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Originally Posted by HistoricalDavid
Assuming they were as reliable and accurate as Tomahawks, and they could be converted to carry conventional warheads, I would have thought them very useful weapons in long-range deep strikes, but you'd have to ask someone with expertise. Maybe it was cost-cutting.
Huh? Low RCS means you don't have to do low-level penetration, and it means you can better dodge AEW.
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Not really. A low observable cruise missile will still be far more survivable flying a terrain hugging profile than a mission at medium altitude. At low level you only have to think about radar stealth from above, at higher altitudes you have to build in all aspect stealth, much more expensive.
Look at Storm Shadow? Maybe ask yourself why its mission profile is terrain matching at low level even though it is a stealthy design?
Remember that there aren`t many cruise missiles around with F-22 stealth levels that will enable you to fly them at higher alts`. Higher flying cruise missiles just makes it easier for a defender, low RCS or not.
Convair/GE built the original AGM-129s. These were so troublesome, the DoD invited other contractors to build them. Hughes and Raytheon may have been the other folks involved, I can`t remember. The 129s suffered from structural problems and other issues. I think the basic design may have been flawed but I am guessing, it could have been more quality control issues.
There was a huge test failure that ended up being quite embarrassing. The design was very ambitious though, with some really neat features. It was and will remain very sensitive technology, so we can only guess at some of the issues involved.
Eventually the USAF got rid of these missiles, under funding pressure from congress, a lack of a viable mission and the end of the cold war. IMO. The AGM-129 B was supposedly built to do a classified mission with a one off nuclear warhead type, but it could have just been designed for a special conventional, non-nuclear mission. The details on the B are not at all clear, except that it was canned.
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