MIM-23 Hawk - Development

Development

Development of the Hawk missile system began in 1952, when the United States Army began studies into a medium range semi-active radar homing surface-to-air missile. In July 1954 development contracts where awarded to Northrop for the launcher, radars and fire control systems, while Raytheon was awarded the contract for the missile. The first test launch of the missile then designated the XSAM-A-18 happened in June 1956. By July 1957 development was completed, by which time the designation had changed to XM3 and XM3E1. Very early missiles used the Aerojet M22E7 which was not reliable; the problems were resolved with the adoption of the M22E8 engine.

The missile was initially deployed by the U.S. Army in 1959, and by the US Marine Corps in 1960.

The high complexity of the system, and the quality of tube-based electronics, gave the radars in the early Hawk systems a MTBF of only 43 hours. The improved Hawk system increased this to 130 to 170 hours. Later Hawk versions improved this further to between 300 and 400 hours.

Improved Hawk or I-Hawk The original Hawk system had problems engaging targets at low altitude - the missile would have problems picking the target out against ground clutter. The U.S. Army began a program to address these issues in 1964 - the Hawk Improvement Program (Hawk/HIP). This involved numerous upgrades to the Hawk system:

• A digital data processing central information coordinator for target processing, threat ordering, and intercept evaluation.
• An improved missile (MIM-23B) with a larger warhead, smaller and more powerful M112 motor, and improved guidance section.
• The PAR, CWAR, HPI, and ROR were replaced by upgraded variants (see #Radars).

The system entered service during 1972, the first unit reaching operational status by October. All US units were upgraded to I-Hawk standard by 1978.

Product Improvement Plan In 1973 the U.S. Army started an extensive multi-phase Hawk PIP (Product Improvement Plan), mainly intended to improve and upgrade the numerous items of ground equipment.

• Phase I
• : Phase I involved replacement of the CWAR with the AN/MPQ-55 Improved CWAR (ICWAR), and the upgrade of the AN/MPQ-50 PAR to Improved PAR (IPAR) configuration by the addition of a digital MTI (Moving Target Indicator). The first PIP Phase I systems were fielded between 1979 and 1981.
• Phase II
• : Developed from 1978 and fielded between 1983 and 1986. upgraded the AN/MPQ-46 HPI to AN/MPQ-57 standard by replacing some of the vacuum tube based electronics with modern solid-state circuits, and added an optical TAS (Tracking Adjunct System). The TAS, designated OD-179/TVY, is an electro-optical (TV) tracking system that increases Hawk operability and survivability in a high-ECM environment.
• Phase III
• : The PIP Phase III development was started in 1983, and was first fielded by U. S. forces in 1989. Phase III was a major upgrade which significantly enhanced the computer hardware and software for most components of the system, a new CWAR the AN/MPQ-62, added single-scan target detection capability, and upgraded the HPI to AN/MPQ-61 standard by addition of a Low-Altitude Simultaneous Hawk Engagement (LASHE) system. LASHE allows the Hawk system to counter saturation attacks by simultaneously intercepting multiple low-level targets. The ROR was phased out in Phase III Hawk units.

Hawk Missile Restore Reliability (MRR)

This was a program that ran between 1982 and 1984 intended to improve missile reliability.

Hawk ECCM

Running alongside the MMR program, this produced ECCM to specific threats, probably contemporary Soviet ECM pods such as the SPS-141 fitted to the Su-22, which proved moderately effective during the Iran-Iraq War. The MIM-23C and E missiles contain these fixes.

Low clutter enhancements

Upgrades to the missile that takes it up to MIM-23G that enable the missile to deal with low flying targets in a high clutter environment. These were first deployed in 1990.

Hawk missile ILM (Improved lethality modification)

To improve the lethality of the warhead of the missile against ballistic missiles, the warhead was redesigned to produce fewer larger fragments, typically 35 grams each comparable to a 12.7 mm projectile in mass.

Hawk mobility and TMD upgrades

A Hawk mobility survivability enhancement programme has been developed following experience in the 1990 Gulf War. The aim of this programme was to reduce the number of support vehicles per battery and to increase survivability. Upgrades to the launcher allow missiles to be transported on the launcher itself, as well as replacing vacuum tubes with a single laptop computer. A north finding system speeds orientation and launcher alignment. A field wire replaces heavy cables and allows for greater dispersion amongst battery vehicles from 110 m to 2 km. The upgrades where deployed by the US Marine Corps between early 1995 and September 1996.

Phase IV

With both the Army and USMC abandoning the Hawk, phase IV was never completed. However it was planned to include:

• High mobility continuous wave acquisition radar to improve detection of small UAVs.
• A new CW engagement radar.
• Anti-radiation missile decoys.
• An improved missile motor.
• An upgraded electro-optical tracker.
• Improved command and control.
• ATBM upgrades.

Hawk XXI (Hawk 21)

The Hawk XXI or Hawk-21 is a more advanced, and more compact version of Hawk PIP-3 upgrade. Hawk-XXI basically eliminates the PAR and CWAR radars with the introduction of 3D MPQ-64 Sentinel radars. Norway's Kongsberg Company provides an FDC (Fire Distribution Center) as it is used in NASAMS system in Norway. The missiles are upgraded MIM-23K standard with an improved blast-fragmentation warhead that creates a larger lethal zone. The system is also effective against short range tactical ballistic missiles.

A MPQ-61 HIPIR radar provides low altitude and local area radar coverage as well as continuous wave radar illumination for the MIM-23K Hawk missilles.