Stormer Starburst/Starstreak

     Notes: The Stormer Starstreak, also known as the Stormer HVM (HyperVelocity Missile) is a Stormer APC topped with a turret mounting the Starstreak HVM SAM system.  The turret also mounts a heavy machinegun to more cost-effectively deal with UAVs and local threats. The Starstreaks are used to deal with low-flying aircraft and helicopters, with a secondary role of defeating light vehicles and APCs. The Stormer Starstreak was brought into service in the mid-1990s and has seen combat service in Ukraine. The turret was also tested on an AMX-10P, M-113A2, and BTR-50 chassis, but only a single prototype each of these vehicles were made for demonstration purposes. The Stormer Starstreak is still in service with the British military and is also used by Oman and Ukraine.  A version of this vehicle armed with Starburst SAMs was devised; this was designed to lower costs by using cheaper missiles.  However, the British Army felt that the greater effectiveness of the Starstreak would better protect their troops, and the Starburst-armed variant was shelved.

     The Stormer Starstreak’s turret is armed with two blocks of four Starstreak missile tubes, with a further 12 rounds stored inside the hull. The turret is quite large and presents a high profile to enemy gunners.  The turret is also armed with an M2HB heavy machinegun on the center top of the turret. The center of the turret, however, is mostly taken up by the ADAD (Air Defence Alerting Device), which scans the sky to the front of the turret to a range of 18 kilometers for fixed-wing aircraft and 8 kilometers for helicopters and UAVs, though small UAVs may not actually be detected until they close within 4-6 kilometers. Especially low-flying fixed-wing aircraft may also not be detected until they are nearer than 18 kilometers. The ADAD is an IR Thermal Imaging Surveillance device that is computer-controlled and can detect and track aircraft and automatically interrogate them using IFF, then assigns them a priority for the gunner and commander. The gunner may then use a laser rangefinder/designator to further sharpen firing parameters and guide the Starstreaks. Ground targets cannot be automatically detected and tracked, and must be manually searched for and locked on to. The turret does not actually house any crewmembers, and the gunner and commander sit in the hull using downlinked sights.

     The Stormer Starstreak is powered by a 250-horsepower Perkins T6.3544 diesel, positioned to the right of the driver, coupled to an Allison T300 automatic transmission that is known for its ease and agility in shifting gears.  The engine and transmission as well as some other automotive components are designed as a single integrated powerpack.  The driver has one wide-angle vision block, which may be replaced by a night vision block; his hatch opens forward and downward on the glacis, clearing his forward vision block.  The driver steers with a yoke and has a conventional brake and gas pedal.  Six aluminum, rubber-tired roadwheels are found on each side, with torsion-bar suspension and with hydropneumatic shock absorbers at the first, second, and sixth set of roadwheels, granting a fairly smooth ride.  The Stormer Starstreak is amphibious with preparation (with a floatation screen requiring erection, a trim vane extended, and a bilge pump turned on; time required is 15 minutes). A propeller kit can be retrofitted to the Stormer Starstreak for amphibious operations, doubling the Stormer’s swimming speed.  The tension of the tracks can be set by the driver from his compartment using a hand pump, which connects to a hydraulic ram-type tension adjustor (doing this while the vehicle is in motion is definitely discouraged, as it can easily lead to a thrown track).

     Small equipment lockers are found under the seats and ammunition racks, and large stowage boxes are found on the sides and at the rear on either side of the door. Over the passenger compartment are a pair of large rectangular hatches; the crew sometimes stand in these hatchways to scan the sky or surroundings with hand-held devices (not included below). The crew has a collective NBC system and a heater. The Stormer Starstreak is equipped with an air conditioner and an automatic fire detection and suppression system. Armor is of steel, and an appliqué armor kit is available.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: With several countries, including Britain, manufacturing the BRG-15, the British Army felt it could retrofit their Stormer Starstreaks and Starbursts with the more powerful machinegun; this increased effectiveness without going to the expensive and extensive retrofit that mounting an autocannon would require.

*Belly armor for this variant is 3.

Tracked Rapier

     Notes: This is a modified form of the ground-mounted Rapier SAM pedestal mounted on a highly modified M548 tracked load carrier.  The carrier is lightly armored and thin armor is added to the Rapier mount.  The mount is supplied with some degree of stabilization and fire control to allow some degree of fire on the move.  Originally designed for the needs of the Iranian Army in the late 1970s, the Tracked Rapier was cancelled by the new Iranian government after it cut ties with Western countries after the revolution.  The British Army bought the 50 systems that were already built, and then ordered another 20, then in the early 1990s, ordered series production of the vehicle.  Rapier was first used in anger in 1974, when it shot down an Iraqi Il-76MD.  There was some confusion at the time as to who shot down the aircraft, but it appears that the operators of the Rapier unit were British, though under contract to BAe and not British military members. Rapiers were subsequently used in the Falklands Conflict, Desert Storm, and in Iraqi Freedom.  They are still used by Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Oman, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE, and Zambia.  Former users include Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Iraq (captured from Iran), Libya, Qatar, Singapore, the US, and Britain herself, who replaced them with Stormer Starstreak systems (above) and the ground-based Sky Sabre system.

     The basic M-548 chassis remains intact, with a cab with doors on each side and a roof hatch with a weapon mount.  A 60kW gasoline-powered APU is located behind the cab to power the weapon systems when the engine is not on.  The gunner has a weapons station in the cab linked with the launcher.  The Tracked Rapier retains the M-548’s amphibious capabilities, but does not have NBC sealing. The Rapier missiles are ready to fire from a halt in only 30 seconds (six phases).  The Tracked Rapier can be deployed in a C-130 aircraft, and some heavy-lift helicopters can sling-load it (normally without the missiles loaded on the launchers for safety purposes). Initial Tracked Rapiers were to the Towed FSB1 standard, which required a separate radar unit called Blindfire, using a planar array radar and a radar direction unit on the Tracked Rapier unit which employed a radar lock-on system called Pointing Stick which allows a Tracked Rapier commander to lock on to a target which he has visually identified.  The Blindfire radar has a range of 15 kilometers, and has some power to its emitter; the Blindfire radar has an ECCM rating of 1. The FSB1 standard allowed the radar to be shut down gracefully and immediately in the case of antiradiation missile attack.

     A modified M548 was configured as a Missile Resupply Vehicle, carrying 20 resupply missiles, a 5-ton crane for transferring these missiles to the launcher vehicle, a relief crew, a selection of spare parts, and items such as rations and supplies for both crews. A further M548 was configured as a Tracked Rapier Repair and Maintenance Vehicle, a large selection of spare parts, tools for working on the missile launchers, the electronics, and the M548 base vehicle, and a pair of 5-ton cranes.

     Rapier Laserfire was an upgrade done to some Tracked Rapier units starting in 1982; it functions for the most part in a similar manner to FSB1, but the target uses a computer to assign priorities, and the most urgent target is locked onto after being illuminated by a laser designator/rangefinder. This allowed semiautomatic engagements, instead of the Tracked Rapier crew having to manually lock on to a target. (The command to fire was still man-in-the-loop.) In addition, the training requirements for the Laserfire system were fewer, due to the simplified engagement system. Laserfire was able to detect helicopters in ground clutter by locking on to their spinning rotor blades. Unfortunately, the Pointing Stick system was not compatible with the Laserfire system, taking away the commander’s ability to identify and lock on to targets at long range. The Laserfire system allowed identification of targets at night, but target identification was still optical.

     The Darkfire system brought, in 1985, the ability to fully identify and engage targets at night. The Tracked Rapier system was upgraded to an on-vehicle radar unit used in conjunction with a FLIR sensor, and retained the laser designator/rangefinder of Laserfire. In addition, the Darkfire system used the upgraded Rapier 2 missile, which improved almost all aspects of the missile’s effectiveness and ability to operate in high-ECM environments, having an ECCM rating of 2.

     Rapier 2000 was essentially a new system, though it used the same Rapier 1 and 2 missiles.  Rapier 2000 went back to the use of a separate radar system, mounted on a trailer or separate vehicle. In this case it is the Alenia Marconi Dagger 3D pulse doppler radar, with an integrated advanced IFF interrogator. This has a maximum detection range of 32 kilometers and a maximum lock-on range of 16 kilometers. The radar is of high-power, able to burn through ECM interference and having an ECCM rating of 3. The use of a separate radar system along with newer microelectronics meant that the launcher now mounted eight missiles instead of four.  In operation, the Rapier 2000 system works in a similar method to the earlier Blindfire-equipped units, restoring the launcher commander’s ability to visually identify and lock-on manually to targets identified by the commander as priority threats.  Rapier 2000 is equipped with advanced electro-optical systems and FLIR sensors. An engagement may also be run automatically, with no operator guidance needed, and the Rapier 2000 engagement computer identifying and prioritizing threats. In such a case, the detection-lock-on-firing time may be as little as five seconds. Rapier 2000 vehicles are equipped with GPS navigation.

     The chassis for the Tracked Rapier is the M548, based on the chassis and automotive components of the M113 series armored personnel carrier and designated the RCM748.  This chassis was given light armor, enough to stop small arms rounds and shell splinters, but not able to stand up to heavier weapons. There is a cab for the crew with doors on either side, and the rear area is accessed by a hatchway that has double watertight doors.  The cargo area may be covered by a canvas tilt over bows.  The base M548 is amphibious; however, after many sinkings, the amphibious capability of US M548s was removed and water crossing barred by policy, and Britain followed suit. Over the commander’s station is a ring mount for a light weapon. At the front of the vehicle is a winch with a capacity of 9.07 tons.  The engine is a non-turbocharged version of that of the M113A2, a Detroit Diesel 6V53 developing 204 horsepower, coupled to an automatic transmission and with a suspension of torsion bars; the base M548 has five sets of roadwheels and can move at full speed with one of its five torsion bars broken.