STORM SHADOW

摘要

The MBDA Storm Shadow is a conventionally armed stand-off cruise missile (CASOM) carried by the Tornado GR4. Storm Shadow was first used by the RAF in the opening days of Operation Telic in March 2003 when No.617 Squadron 'Dambusters' fired dozens of missiles to destroy high-value Iraqi targets. The missile provides the three most desirable requirements of weaponeering - accuracy, penetration and stand-off range. It is designed for pre-planned attacks and heavily defended, hardened facilities, such as bunkers, whose positions have been pinpointed before the mission. The missile is 'stealthy' and is all weather, dayight capable with a range in excess of 155 miles (250km). Storm Shadow navigates via a combination of GPS and TRN (Terrain Referenced Navigation) and inertial navigation. Use of one or the other is also possible depending on the availability of GPS (if GPS jamming is in effect) or accurate terrain modelling. The missile has the capability to attack the target on a basis of pure co-ordinate location (such as in the RAF's Enhanced Paveway family), or it can use infra-red imagery in a process called Automatic Target Recognition (ATR). ATR requires the target area to be accurately modelled. The modelling data is fed into the missile's memory. At the terminal phase of the missile's flight it compares what its seeker is detecting with the stored picture in its memory and subsequently selects the precise detonation point identified in the planning phase.