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Subject:
The Mystery Missiles of Washington DC
James Dunnigan
2/3/2005 8:27:19 PM
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Washington DC area commuters driving down Barton Parkway in Potomac, Maryland,
couldn?t help but notice what looked like a box like missile launcher on the
grounds of the old Naval Surface Warfare Center. The launcher did not look like
anything familiar. It was smaller than the four missile Patriot container, and
appeared to be holding six, smaller, missiles. It turned out that NORAD (the
North American Air Defense Command), was in charge of the launcher, and was not
saying anything. However, a little research revealed that the mystery launcher
was the surface-to-air version of the U.S. air-to-air AMRAAM missile. First
developed by Norway, the system has been adopted by several other countries
(including Spain and Kuwait). The U.S. Marines are developing their own version,
called CLAWS. This system will have AMRAAMs fired from a launcher mounted on a
hummer. The box launcher seen outside DC is from the Norwegian system (called
NASAMS). The ground launched AMRAAM has a range of about twenty kilometers, and
can hit targets as high as 13,000 feet. NASAMS was developed so that it could
easily work with different search radars. The 350 pound AMRAAM SAM costs more
(about $600,000 each) compared to the air-to-air version (about $380,000), but
is basically the same missile. The twelve foot long AMRAAM has its own radar,
for ensuring a hit once it has been guided to the vicinity of the target. The
missile has a fifty pound warhead, and can take down just about anything that
flies, including wide-body commercial transports. The AMRAAMs outside DC are
apparently for defense against suicidal pilots, or any unauthorized aircraft in
the area that refuse to leave restricted air space.
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