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Slow movers such as helicopters are particularly vulnerable to the later generation of man portable SAMs. One simple and fairly effective counter to infra-red heat seekers is to deflect the hot engine exhaust gases directly up into the downwash of the rotor thereby greatly reducing the specific JR heat source while shielding to some extent the actual engine exhaust from a ground based JR seeker. This RAAF UH-1H on UN Sinai deployment earlier this decade sports such an exhaust deflector
Technology Explained
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Man Portable Surface-To-Air Missiles Part II
The SA-7 Grail, SA-14 Gremlin and SA-16
The Russians were understandably alarmed by the discussion surrounding Redeye and sought to build an equivalent – this missile is the ubiquitous 9M32 Strela 2. Work on the 9M32 actually commenced in 1959 with development completed in 1965 and deployment a year later. The missile was conceptually similar to Redeye as a RAM using an uncooled PbS seeker sensitive to 2-micron band IR emissions. The missile uses a launch engine and sustainer and carries a 1. 8kg high explosive/ fragmentation warhead with an impact/grazing fuse.
The 9M32 suffered major performance limitations resulting from poor propellant performance and a crude IR seeker with a habit of locking on to clouds, the sun and hot pieces of countryside. It was supplanted in production from 1972 by the upgraded 9M32M Strela 2M with a 50% improvement in range to 3nm resulting from better propellant, an improved warhead and an IR filter to prevent extraneous IR radiation from upsetting the seeker. Both versions of the Grail employ an expendable fibreglass launcher and a reusable gripstock, a battery/coolant unit is mounted below the front of the tube.
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