Heat seeking missiles designed for air-to-air engagements face severe operational hazards that either reduce their effectiveness or raise the overall system's cost. The missiles are carried unprotected in exposed positions on aircraft. The infrared transparent dome can be broken during routine handling, pitted by sand and debris during takeoff and landing, or eroded by water droplet impact in flight through rain squalls. These problems are becoming increasingly severe as airspeeds are increased and as the introduction of terrain avoidance radar allows supersonic flight at very low altitudes. Impact damage that leaves the dome intact but roughens the originally polished outer surface will degrade seeker performance in two ways. First, the minimum resolvable target size will be increased. In the current operational air-to-air missile, this factor is not critical. However, in the designs under consideration for the next generation missiles, seeker resolution will be severely affected by dome erosion. Second, roughening of the dome increases the amount of sunlight scattered into the seeker optics, raising the noise level in the infrared detection system and thus limiting the ability to detect targets. While these effects have not been well characterized, it is of considerable concern in current development of seekers designed for head-on approach.


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    Scattering from infrared missile domes

    Archibald, P.C. / Bennett, H.E. | Tema Archiv | 1978


    Domes for pressurized airplanes

    Purdue, L.M. / Hughes, G.E. | Engineering Index Backfile | 1945


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    British Library Online Contents | 1997


    Full domes for coach passengers

    Engineering Index Backfile | 1954