[Fixed SAM] MIM-23 Hawk

MIM-23 HAWK
- Surface-to-Air Missile -

MIM-23 Image A

ORIGIN (Real World)
United States of America

GAMES FEATURED IN:
Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation

OPERATORS:
Belkan Army
Estovakian Army
Federal Erusian Land Forces / Free Erusian Army
Leasath Army
Yuktobanian Army

Specifications
Service: Marine Corps
Contractor Raytheon
Mission: surface-to-air missile defense
Targets
Length: 12.5 feet (3.81 meters)
Diameter: 13.5 inches (3.84 centimeters)
Weight: 1400 pounds (635 kilograms)
Range Officially: 14.9 miles (24 kilometers)
40 km, in excess of 20 NM
Speed Officially: Supersonic
800 m/sec, in excess of mach 2.4
Altitude Officially: 30,000 feet (9.14 kilometers)
in excess of 60 KFT
Propulsion: Solid propellant rocket motor
Guidance: system Radar directed semi-active homing
Warheads: One 300 pound (136.2 kg) high explosive missile
Type of fire: Operator directed/automatic modes
Magazine capacity: 48 missiles/battery
Missile guidance: Semi-active homing
Target detection: Continuous wave radar and pulse acquisition radars
Target tracking: High power illuminating continuous wave radar and passive optical
Rate of fire: 1 missile every 3 seconds
Sensors: High power continuous wave radar (HIPIR)
Continuous wave acquisition radar (CWAR)
Pulse Acquisition Radar (PAR) and passive optical scan
Transport C-130/C-141/C-5 and heavy lift helo (extended load)
Deployment One Light Antiaircraft Missile Battalion in each Marine Air Control Group of each Marine Air Wing (two active, one Reserve).

Firing Platoon: 2 Fire sections of
up to 3 Launchers per (1) PAR and (1) CWAR
3 missiles per launcher
Units 2 active duty and 1 reserve Light Anti-aircraft Missile Battalion
Crew Officer: 2
Enlisted: 49
Program status Operational
First capability Air Defense - 1962
Missile Defense -
Quantity total inventory is 37,000 missiles
Development cost
Production cost
Total acquisition cost
Acquisition unit cost
Production unit cost
Unit Replacement Cost $250,000 per missile
$15 million per fire unit
$30 million per battery

OVERVIEW:
The Hawk surface to air missile system provides medium-range, low to medium altitude air defense against a variety of targets, including jet and rotary wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and cruise missiles. This mobile, all-weather day and night system is highly lethal, reliable, and effective against electronic countermeasures. The Hawk was originally named for the predatory bird but later the name was turned into an acronym for "Homing All the Way Killer."

The Hawk system has provided US forces with low to medium altitude air defense for the past forty years. The Hawk System has been the Marine Corp's primary air defense since the early 1960's. Basic Hawk was developed in the 1950s and initially fielded in 1960. The system has been upgraded through a series of product improvements beginning with the Improved Hawk in 1970. The Phase III product improvement and the latest missile modification were first fielded in the early 1990s to the US Army and US Marine Corps (USMC). The system has maintained it's effectiveness against succeeding generations of high technology aircraft through periodic preplanned product improvement programs. An evolving system, Hawk is now in its Phase III configuration with research and development underway to obtain a tactical missile defense capability.

Although Hawk missile batteries were deployed by the U.S. Army during the conflicts in Vietnam and Persian Gulf, American troops have never fired this weapon in combat. The first combat use of Hawk occurred in 1967 when Israel successfully fired the missiles during the Six Day War with Egypt. Even though it was not used by the coalition during Operation Desert Storm, the Hawk missile did see action during the Persian Gulf War. Kuwaiti air defense units equipped with U.S. Hawk anti-aircraft missiles downed at least 22 Iraqi aircraft and one combat helicopter during the invasion of 2 August 1990.

Current developments will provide an engagement capability against Tactical Ballistic Missiles (TBM). The US Marine Corps and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) have jointly funded improvements to the Marine Corp's Hawk system. The Hawk has been modified and tested to intercept short-range ballistic missiles. Because the Hawk is a well established system, the current program of upgrades and enhancements is seen as a low risk, near-term missile defense solution against short-range ballistic missiles and other airborne threats such as aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles. In this role, Hawk can be considered a lower-tier missile defense system. All US Hawk systems are owned and operated by the Marine Corps and, as the Marine’s only ballistic missile defense system, it will be relied on to protect Marine expeditionary forces. In September 1994, two LANCE target missiles were successfully intercepted by the modified Hawk system in an operational test by Fleet Marine Forces at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. By the end of 1997 over one third of the active Marine Corps Hawk equipment has been modified to provide a basic, short-range tactical ballistic missile defense (TBMD) for expeditionary Marine forces. The entire fleet inventory was modified by the end of 1998 year.

The Hawk Fire Unit is the basic element of the Hawk system. The actual firing battery has two identical fire units, each consisting of a command post that houses the operator console, a continuous wave acquisition radar (CWAR) for target surveillance, a high power illumination for target tracking, MK XII IFF interrogator set, and three launchers with three missiles each. Normally the Hawk is deployed in a battalion configuration, communicating with the controlling unit (usually a TSQ-73 Missile Minder) over an Army Tactical Data Link (ATDL-1) connection as well as on voice.

The TSQ-73 Missile Minder Fire Direction Center (FDC) is the system used for the Army Hawk Battalion and Air Defense Brigade. The TSQ-73 supplies command, control and communications for the Army fire units (both Patriot and Hawk) and provides a link to the Air Force C3I units (MCE and AWACS). The Brigade and Hawk battalion units rely on information passed over the data links to produce a comprehensive air picture, while the Hawk battalion can also deploy the Pulse Acquisition Radar (PAR) to generate its own air picture. With the command and control of Army fire units being moved to the Information Coordination Center (ICC) and Army ADTOC (Air Defense Tactical Operations Center), the TSQ-73 is gradually being phased out over the next several years. However, it still plays a vital role in the coordination of SAM assets into the integrated theater air defense environment.

Source:
* Ace Combat Series (In Game Data)
* FAS.org

* Original Article by: Neo