belonging to a Nation Q attack aircraft capable of
carrying anti-ship cruise missiles.
The contact continues inbound, headed toward the
Battle Group. Within minutes, it is within range of your
ship’s three-dimensional search and track radar. The
contact’s bearing, range, and altitude are plotted to
give an accurate course and speed. The range
resolution of the pulse-compressed radar allows you to
determine that the target is probably just one aircraft.
You continue to track the contact as you ponder your
next move.
As the aircraft approaches the outer edge of its
air-launched cruise missile’s (ALCM) range, the ESM
operator reports that aircraft’s radar sweep has
changed from a search pattern to a single target track
mode. This indicates imminent launch of a missile.
According to the Rules of Engagement (ROE) in
effect, you have determined hostile intent on the part of
the target and should defend the ship against imminent
attack. You inform your CIC team of your intentions,
and select a weapon, in this case a surface to air missile
(fig. 2-21), to engage the target. You also inform the
Anti-Air Warfare Commander of the indications of
hostile intent, and he places you and the other ships in
Air Warning Red, “attack in progress”.
As the target closes to the maximum range of your
weapon system, the fire control or tactical computer
program, using target course and speed computes a
predicted intercept point (PIP) inside the missile
engagement envelope. This information and the report
that the weapon system has locked-on the target is
reported to you. You authorize “batteries release” and
2-16
Figure 2-20. —Display consoles in the Combat Information Center (CIC).
Figure 2-21. —Surface-to-Air missile.
