It’s the Saab made anti-ship missile, stupid!
By Mortz C. Ortigoza
PASAY CITY, Philippines – The Saab Gripen Jas 39 C/D distinctive
anti-ship missile looms as a gory warning to lurking enemy warships in the
territorial water of the Philippines.
A top executive of the Sweden based multiple role fighter (MRF) jet
manufacturer said that Gripen has been a cut above the rest of the fourth
generation rivals because of the 434.5 centimeters long 50 cm in diameter's
RBS15 anti ship guided smart missile.
“What you’re looking is the Saab missile known as RBS15. This is one of the things that really set apart the Gripen with its competitors. In fact, almost no other modern fighter has a modern anti ship missile integrated. None of them have a weapon attached. The latest version of this missile which we unveiled in the Farnborough Airshow,” Vice President for Communication Robert Hewson told recently this newspaper at the three days Asian Defense & Security (ADAS) 2018 held recently at the World Trade Center here.
The distinctive missile that even the United States made F-16 Viper lacks is a game changer.
The Maryland, USA made Viper is the closest rival of the Gripen in the more than sixty billion pesos procurement of the Philippines for an MRF.
COCKPIT - Feeling the flight deck of the roughly P5 billion multiple role fighter (MRF) jet Saab Gripen Jas 39 C/D after my interview with its Vice President for Communication Robert Hewson. |
The RBS-15 (Robot System 15) is a long-range fire-and-forget
surface-to-surface and air-to-surface, anti-ship missile. The later
version Mk. III has the ability to attack land targets as well. The
missile was developed by the Swedish company Saab Bofors Dynamics (Wikipidea).
“As I said, there is no
other aircraft in the market today or in the market tomorrow that has the
capability that matches RBS15. This is very long range, very powerful weapon
system,” he answered when
asked that F-16 Viper noticeably lacks this huge munition.
The RBS15 is slow, silent, and uses the curvature of the earth to avoid
enemy’s radar detection, according to Miguel Svenson, director of technical
sales support, missiles system at the Saab Dynamics, in an article titled “Norse
power: the RBS15 forges ahead” by Robin Hughes featured at the September,
2018 Jane’s International Defense Review.
“Survivability is a key feature
of the RBS15 Mk 3. The missile stays low and silent, utilizing the curvature of
the earth for as long as possible. To overcome the prediction algorithims used
by FCS (fire control system), in the terminal phase the activated target
seekers initiates randomly generated 2D lateral manouevers, enabled by the new
variable thrust engine. Normally when maneuvering the air - speed decreases
however, the RBS15 Mk 3 is powered all the way to impact, which Svensson said
is “very important to ensure that we meet the times for our way points – so if
we need to accelerate in headwinds to meet our way point times –then we
can do this,” Jane’s
continued.
Hewson said despite the edge of the RBS15, Saab unveiled its latest
fourth generation version Gung-nir of the anti ship missile at the Farnborough
Airshow, England in July 2018.
It can fly to its target 300 kilometers away from its launcher.
“We called it Gung-nir that’s a
name from Norse Mythology, Gung-nir, with a spear of Odin which you throw. It
never missed. That’s a fantastic name for anti ship missile,” Hewson said after mimicking Oden
throwing a spear to emphasize his point.
He said the primary guidance system of RBS15 is its active radar
seeking extensively advance developed for many years.
“You have the option to
integrate GPS. There is an INS (inertial navigation system). You used the
combination of these things depending on the tactical situation. You can fire
the missile singly or in salvos. You can program them to come to a different
direction but all of them arrived in the same time. You may not want to
fly on the straight line, you may not want to fly in a predictable force”.
When asked if the anti ship guided smart ordnance can “knocked out” a
huge Mainland Chinese Frigate that encroaches in the country’s territory,
Hewson retorted that it (can) deliver that capability
“This is a supremely effective
anti missile system. It is there for the purposes of national defense and
delivers that capability”.
At the demonstration video shown
in YouTube titled: “Saab
Missiles RBS15 Anti-Ship Missile” a decommissioned frigate was torn
into half after it was hit on the starboard by the lethal highly resistant long
range RBS15 that flew to the target despite the flares, chaffs, and jam
released by the vessel.
Jane's explained that the
target seeker features a high power monopulse with frequency agility and a
jittered pulse-repetion frequency (PRF). These and other features allow the
missile to counter all existing forms of active and passive
countermeasures.
“If the target seeker is jammed,
RBS15 Mk3 has Home-On-Jam feature that effectively turns it into an
anti-radiation missile. The target seeker’s high resolution also features a
unique target discrimination capability that contributes to insensitivity to
chaff, decoys, and jammers. Additionally, the target seeker’s behavior is
software-controlled. This enables the missile to adapt to new threats as they
emerge, and for new features to be added thought software updates,” he
cited.
VIDEO: Author being shown by Saab Gripen Vice President for Communication Robert Hewson the mock- up display of multiple role fighter multi-billion pesos Gripen Jas 39 C/D and its vaunted long range fire and forget Robot System (RBS) 15 anti-ship missile at the three-day arms expo dubbed as Asian Defense & Security (ADAS) 2018 held recently at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, Philippines.
According to Svenson it has a payload of 200 kilogram penetrating
blast/fragmentation warhead system with a land attack capability is
manufactured by TDW, a wholly owned subsidiary of MBDA Germany, although Saab
provides the pre-programmable proximity fuze function. The navigational package
is developed by Diehl; the adaptive radar altimeter is designed by Thales
in France, with software developed by Saab, and the missile’s multi purpose
computer hardware produced by Diehl, again with software designed by Saab. Its
GPS type depends on the specific customer requirement either a civilian GPS or
a United States military grade GPS, in which case it would be government
–furnished equipment and supplied by the customer.
Hewson cited that the Gripen Jas 39 C/D carries the RBS 15 under two of
its wings.
“This is very powerful long range very powerful system”.
He said it can travel 200 kilometer from the launching site that
travels like a small turbo jet to the the enemy ship.
Example of the 200 kilometers is the stretch of Subic Bay in
Zambales, Province to the Chinese encroached Scarborough Shoal, a part of
Masinloc, Zambales which is 198 kilometers.
“With the RBS15 Mk 3, we added a huge increase in range (200 km), a
new navigation system, many more way points for a highly flexible
trajectory, an improved engagement planning capability, and we’ve introduced a
new enhanced warhead. We’ve also introduced a GPS for a land attack capability
and we’ve reduced the IR (infrared) signature of the missile,” Svensson
said on the RBS15 Mk 3 2005 variant.
The in flight missile weight 160 kilogram.
Hewson said he understand the bias of majority of Filipinos in military
fora online that passionately discussed the nuances of the F-16 Viper
because “people get very emotional, people get attached to aircraft
because of their interest to this, people come from enthusiast background and
its great to have a debate and discussion about things. And of course I am here
to talk about Gripen and other people talk about their aircraft and they will
talk about the benefit of their system”. The user has to make an intelligent
choice and all I can tell you the capability of the aircraft and they are
considerable”.
He said it is still the user, like the Philippines government, who will
choose intelligently what is the most applicable to its topography.
Hewson cited the other comparative advantages of the lower
maintenance Gripen like its weapon system, avionics versus its
competitors. Due to space constraint however this paper will publish their
nitty-gritty on its future issues.
To take a sneak peek however how a buyer can save in the
maintenance cost in the long run, Gripen force can operate from small
airfields or even a highway when no runways are available. It quickly deploy
for operations with few personnel and minimum equipment, cited by an excerpt in
a brochure given to this paper at the arms expo attended by renowned military
manufacturers around the world.
“Combat operation can be sustained with no expensive infrastructure,
by day and by night and in all weathers. The Gripen design philosophy ensures
that expensive and excessive support and logistic demands will never restrict
your ability to deploy air power”.
The short- take- off-landing (STOL) Gripen, that needs only 400 meters
of paved roadway, is designed to host a formidable arsenal of weaponry. A fully
flexible mission capability offers multiple role requirements without changes
to software and hardware. It has combined air-to-air and air-to-surface stores
carriage that gives the lethal aerial weaponry a true swing – role capability.
The lower priced aircraft, based on its utility's life span, has offensive and
defensive operations, including reconnaissance that it can conduct in a single
mission.
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I'd say, Brilliant choice!!!
TumugonBurahin