Airforces

90 // FEBRUARY 2018 #359 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

Column Commander’s Update Brief ing

ast month’s column

addressed the challenges

of anti-access and area

denial (A2/AD), where, among

other things, we looked at

the considerable advances in

defensive surface-to-air missile

(SAM) systems. These are now

having an increasing impact on

an aircraft’s ability to penetrate

defences and have certainly made

control of the air more of a contest

than it has been for the last two

decades. Although counters

to A2/AD systems include the

use of stealth and electronic

countermeasures (ECM), another

much simpler solution is to avoid

them altogether by employing

longer-range (standoff) weapons.

For simplicity, I will only address

air-to-ground weapons here,

but the advantages of increased

standoff for air-to-air weapons

are obvious – as any fighter

pilot will tell you: “You don’t

bring a knife to a gun fight.”

There are several different

reasons for employing standoff

weapons. Not only do they

increase a platform’s survivability

by decreasing exposure time, but

they also expand the strike radii

of action significantly beyond the

range of the delivery aircraft. In

addition, they offer a degree of

surprise, as they tend to have a

smaller signature or radar cross-

section than most aircraft. Some

standoff weapons can also

improve their lethality by adapting

their flight profile to one other

than a simple ballistic trajectory.

Here, the use of a pop-up profile

and/or organic propulsion can

increase penetration, particularly

against hardened targets.

Modest beginnings

Without getting too technical, it’s

worth taking a brief look at the

history of aircraft bombing. The

Standoff weapons

Air Power Association President, Air Marshal

(Ret’d) Greg Bagwell CB, CBE looks at the

evolution of long-range strike weapons, which play

an increasingly important role in modern air forces.

L

Above: An instrumented Storm Shadow test missile is readied for fl ight on

board a Typhoon – the Italian Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) 2 –

prior to launch over the Hebrides range. The Storm Shadow is part of the

Typhoon’s Phase 2 Enhancement (P2E) programme that will introduce various

new and improved long-range attack capabilities. Jamie Hunter

For the time being, the Royal Air

Force’s long-range standoff capability

is manifested in the Tornado GR4 and

Storm Shadow combination. While the

No 31 Squadron ‘Goldstars’ Tornado

nearest the camera is armed with a

brace of the MBDA missiles, the jet in

the background carries fi ve Paveway

IV guided bombs. Jamie Hunter