Team MA-31, a group of skilled personnel from NAVAIR, Boeing and BAE Flight Systems, successfully launched an MA-31 target vehicle on July 3 from an F-4D Phantom II aircraft.
The exercise provided a supersonic sea-skimming target for USS Constellation Battle Group's surface-to-air missiles. The MA-31 operation provided invaluable, realistic training for surface combatant defense systems, helping to prepare the battle group for its upcoming deployment. The operation was a major accomplishment in providing a vital service to the Fleet, showcasing the value and effectiveness of the government and industry team. The MA-31 project success resulted from efforts of many individuals from the three organizations.
NAVAIR engineers, technicians and operations conductors readied the test planning and orchestrated the execution.
Boeing provided the support personnel, target vehicle and support hardware.
BAE Flight Systems, based at Mojave Airport, provided two F-4D aircraft with pilots and maintenance crew.
A key player was Michael "Plow" Gorman, MA-31 flight test engineer, who provided his expertise and acted as launch control operator (LCO). Gorman's previous LCO experience, depth of knowledge with the MA-31 and background as a Navy test pilot school graduate, led to his selection as LCO for this launch.
Supporting Gorman as backup LCO was LCDR Scott "Whitey" Herzog, the MA-31 project officer from VX-30.
"Mike's knowledge of the launch system and its installation in the F-4 aircraft was instrumental in overcoming several hurdles," Herzog said.
Which, Herzog added, included a missile malfunction on July 2 and a command launch computer failure the morning of July 3.
"Regardless of the difficulty, Mike made it work," he said.
The original date for the launch was July 2. However, the target malfunctioned after initiating the launch sequence and did not release. After the two F-4D aircraft recovered uneventfully at NAS Point Mugu, the team launched into an investigation lasting well into the evening. Pooling their assets, the team discovered the error to be an internal missile component problem and readied a new target the very next day.
Alex Fay, the MA-31 operational engineer, said with the flexibility and quick decision-making from the team, they were able to decide the best course to complete the operation. "Given the cost and complexity of this training exercise, which included multiple ships and surface-to-air missiles, we ensured that all of our systems had available backups," he said.
The success of this operation also demonstrated the abilities of a target with an interesting history. The MA-31 is derived from an actual foreign threat, the Russian Kh-31 anti-ship missile. In 1994, approval to move forward with the conversion of Kh-31s to target vehicles marked the first military acquisition between the Russian ministry of defense and the U.S. DoD. The Russian manufacturer, Svezda Strella, provided the target vehicles to Boeing. Boeing added a range payload package composed of a flight termination system, telemetry and a radar-tracking beacon.
After flight demonstration tests were completed in 1997, the MA-31 operational profiles were severely constrained because of range safety concerns with the launch aircraft and participating ships.
For some of the planning scenarios, the ships could not be positioned as close to the MA-31's flight path as desired because of limited flight path accuracy.
Furthermore, the aircraft could not launch the target and reach a reasonably safe distance from the ship's defensive missiles before engagement.
Faced with these challenges, Boeing proposed upgrades to the already acquired MA-31 vehicles that would improve range and guidance accuracy.
"Boeing was able to incorporate the same guidance system used in the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)," Gorman said. "With the high-volume production of JDAM and most of the non-recurring engineering development out of the way, they provided dramatic improvements to the MA-31's target mission capability at a bargain rate.'
In 1999, the Navy approved the precision guidance program, named MA-31PG.
So how do you extend the range without adding fuel or changing the propulsion system? Simple. Just launch the target at high altitude and put it in a glide before lighting off the booster. Meanwhile, the launch aircraft can make a run for it, placing as much distance between it and the ship's missiles. As the MA-31PG reaches low altitude, the booster ignites and "the fight is on."
Using QF-4 aircraft from VX-30, MA-31PG successfully completed developmental testing in March 2001, proving out the "delayed boost" and precision guidance concept. The system was ready for the Fleet.
The MA-31 target vehicle can be released from a variety of altitudes, at which point a rocket booster ignites and accelerates the vehicle to supersonic speeds. Once the rocket motor is depleted, a ramjet engine sustains the vehicle in flight through various preprogrammed maneuvers.
The July 3 launch was from 33,000 feet. The vehicle flew a glide profile to 5,000 feet, the rocket booster ignited and flew it down to a sea-skimming altitude
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05-01-2006, 23:35
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