EP0852326B1 - Weapon battery for anti-aircraft fire units - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a weapon battery according to the preamble of claim 1.

EP-A1-0 551 667 discloses a weapon battery consisting of several guided missile launching stations. The missile launching stations, hereinafter also called fire units, have means for detecting a target and are connected to a central unit. Each fire unit sends data relating to the position and speed of the target currently being tracked to the central unit via the connections. This data is sent back by radio to all fire units immediately after receipt by the central unit. Each fire unit contains a computerized control device that has a target sensor and tracker. The first sensor, which detects a specific target, communicates this to the other fire units, which are then locked out of the target's treatment, but continue to pursue it. This action is subject to a higher-level control algorithm, with the necessary calculations being carried out by the fire units.

The disadvantages of the weapon battery described above are based on the fact that the Fire units exchange their target messages via the central unit, so that at their Failure the whole system is shut down. In addition, the transfer of data be disturbed by radio. Furthermore, it is disadvantageous that a certain Cannot fight target at the same time with more than one fire unit.

Guided missiles are also suitable for longer operating distances and flying heights than barrel weapons. Conversely, barrel weapons are quick to defend against thanks to their short reaction time Low-flying aircraft superior to guided missiles. So that a low-flying aircraft can be used in rough terrain cannot sneak up unnoticed, the coordination of the fire units is special here valuable.

EP-A1-0 551 667 describes a weapon battery with a fire control system, which is arranged on a ship. It comprises several fire units, which are connected to one another directly via a data bus and on the other hand via a central control unit. The central control unit is an essential part of the weapon battery. The connection arrangement, which comprises the direct and indirect connection of the fire units, is relatively complex. Furthermore, this weapon battery has the disadvantages described above, which arise in connection with a central control unit.

A special design of another fire control system is known from EP-A2-0 327 029 . A system with several operator stations is described. Each operator station is equipped with a slide-in frame. The slide-in frame contains various modules, in particular an interface and control module with a bus connection. The overall control of the system is carried out by one of the interface and control modules.

From US-A-5,443,227 a fire control system with a central control unit and a fiber optic bidirectional data transmission arrangement with several channels is known. This system also has a central control arrangement with the associated disadvantages described above.

In a further network of guided missile launching stations known from EP-A-0 431 892 , several sensors are provided for the acquisition of target data. This target data is fed to a data network, which combines the data to form an integrated image of the target activities. This image is sent to two directors who control four effectors in the form of launchers.

The above-mentioned network has the disadvantage that the data is transmitted from the sensors the data network flows to the directors, but not in the opposite direction. This is it is not possible for a sensor that has already detected a target to be another sensor can help to understand this goal as well. Nor is it possible for the directors can coordinate their operations because the one director cannot know which Target is fought by the other director. So it can happen that one target out of several Throwers are fought while another remains unmolested.

DE-A-32 35 266 describes a coupler network for coupling several subscriber transmitters to several subscriber receivers. However, it does not contain any teaching that can be applied specifically to weapon batteries or fire control systems.

A fire control system is known from GB-A-2 136 097 , in which the calculations are carried out decentrally, but under the control of a central computer. The disadvantages of central units were discussed above.

Finally, EP-A-0 249 676 has made known a fire control system for an armored vehicle armament system. It is envisaged that in the event of a complete or partial failure of the fire control system, it is possible to switch over to an operating mode intended for operation. No lessons for the specific problems that can be solved with the invention can be derived from this fire control system.

The invention has for its object a weapon battery of the type mentioned propose that does not have the disadvantages mentioned above and not only steering but also uses tube weapons, the latter tube weapons especially for the defense against Low-flying aircraft are suitable.

This task is accomplished with a gun battery of the type mentioned the features of the characterizing part of claim 1 solved.

According to further developments of the invention, the combat plan is independent of each director calculated by the other directors from the available data, whereby at the calculation also includes information about the position and usability of all fire units be taken into account.

The advantages achieved with the invention can be seen in the fact that the same goal at the same time can be fought by more than one fire unit, but the possibility exists to fight another target present at the same time by another fire unit. Since the anti-aircraft fire units networked in accordance with the invention are combined Attackers can cover a sufficiently large area with the upstream sensors Low-flying aircraft can be discovered more easily. This makes it possible to get cheap anti-aircraft fire units use with longer reaction times.

The proposed triangulative measurement of the target by passive sensors is especially cheap and effective because the target is not through electronic countermeasures can protect against it.

Another advantage over the prior art is that the use of unprocessed measurements instead of pre-processed estimates.

Due to the constant updating of the combat plan, it remains up to date, even if the battle situation changes.

Fig.1a

Eine schematische Darstellung einer Feuereinheit mit Lenkwaffen gemäss allgemeinem Stand der Technik,

Fig.1b

eine schematische Darstellung einer Feuereinheit mit Rohrwaffen gemäss allgemeinem Stand der Technik,

Fig.2

eine schematische Darstellung einer Waffenbatterie gemäss der vorstehend genannten EP-A- 0 431 892,

Fig.3

eine schematische Darstellung einer Waffenbatterie gemäss der vorstehend genannten EP-A1- 0 551 667,

Fig.4

eine schematische Darstellung der erfindungsgemässen Waffenbatterie, und

Fig.5a,5b

eine schematische Darstellung einer triangulatorischen Vermessung eines Zieles.

The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the drawings. Show it:

1a

A schematic representation of a fire unit with guided missiles according to the general state of the art,

1b shows

1 shows a schematic illustration of a fire unit with tube weapons according to the general prior art,

Fig.2

a schematic representation of a weapon battery according to the aforementioned EP-A-0 431 892,

Figure 3

1 shows a schematic representation of a weapon battery according to EP-A1-0 551 667 mentioned above ,

Figure 4

a schematic representation of the weapon battery according to the invention, and

5a, 5b

a schematic representation of a triangulatory measurement of a target.

1a and 1b , 1 denotes a sensor which measures the position and possibly also the radial speed of a target. The sensor 1 can be a search sensor that measures many targets imprecisely or a follow-up sensor that measures a single target precisely. However, it can also be both. The sensor 1 is connected to a director 2 who calculates and extrapolates the trajectory of a target and decides on the use of the sensor 1 and an effector 3, 4 , the effector 3 ( FIG. 1a ) being a thrower and the effector 4 ( Fig.1b ) is a gun. In order that a fire unit consisting of the sensor 1, the director 2 and the effector 3 or 4 is as little as possible vulnerable, the parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 are preferably far apart. In addition, preferably only the director 2 is permanently manned because he does not emit radiation from active measuring devices or projectiles and can therefore be camouflaged better than sensor 1 and effector 3, 4. Furthermore, the spatial distance protects sensor 1 from vibrations, smoke and the heat of the effector 3, 4.

According to FIG. 2 , four sensors 5 are connected to two directors 7 via a data network 6 . 8 effectors in the form of throwers are designated, each effector 8 communicates with each director 7 in conjunction. The mode of operation of this weapon battery is briefly described above in the prior art.

According to Figure 3 , four fire units are provided, each of which is formed from a sensor 10, a director 11 and a launcher 12 . The fire units are connected to one another via a central unit 13 . The operation of this weapon battery is described above in the prior art.

In Figure 4 each consisting of a director 24 and at least one sensor 25 and at least a first effector 26, or at least a second effector 27 are designated 20, 21, 22 and 23 four fire units exist. In the selected example, the first fire unit 20 has a further effector in the form of the second effector 27 and the second fire unit 21 has a first effector 26 . The third fire unit 22 has a second sensor 25, while the fourth fire unit 23 has a further sensor 28 . The directors 24 are connected directly and bidirectionally to their associated sensors 25 and can use them optimally, for example with the help of information from other sensors. Some of these sensors can be positioned upstream in such a way that they do not primarily serve to use the effectors 26, 27 , but rather to pre-warn and instruct the other sensors. The directors 24 of the fire units 20, 21, 22, 23 are directly and preferably bidirectionally connected to one another by a ring structure 29 . In the ring structure 29 , each fire unit 20, 21, 22, 23 forwards the data it acquires or receives to the next fire unit 20, 21, 22, 23 .

However, it is also possible to link only some of the directors through a ring structure connect to. In addition to the ring structure, there are others, preferably more cross-linked ones Structures, such as a data bus or a radio network, both of which have the same structure, conceivable. This means that those sent from a fire unit Data can be received from all other fire units simultaneously. The stronger So if a structure is networked, the less time is wasted in the transmission the data as well as the consequences of a single link failure.

Each director 24 communicates with each other so that each of its sensors 25 can work with each other. In this way, a sensor that has not yet detected a target can be instructed by another sensor that has already detected it. As a result, it is also possible for two sensors, which are pursuing the same target purely passively, to determine the distance of the target by triangulation without the target being warned by the reception of active radiation. If the target were to protect themselves by emitting interference signals, these interference signals would only improve the accuracy of the passive measurement.

In the Figure 5a and 5b are indicated at 30 a representing a target aircraft with 31, 32 has two sensors, which can be either equal to or as shown be unequal. A first and a second ellipse 33, 34 represent areas of the passive sensors 31, 32 , in which one of the two suspects the target, as long as one sensor does not yet know what the other knows. The ellipses 31, 32 are actually much slimmer than shown in Fig . 5b , because the angle information is usually much more accurate than the distance information in passive measurement. A third, smaller ellipse 35 represents the area in which both sensors 31, 32 suspect the target when they work together. In this case or in other cases, the cooperation can consist, for example, of the sensors 31, 32 feeding their raw measurement data into a Kalman filter, which is provided, for example, in at least one director 24 . This method enables any number of sensors to work together if unprocessed measurement data (raw measurement data) with white measurement noise is exchanged via the data connections.

The gun battery described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5a and 5b operates as follows:
On the basis of the available information, a combat plan is created which defines which target is fired at by which effector and from which effector (for example, tube weapon 26 of the first fire unit 20 ). The combat plan is designed and continuously updated through a multidimensional and iterative optimization in such a way that the expected total combat success of all fire units becomes and remains maximum, taking into account the target change times and the limits of the ammunition stores, etc. This expected combat success can be defined, for example, as an expected value the number of kills or as the survival probability of the protected object or as a weighted average of both. In contrast to the prior art mentioned first, this does not preclude the same target from being fought by more than one fire unit at the same time.

Various methods are known for the optimization mentioned, for example Quasi-Newton (Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno or Davidson-Fletcher-Powell), minimal Error squares (Gauss-Newton or Levenberg-Marquardt) and Simplex (Nelder-Mead). However, you cannot use hard constraints such as the limitation of Process ammunition stock. Optimization methods for hard boundary conditions are theoretical and numerically much more demanding. That is why the hard boundary condition approximated by a soft boundary condition that, for example, the ammunition consumption is "punished" by a deduction from the battle success, and the harder the more the ammunition stock has become smaller.

Each director 24 , independently of the other directors, calculates the air situation and combat plan based on the information available. This also includes information about the position and operational capability of all fire units 20, 21, 22, 23. Normally, all information will be available to all directors 24 , so that all directors 24 can calculate and execute the same combat plan. This democratic coordination is efficient and only becomes weakly sub-optional if some information is not available to all directors 24 due to the failure of individual data connections.

Claims (14)

1. Weapons battery having firing units [20, 21, 22, 23] for fighting airborne targets, where

   each firing unit [20, 21, 22, 23] has

   at least one sensor [25] for detecting data relating to a target,

   a director [24] for calculating the target's trajectory,
   and

   at least one effector [26, 27] for fighting off the target, with

   the sensor [25] and the not less than one effector [26, 27] being linked to the director [24], and

   the firing units [20, 21, 22, 23] communicating with one another,

   characterised in that

   the directors of the firing units [20, 21, 22, 23] are directly linked to one another, with the directors of at least part of the firing units [20, 21, 22, 23] being linked to one another via a ring structure [29] in order to forward to each of the directors [24] the target data detected by the other firing units [20, 21, 22, 23], and

   each firing unit [20, 21, 22, 23] is constructed so as to calculate for the effectors [26, 27] of all the firing units [20, 21, 22, 23], from the target-related data available to it, a battle plan by means of which the deployment of the effectors [26, 27] is coordinated.
2. Weapons battery according to claim 1, characterised in that the directors (24) of all the firing units (20, 21, 22, 23) are linked to one another via a ring structure (29), with each firing unit forwarding the data detected or received by it to the next firing unit in each case.
3. Weapons battery according to claim 1, characterised in that the directors (24) of the firing units (20, 21, 22, 23) are linked to one another via a bus structure or a radio network, it being possible for the data transmitted by one firing unit to be simultaneously received by all the other firing units if appropriate.
4. Weapons battery according to claim 1, characterised in that the data are exchanged bi-directionally between the directors (24) of the firing units (20, 21, 22, 23).
5. Weapons battery according to claim 1, characterised in that the data are exchanged bi-directionally between the directors (24) and the associated sensors (25), with the result that a director (24) receives data from at least one of its sensors (25) and transmits to it data received from other sensors.
6. Weapons battery according to claims 4 and 5, characterised in that the sensors (25) and directors (24) exchange raw data.
7. Weapons battery according to claim 1, characterised in that at least one of the effectors of the firing units (20, 21, 22, 23) is a tube-type weapon.
8. Weapons battery according to claim 1, characterised in that at least two sensors (31, 32) are provided which are passively operating or can be switched to passive operation and which triangulate the target (30) if they are passively operating.
9. Weapons battery according to claim 1, characterised in that some of the sensors (25) are deployed as advance sensors which are used for early detection of the target and for advance warning and instruction of the remaining sensors.
10. Weapons battery according to claim 1, characterised in that only the directors (24) are permanently manned.
11. Weapons battery according to claim 1, characterised in that the battle plan is worked out by each director (24) independently of the other directors, on the basis of the data available to it.
12. Weapons battery according to claim 11, characterised in that the calculation of the battle plan takes into account information about the position and operational readiness of all the firing units (20, 21, 22, 23).
13. Weapons battery according to claim 12, characterised in that the calculation of the battle plan takes into account target changeover times and the limitations of the ammunition supplies.
14. Weapons battery according to claim 13, characterised in that the battle plan is continually updated by iterative calculation using the latest data in each case.

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