ADM-141 TALD

The Brunswick ADM-141 TALD was an American decoy missile built by Brunswick Corporation for the USAF and the Israeli Air Force.

The Tactical Air-Launched Decoy (TALD) was intended to confuse and saturate enemy air defenses, thus allowing attacking aircraft a higher probability of penetrating to the target. The Improved TALD is a turbojet-powered version.

History

In the 1970s, the Brunswick Corp. developed several unpowered radar decoys including the Samson, which was produced for the Israeli Air Force by Israel Military Industries (IMI) in the early 1980s. The Samson proved highly successful, prompting the US Navy to purchase some 2,000 of them during the mid to late 1980s. The first units entered US service in 1987; in 1985, Brunswick was asked to develop an improved Samson named TALD.

The TALD was an expendable glide vehicle with a square fuselage, flip-out wings, and three tail control surfaces. A digital flight control system could be programmed to conduct various speed or manoeuvering changes during flight. The missile could be launched from 12,200 metres (40,000 ft), at which height it had a range of up to 126 kilometres (78 miles) - a low altitude range reduced this to 26 kilometres (16 miles).

Variants

The basic TALD was build in different versions.

A/B37U-1(V)1

The A/B37U-1(V)1 carried up to 36 kg (80 lb) of chaff.

A/B37U-1(V)2

The A/B37U-1(V)2 had a passive radar decoy with an enhanced radar signature.

ADM-141A

The ADM-141A had passive and active radar enhancers. An IR decoy also existed.

Operations

The TALD was used with great success in the opening stages of Operation Desert Storm in 1991; more than 100 were launched on the opening night of the war, prompting the Iraqi air defence to activate many of its radars - most of which were then destroyed by anti-radiation missiles.

The Improved TALD was powered by a Teledyne CAE Model 312 (J700-CA-400) turbojet. This boosted the range to more than 300 kilometres (185 miles) at high altitude and 185 kilometres (115 miles) at low altitude. This model was also capable of performing a flight profile which resembled that of a real aircraft much more convincingly. Initially twenty TALDs were upgraded to ADM-141C ITALD configuration, with the first flight conducted in 1996. Since then the U.S. Navy has ordered over 200 ADM-141Cs.

The major user of the ADM-141 is the F/A-18 Hornet. A single Hornet can carry up to 20 decoys.

pecifications

*"Length" : 2.34 m (7 ft 8 in)
*"Wingspan" : 1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)
*"Weight" : 180 kg (400 lb)
*"Speed" : Up to Mach 0.8 (460 km/h, 250 kt)
*"Range" : 126 km (78 m) - (Over 300 km (185 m) for the ADM-141C)
*"Propulsion" : Teledyne CAE J700-CA-400 turbojet, 790 N (177 lbf) on ADM-141C only

References

Article source: [http://www.vectorsite.net/twuav.html Vectorsite's "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles"] by Greg Goebel.

ee also

*List of missiles
*ADM-160 MALD