Thread by @Flankerchan

Prediction time. This time i will visit the Anglo-French Storm Shadow/Scalp-EG. The estimates are finished. The model is as depicted below :

As i previously said. The model have fully formed air intake system and TRI-60 engine modeled. The infra red seeker window is exposed. As it should be in flight prior to entering target area.

The modeling is done in 35 Frequencies, covering VHF down to 34 GHz. Should be representative for wide range of air defense radars and missiles. The following depicts the interaction of the missile with the frequencies. In 3D form

The next one is contour form which basically flattened version of the 3D views above. Unlike above tho this contour form is in color map which hopefully friendlier to Color blind people.

As for the materials, given that there practically no real source for treatment or even structural material information in public source. I assume the missile would be a Perfect conductor.

Now onto the result. in Medianized format. The storm shadow is very stealthy. The current modeled configuration showed 0.34 Sqm RCS in VHF frequency, while for high frequencies (X band etc) The RCS fluctuates in around 0.03-0.02 sqm.

Similar trends are observed with other lifting body missiles like AGM-158 JASSM and Japanese Type-12 Concept. These missiles offers Superior RCS in high frequencies. JASSM however are unique as it can maintain relatively Low RCS in both Low and high frequences.

Conventional axisymmetric airframe cruise missile like Kalibr have relatively "uniform" RCS across the board. It can however be brought lower with more thorough treatment but might not be economically feasible or desirable in the first place.

Russians are currently have Kh-69 cruise missile which may offer similar signature as Storm shadow, but i havent modeled it. Maybe in the future or when i got commissioned for it.

This low RCS however bring quite challenge to air defense. As we seen in Ukraine where their Su-24 armed with Storm shadow conducting deep strike on Russian forces. It brought similar issues with Ukrainian trying to shoot down Kalibr, Shahed and Kh-101's.

The following are Estimated Russian Radar detection ranges against the Storm shadow model and conventional 2.5 sqm target. This one is for Aerial platform.

As seen the detection range against low RCS storm shadow is basically half or third the detection range against conventional target.

The case is rather critical for AEW as Russians have to brought them closer to the protected area if low RCS target is expected. This in turn could present opportunities for the Ukrainian forces to engage Russian AEW in flight.

This was from one of my old tweet on how Degraded coverage of Russian AEW vs Low RCS target increased their vulnerability.

https://twitter.com/Flankerchan/status/1533418810073526273

The next graphic depicts the range of the Ground based Early warning radar against the storm shadow model.

Similar trend are observed as with the Aerial case. Ground based radar however are even more constrained due to radar horizon and terrain features (e.g Hills, cities). VHF band Radar however can still provide the best means to detect the missile.

The next graphic is detection range against SAM engagement Radar. typical Russian SAM's operates in X to mm wave band. and they were affected rather severely due to low RCS of storm shadow model at their frequency.

The degraded performance of the engagement Radar will naturally push the Russians to put more systems in the area of interest. But this could be hard or even can be impractical to achieve in case of severe terrain condition like cities.

In conclusion tho. The storm shadow is formidable deep strike weapon. The option for Russian forces however is to attempt engaging the Su-24 before launching. This however may have complications due to standoff range of the system.

Such however are the best bet, and Russians have the tool e.g R-37 AAM and Su-35 as well as MiG-31's. The 2nd option would be to put more assets to engage the cruise missile, but this may present financially unsustainable operation.

I would also like to announce that I am offering the Solved ANSYS HFSS project file for this missile for a bit of price. Well eventually i have to support myself and to get myself more computing power.

ko-fi.com/s/273b33f33f

I myself however are open for commission X3 for 3D aircrafts etc. as well as prediction of RCS, If you have your custom aircraft for your story or roleplay that need kind of realistic RCS estimates feel free to contact.

I am also maybe open to support. which can be directed here :

ko-fi.com/stealthflanker…

Thank you very much.