Sula Systems 'droop-snoot' MANPADS

[JAZZ]

And all I know is in the heading - but I have this bad photo, anyone enlighten me.

 

[starviking]

And all I know is in the heading - but I have this bad photo, anyone enlighten me.

Could it be BAe's Thunderbolt, the losing contender to the completion that gave us Starstreak?

If you follow the army-recognition link on this forum page http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,998.msg7849.html#msg7849 there's a missile that resembles your pic.

Starviking

 

[JAZZ]

No Thunderbolt was much earlier and in competition with starstreak, this droop-snoop proposal dates back 2-3 years. picture of thunderbolt shown below...I do not see any resemblance?? between the two other than they are long and cyndrical

 

[starviking]

No Thunderbolt was much earlier and in competition with starstreak, this droop-snoop proposal dates back 2-3 years. picture of thunderbolt shown below...I do not see any resemblance?? between the two other than they are long and cyndrical

Ah, I was just going from the brochure artwork on the Thunderbolt brochure. The control surfaces seemed near identical, especially the 'double delta' rear fins.

In BSP4 there is a Short Range Anti-Radiation Missile (SRARM) mentioned (p51, p101-103). It has an 'offset' nose, which might be close to that in your first pic, but it's hard to make out. Do you have a higher resolution image? The missile body, however, is from the ASRAAM family - so not a match for your mystery missile.

Starviking

 

[JAZZ]

variation of the SRARM - was VSRAAM an anti-aircraft/missile and again i don't see the similarity, fundamental aspect of a droop snoop misile is that it steering is asisted by bending its nose towards the target.

 

[Mercurius Cantabrigiensis]

This was a concept study by the UK engineering consultancy Sula Systems for a small, light and affordable man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS). A model was displayed on the SBAC stand at Farnborough 2002.

The forward fuselage was articulated just ahead of the front end of the rocket motor. For a missile flying at a speed of around Mach 2, one degree of angular displacement would give a lateral acceleration of around 12 g. For small angles of around ±0.25º, the response time of the nose movement would be around 15mS, while the 4º needed to give greater than 25 g of lateral acceleration would be achieved in less than 50mS.

 

[starviking]

This was a concept study by the UK engineering consultancy Sula Systems for a small, light and affordable man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS). A model was displayed on the SBAC stand at Farnborough 2002.

The forward fuselage was articulated just ahead of the front end of the rocket motor. For a missile flying at a speed of around Mach 2, one degree of angular displacement would give a lateral acceleration of around 12 g. For small angles of around ±0.25º, the response time of the nose movement would be around 15mS, while the 4º needed to give greater than 25 g of lateral acceleration would be achieved in less than 50mS.

I'd love to get a look at the articulation system for that missile. I'm thinking it would need to be very finely calibrated. Did it articulate across the x-y plane, or was articulation limited to just one plane + a rotatable base? Any info Mercurius?

Starviking

 

[Mercurius Cantabrigiensis]

I'd love to get a look at the articulation system for that missile. I'm thinking it would need to be very finely calibrated. Did it articulate across the x-y plane, or was articulation limited to just one plane + a rotatable base? Any info Mercurius?

The system was based on two counter-rotating swash plates, each incorporating an angle of 2º, and implemented with gothic arc bearings. Two electric motors rotated the plates so that the nose was bent in the direction commanded by the autopilot.

 

[starviking]

I'd love to get a look at the articulation system for that missile. I'm thinking it would need to be very finely calibrated. Did it articulate across the x-y plane, or was articulation limited to just one plane + a rotatable base? Any info Mercurius?

The system was based on two counter-rotating swash plates, each incorporating an angle of 2º, and implemented with gothic arc bearings. Two electric motors rotated the plates so that the nose was bent in the direction commanded by the autopilot.

Neat.

Cheers for the info Mercurius!

Starviking

 

[JAZZ]

Mercurius - just a decade late - not sure how this slipped off my radar - but big thanks for your information.

I think the photo comes from Janes Defense Weekly possibly front cover looking at the font.

cheers Jazz

 

[Maury Markowitz]

This was a concept study by the UK engineering consultancy Sula Systems for a small, light and affordable man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS). A model was displayed on the SBAC stand at Farnborough 2002.

I'm curious, is Starstreak not small, light and affordable? That last one... but is there any reason to believe a-priori that this would be less expensive? I don't think fins cost that much.