Foreganger Missile
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| Foreganger | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Anti-shipping missile (ASM) |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2008-Present |
| Used by |  Belfrassee operators |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | BAU Systems |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 820 kg (1,810 lb) 920 kg (2,030 lb) with booster |
| Length | 5.78 m (19.0 ft) without booster 6.51 m (21.4 ft) with booster |
| Diameter | 0.35 m (14 in) |
| Blast yield | 180 kg (400 lb) |
| Wingspan | 0.50 m (1.6 ft) folded 1.10 m (3.6 ft) unfolded |
| Propellant | Majestic Solid-propellent Ram-rocket |
Operational range | 113 nmi (209 km) |
| Flight altitude | 4 m (13 ft) (Cruise, terminal) 20 m (66 ft) (Observation) |
| Speed | 1,751 mph (2,818 km/h) (mach 2.3) |
Guidance system | GPS,INS, DATASHARE, Active radar with milimeter-wave radar/imaging infrared terminal engagement |
Launch platform | fixed-wing aircraft, surface ships, ground-based mobile launchers |
The Foreganger is an anti-shipping missile utilized by the Federation Navy. Named after the historic whaling weapon, the missile was introduced to the Navy in 2008 and quickly replaced more conventional designs. Adjustment's to the weapon's design over it's short life-span has allowed it to be developed further, providing a number of variants to users. It quickly found popularity with the Belfrasian Air Force as an anti-shipping missile for the RAF's ocean patrol squadrons.
Featuring distinctive vertically-mounted air intakes that stretch back along it's dorsal and ventral lines to allow for an improved sea-skimming ability for added agility and evasion, the Foreganger missile is a supersonic weapon capable of hitting speeds of up to mach 2.3, or 1,751 miles per hour. The weapon was designed to be launched in salvos, allowing for a single missile to pop up - or several from separate angles - to provide detailed, close-range targeting information either to the launch platform or to the missiles in the same salvo, to allow for improved time-on-target or for distributed, accurate strikes.
Design
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The weapon was designed to travel at supersonic speeds at low altitudes in order to utilize sheer kinetic energy and an explosive warhead to eliminate targets without needing to constantly monitor the weapon in a potentially chaotic battle-space. Featuring vertically-mounted intakes that stretch back along the missile to improve it's ability to fly at low levels whilst maintaining agility and the subsequent ability to evade incoming counter-missile fire. It was designed to work alongside the Trebuchet Missile and to be utilized in salvos. A group would be fired and, upon intercepting the target at different angles, one of each salvo would 'pop up' and use it's sensors to relay information to the rest of it's salvo as well as the opposite salvo. This theoretically eliminates counter-measures of the target and allow for accurate targeting, target distribution, and a precise time-on-target(s) for the launch platform.
The missile mounts a seeker derived from the latest Trebuchet variant. The tri-mode seeker allows the Foreganger to enter it's terminal engagement through both a millimeter-wave radar and imaging-infrared at the fore of the missile. The missile is also capable of attacking a pre-designated target in a semi-active laser mode or inertial/GPS guidance for static targets. The same guidance can also be used to bring the weapon into a position prior to it going active to reduce it's detection level.
The Foreganger shares the same modularity of it's targeting and flight profile from the Lance Missile. Prior to launch, how it approaches it's targets, other minute details of it's operations, or how it approaches the target in it's terminal mode can be changed whilst the missile is preparing to fire. Post-launch, the missile can be contacted by it's launch platform through the same link that allows it to share intelligence to reclassify targets or to assist in the distribution of targets among missiles in a salvo.
