Land-based Vshorad and Shorad systems; the protection of high-value ground targets against attacks by fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and cruise missiles demands an integrated, multi-layer air defence system.

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Land-based Vshorad and Shorad systems; the protection of high-value ground targets against attacks by fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and cruise missiles demands an integrated, multi-layer air defence system.

Land-based Vshorad and Shorad systems; the protection of high-value ground targets against attacks by fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and cruise missiles demands an integrated, multi-layer air defence system. For those aircraft and weapons that penetrate to within 20 kilometres of the target, there should be a series of obstacles still to overcome, in the form of short-range missiles at around ten kilometres, very short-range missiles at around four kilometres and automatic weapons for the final kill. (Complete Guide)

There can be no doubt that the nature of air defence is changing, as manned aircraft (both aeroplanes and helicopters) are increasingly armed with low flying stand-off precision-guided missiles that may employ supersonic speed and/or low observables to make interception more difficult. Effective air defence is thus becoming dependent on early target detection through the use of high altitude radars (mounted on aircraft or inside aerostats), improved sensor-to-shooter networking and the ability of the various defensive armament systems to deal with relatively small, high-speed, quickly manoeuvring, low-signature targets in the presence of jamming.

The Gun

An inevitable consequence of the changing nature of the air threat is that the role of the automatic gun will be modified, though by no means eliminated. The days when an aircraft would overfly the target to release gravity munitions are passing, at least in the context of major operations.

Even for armoured fighting vehicles, the air threat can take the form of a supersonic missile launched in a pop-up attack by a helicopter located eight kilometres away, although such attacks generally require laser target designation from a separate source, due to limited battlefield visibility. No tank has an effective active defence against this threat, although in theory the target might (at some future stage) blind the incoming missile with a high-powered laser and fire a barrel-launched guided missile to search autonomously for the hidden helicopter.

The gun may be suffering from a worsening shortage of easy aerial targets, but it retains some fundamental advantages. For example, it is inexpensive in comparison with any guided missile. It will thus remain the cost-effective means to deal with low-value targets such as small reconnaissance UAVs. In addition, it can react instantly and is a precise and lethal weapon at extremely short range, whereas a guided missile has a delay (corresponding to a flight of several hundred metres) before it starts guiding and its warhead is a...

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