Delete comment from: Elements Of Power
Hi Guys,
RE: Drag
I think wing and fin drag (or any drag for that matter) aren't truly understandable unless you do the CFD modeling and wind tunnel work first. I would say the CUDA concept has bigger wings proportionally than the AMRAAM, but 'eyeball engineering' the aft steerable fins, I can't really tell the difference there. I think the CUDA concept wings are optimized for LO and compact carriage, and low aspect wings on missiles have been known to be beneficial at high speeds since at least the 60s, so perhaps there's a 'speed' reason for the wings as well. The big unknown in estimating drag is how the concept is to be controlled. How the surfaces are used (and 'shaping'of the flyout) will determine how much total drag will limit range. Is it a Skid-to-turn, bank-to-turn, or 'rolling airframe' missile? I'd guess it is a more efficient, less reactive bank-to-turn design, and makes up the end-game disadvantage with that method with using the ACMs.
RE: LMs experience with ACMs. Their total experience struck me as impressive as well -particularly the use of ACMs on ever-smaller missiles.
Dec 13, 2012, 3:57:00 AM
Posted to The Mysterious LM 'CUDA' Missile"...