Ice Breaker

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINE OF AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY BY DAVID AXE

An artist’s rendering of an Ice Breaker missile being launched from a F-16 Fighting Falcon Rafael

ICE BREAKER

sraeli firm Rafael has revealed a new

Iswarming cruise missile. The new Ice Breaker missile is small, lightweight and, according to the company, inexpensive. The idea is for a single warplane to launch several of the stealthy, maneuverable Ice Breakers to attack a target from various directions at once.

In that sense, Ice Breaker manifests a trend in Western aerial-munitions development. US,

European and allied air forces increasingly favor swarming missiles and bombs. A bunch of munitions, working together, should have a better chance of success than a single munition might have. Achieving a good hit on a vulnerable part of the target. Overwhelming any air defenses.

Rafael announced Ice Breaker at this year’s

Farnborough International Airshow in the UK. Ice

Breaker is the aerial variant of a basic missile that also has surface-launched versions (read more about Farnborough Air Show on Key.Aero). Rafael executive Yuval Miller said: “It is a highly survivable and aff ordable long-range air-to-ground munition, its survivability being due to its low radar crosssection, its terrain-following capability given by its navigation systems and its advanced mission planning system.” A Rafael promotional video depicts a Lockheed Martin F-16 fi ghter launching a single Ice Breaker, but an F-16 could carry as many as four of the 12ft, 900Ib missiles, Rafael reports.

The fi rm designed the new munition to be compatible with an array of aircraft, including jets and propeller-driven types. A Boeing F-15 could carry up to seven missiles. The Ice Breaker is just small enough to fi t inside the bomb bay of a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

Ice Breaker loads upside down onto its launching platform. On release, it spins rightside-up, pops out its folded wings and ignites its engine. Its warhead weighing just 250Ibs, it packs just enough fuel to travel around 190 miles at subsonic speed. A single Ice Breaker might not be adequate to destroy large or heavily fortifi ed targets, but that was never the plan – it was designed for group attacks. The missile has multiple navigation modes, can follow GPS waypoints and terrain features. Or an operator aboard the launching aircraft can see what the missile sees via a camera and directly steer it.

The idea is for Ice Breakers to maneuver around a target before closing in from multiple directions, thwarting any attempt to intercept all the missiles. The new missile features a sophisticated, infra-red sensor that can recognize targets by their shape and heat profi le.

If there is a downside to swarming, it is the price. It is not clear how much an Ice Breaker costs, but it is worth noting that Rafael Spice 1000 guided bomb, which matches Ice Breaker in overall size and weight, costs around half a million dollars per round. Ice Breaker, with its turbojet engine, undoubtedly is pricier.

To keep down the cost, Rafael designed a simple body made of lightweight composites. Ice Breaker’s air intake is nearly fl ush with its body, meaning the missile is roughly tube-shaped.

Other swarming munitions are in development. The USAF is taking a diff erent approach to the technology – equipping missiles and bombs with datalinks and algorithms allowing the munitions to co-ordinate their attacks as they swarm a target; placing the burden on the munitions, rather than the launching crew.

Last year, the USAF tested this new “Golden Horde” technology, pairing networked seekers and targeting algorithms with 250Ib small diameter bomb (SBD) glide bombs. Two F-16s dropped six Golden Horde SDBs over a test range in Florida. The bombs linked up via radio. When an unplanned target appeared, two bombs reacted and struck at the same time. “These technologies are completely changing the way we think about weapon capabilities,” said Maj Gen Heather Pringle, Air Force Research Laboratories commander.

A concept image of the Ice breaker missile, provided by the manufacturer