you. And you can't route around the low-level stuff because the whole point was to fly right over armored columns, which would be packed with MANPADS and heavy machine guns. There's just no viable option.

 

[fightingirish]

Last Saturday I visited the military museum "Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung Koblenz" in Koblenz, Germany.
Hidden in a large glass display cabinet, you can find the MBB Vertical Ballistic Weapon (dt:Vertikalbordwaffe) system on static display.

 

[fightingirish]

Vertical Ballistic Weapon VBW Innovation & Winds of Change & Storytelling
The Vertical Ballistic Weapon had all the innovative ingrediencies the German Airforce had asked for in the late 80ties:
Anti-Armour (Tank T 72), Low Altitude (50m or 150 ft) / High Speed
Multisensor Target Auto Detection & Precise Munition (Bazooka) auto release
The VBW consists of two pods with 18 bazookas under the wings of a Phantom F-4F, Tornado PA200 or Alpha Jet. Each pod was able to detect autonomous a T72 tank via scanning of a sensor platform and vertically release a Bazooka. The sensor platform consisted of a Laser altitude, a Microwave and an IR Scanner. It was an innovative "out of the box thinking" weapon system design: high speed low level, autonomous target detection with fire & forget of standard bazookas. This was the pre-drone area. The task of the pilot was to fly the aircraft equipped with the VBW pods stable at high speed and low level (150 feet) across the tank formations, while the VBW autonomous shot vertically the anti-tank bazooka.
1988 - 1990 I was military program manager of the VBW "Systemoffizier VBW" @ Director Air Armament in Cologne. In 1989 the program had taken all the obstacles of the procurement in parliament, was back on time, on track, ready for ramp up the series production. Nobody saw the winds of change coming ...
After the Wall came down in 1989 the Winds of Change stopped the program and re-allocated the multi-billion German Mark budget to the re-unification of Germany.
My last task was to write a "Lessons Learnt" and dispatched the VBW to the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung (Museum of the Defence Procurement Organiszation, now BAIIN ) in Koblenz.
My 12-year term as Air Force Officer ended in June 1990. There was neither a need for the VBW in the air force nor for a successful military program manager in the defense industry. I had to re-invent myself and move on.
Two years ago, I found the VBW on static display in Koblenz and proudly showed it to my son.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vertical-ballistic-weapon-vbw-innovation-winds-change-hans-peukert
Edit:

Vertikalbordwaffe (VBW)

A weapons system designed to fight with armoured equipment of the enemy exerted from the year 1977 as a private initiative by the company MBB and Thomson Brandt. In connection with the device can also come across the concepts of VEBAL (label the container) and SYNDROME (the name for the sensors).

When passing over a column of enemy equipment have sensors container "scan", approximately 30 meters wide strip of land in front and on the sides of the aircraft carrier. On the basis of data captured by the systems container (the geometry of the vehicle, the IR trace, the change of the magnetic field) could be from other vehicles differentiated armored technique. The was then automatically "sent" ammo from the back of the container. There should be 18 of the French anti-tank missiles ACL-89 STRIM fitted with a cumulative warhead. Shots were fired in the direction of obliquely downward.

The result of the development became the container with sufficiently small dimensions and weight, which allowed its suspension under the aircraft Alpha Jet. He could wear after two VBW under each half of the wing. Flight tests of the VBW, into which was plugged the plane the F-4F (the tactical designation 37+91), were carried out at WTD-61 in Manchingu.

The Program VBW was at the beginning of the nineties stopped. Among the reasons were cuts in the budget of the German ministry of defense in connection with termination Cold war and the obvious disadvantages of the concept of the whole device - the aircraft had to with the container to fly at low altitude directly above the grouping of enemy equipment, which represented a significant risk to his victory.

More sources:

Vertikalbordwaffe / VEBAL : Cluster Bombs and Submunition

www.armedconflicts.com

ALPHA JET A - Teil 2

Buchbesprechung zu ALPHA JET A - Teil 2 Einsatz und Außerdienststellung

originalundmodell.de

 

[xena]

@fightingirish: Have you seen any technical data of the pod? Lengts diameter weight and so on?

 

[fightingirish]

@fightingirish: Have you seen any technical data of the pod? Lengts diameter weight and so on?

Unfortunately, I didn't take anymore pictures or obtain any technical data of the Vertikalbordwaffe. This pod and the info board were hidden awkwardly in a large glass display cabinet, so I didn't want to make a fuss in the museum last Saturday. Also, I haven't found any more information in MBB / Dornier (now: Airbus Defence) publications so far.

 

[xena]

What I found out I made a short article:

In the 1970s there were various studies and subsequent projects on the question of how to stop the large tank formations of the Warsaw Pact. Only a few ideas were actually implemented in hardware. In 1977, the project was started by MBB under the project name VEBAL/Syndrome together with Thomson Brandt, with MBB being responsible for the electronics and Thomson Brandt for the effectors. In the 1980s the designation was changed to VBW (Vertical Ballistic Weapon). It was a combat tank used to combat tank accumulations. The goal was to be able to equip every fighter aircraft with an autonomous anti-tank system. The system should be completely housed in a container, together with the necessary sensors. By the mid-1980s the system was ready to be tested. In the second half of the 1980s, flight tests took place on an F-4F of the German Air Force. In the end, it was no longer possible to make it into series production and introduce it when the Warsaw Pact collapsed and many armaments projects were subsequently discontinued.

The container was divided into two parts. In the front part there were 18 tubes oriented obliquely to the rear, each of which could eject an ejection charge according to the recoilless principle, i.e. with a countercharge. For this reason, this part also protruded far in front of the wing. The ammunition used was the AL89 F3 from Luchaire, with a diameter of 89 mm, weighed 6 kg and a penetration rate of 500 mm. The grenades were developed by Luchaire for the then new F3 RCL anti tank weapon for paratroopers and were given a new tail section for use in the VBW. The so-called syndrome sensors and electronics were housed in the rear part. The sensor system consisted of an IR line scanner, a laser e-meter, a Doppler altimeter, like a computer. These were oriented diagonally forward. The aircraft had to fly low over tank accumulations at 50 to 60 meters above the ground, with certain tolerances in the roll axis, yaw axis and angle of attack, so that the correct ejection time could coincide with a hit. The advantage of this solution was that a pilot simply had to steer his aircraft over tank accumulations and activate the container; VBW did the rest independently. The Syndrome sensors recognized the shape of the tanks and could also recognize their speed and direction of travel, as well as the altitude and speed of the aircraft, as well as the distance of the aircraft to the target. All of this data was included in the calculation to trigger the VEBAL effector.

In the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), the VBW were intended for the Luftwaffe's Alpha Jet and F-4F. These were supposed to carry the weapon in the inner suspension points of the wings. The low-level flight was accepted despite the dense air defense because it was assumed that the reaction time would be too short to be combated effectively.

Well, what I still need are dimensions and weight...