Cruise missile formation caught on video

[Andrew116]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6e0f843efd

I though it was kinda cool, something that we dont normaly see.

[fox_111]

Nice, they are tightly packed together!

[Andrew116]

Nice, they are tightly packed together!

Yah I thought they would be spread out more

[sferrin]

That's a trip. Kinda spooky even. Also makes you go "hmmm". Why? Look how tight of a formation they're flying- on GPS alone. There was another incident back during Desert Storm during the kickoff. A Tomcat pilot was told "look down and to your left" or some such and they picked up a formation of 37 TLAMs inbound (or outbound I guess it would be) on their radar.

[T-62]

Awsome video thanks. I have seen early lunch videos and the missiles release a lot of smoke. Are they multi staged or what is the deal with that?

[Marvin!!]

During flight, after launch, it's turbojet powered

[MitchG]

being in a close nit group like that wouldn't it make it easyer for the enemy to take them out or at least a few of them, or do they spread out as they get closer to the target area?

just curious im not familur with the process of a cruise missile attack..;-)

[BadKarma26]

i doubt they had much of a concern about that in Iraq. Also because they fly so low to the ground Ill bet theyre a lot harder to shoot down.

[sferrin]

Just a guess but they're probably going to the same target. They'd have had to have formed up at some time after launch as they don't get launched that close together, and then go and hit multiple aim-points in a target area. Like an airbase or some such.

[themacedonian]

Just a guess but they're probably going to the same target. They'd have had to have formed up at some time after launch as they don't get launched that close together, and then go and hit multiple aim-points in a target area. Like an airbase or some such.

So one launches then waits for the others by slowing down? Wouldn't they be one after another as one next to each other?

So how do they know if they are in formation or not if auto guidance? This is very strange.

[Marvin!!]

Well, they have waypoints pre-programmed into their guidance system, and then at a certain point, they switch to their terrain matching system and locate the target by comparing what it "sees" to what it has in its database, if I'm not mistaken, so I think that if all the missiles had the same programmed flight path, they would use the same route and at some point their paths would meet, but that still leaves the speed question unanswered...Hmmm, perhaps the waypoints include desired speed

[sferrin]

Time On Target is something that is crucial to be able to control. They've had that down to literally fractions of a second for decades now. All they'd have had to do was say "be at waypoint X at xx:xx:xxx am" and there you'd have your formation. Because no way in hell did those seven TLAMs pop out of seven adjacent VLS cells at the same time.

[Marvin!!]

Aye that makes sense

TOT is indeed a critical parameter :cantbeli:

[BobChanel]

and think of the shock value of that.. instead of like 20 second intervals (or whatever it is to launch thoes) in like a blink of an eye your entire base is destroyed.. or your entire airwing is disabled. SMART!

Thanks for posting i wonderd if they did that...

[sferrin]

and think of the shock value of that.. instead of like 20 second intervals (or whatever it is to launch thoes) in like a blink of an eye your entire base is destroyed.. or your entire airwing is disabled. SMART!

Thanks for posting i wonderd if they did that...

One incident that's been fairly well reported was the initial strike during Desert Storm. One of the first on the list of targets was some communications node/exchange/whatever in Baghdad. Over there it would have the effect of taking CNN off the air. So they're sitting there in their bunker watching CNN and literally counting down "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and CNN goes off the air. I remember reading about a Red Flag back in the 80's wherein the best TOT was made by some F-111s with a time off of something like a few hundredths of a second. Incredible.

[Ghostryder]

That was amazing

[xMarsx]

Absolutely fascinating. I suppose that if they wanted to they could program a whole Blue Angels style routine with those things.