Суық соғыс қаруы: ALCM зымыранының тарихы мен эволюциясы

The concept started as a long range drone aircraft that would act as a decoy, distracting Soviet air defenses from the bombers. As new lightweight nuclear weapons emerged in the 1960s, the design was modified with the intent of attacking missile and radar sites at the end of its flight. Further development extended its range so much that it emerged as a weapon allowing the B 52s to launch their attacks while still well outside Soviet airspace, saturating their defenses with hundreds of tiny, low flying targets that were extremely difficult to see on radar. The ALCM so improved the capabilities of the US bomber force that the Soviets developed new technologies to counter the weapon. Among these were airborne early warning aircraft and new weapons like the MiG 31 and Tor missile system specifically to shoot down the AGM 86. The Air Force responded with the development of the AGM 129 ACM, which included stealth capabilities. The ending of the Cold War led to cutbacks in this program, and its expensive maintenance eventually resulted in it being abandoned in favor of life extensions to the original ALCM. Examples of the AGM 86A and AGM 86B are on display at the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum, near Washington, D. C.

The ALCM traces its history to the ADM 20 Quail missile, which began development in February 1956. Quail was the ultimate outcome of several similar programs to develop a small decoy aircraft that would be launched from bombers during their approach to targets, presenting false targets to saturate the defenses and allow the bombers to escape an attack. The small jet powered drone aircraft had a simple inertial navigation system (INS) that allowed it to fly a pre programmed course that would make it visible to known Soviet defensive sites. A number of radar jammers and radar reflectors were intended to make it appear like a B 52 on a radar display. Quail was designed in the mid 1950s when the normal attack profile for a strategic bomber was to fly as high and fast as possible to reduce the time the defenders had to respond to the aircraft before it flew out of range. This was effective against interceptor aircraft but of little use against surface to air missiles (SAMs), whose attack times were measured in seconds. This led to the adoption of low level attacks, where the bombers would fly below the radar horizon so they could not be seen on ground based radars. Quail, originally designed for the high altitude mission, was modified with the addition of a barometric altimeter to allow it to fly at lower altitudes. Doing so seriously limited its effective range and flight time. In the early 1960s, the Air Force began to question the usefulness of Quail in the face of improving Soviet defenses.

Looking for another solution to the Soviet SAM problem, in 1964 the Air Force began developing a new system that would directly attack the missile sites rather than confuse them. This emerged as the AGM 69 SRAM, with a range of about , allowing it to be launched from outside the roughly range of the SA 2 Guideline missiles it faced. Flying at Mach 3, it quickly flew out in front of the bombers, reaching the missile site before the bomber flew into the range of the SA 2. While highly capable against known missile locations, SRAM could do nothing to defend against unknown sites, nor help with the problem of interceptor aircraft. To deal with these threats, Quail continued to be carried, typically in pairs, providing some defense against these other threats. However, by the late 1960s the Air Force concluded "that the Quail was only slightly better than nothing."

In January 1968, a new requirement emerged for a modern version of Quail for this new mission, the Subsonic Cruise Aircraft Decoy, or SCAD. SCAD was designed specifically to fit onto the same rotary launcher used by SRAM, allowing a single aircraft to carry multiple SRAM and SCAD and launch either at any time. This led to it being the same length as SRAM, and the use of a fuselage with a triangular cross section, which maximized the usable volume on the rotary launchers. The system was otherwise similar to Quail, using a simple inertial navigation system (INS) allowing the missile to fly a pre programmed course. Soon after development began, it was noted that the very small nuclear warheads being developed at that time could be fit to SCAD without seriously affecting its performance as a decoy. This would allow it to act as a decoy for much of its flight, and then deliberately approach a selected defensive site and attack it. As such, the program was renamed Subsonic Cruise Armed Decoy, retaining the SCAD acronym. For this role, the accuracy of the original INS guidance hardware was not enough. While a similar system was also used in SRAM, its shorter range and much shorter flight times meant the drift rate of the system was not a serious concern as long as the bomber could feed it accurate information just before launch, to "zero out" the drift. In contrast, SCAD was designed to fly over much longer ranges and slower speeds, resulting in longer flight times and increasing the problem with drift; even with the drift "zeroed out" just before launch, subsequent drift during the longer flight would accumulate to an unacceptable error. To provide the accuracy needed to attack the SAM sites with a small warhead, some system was needed to zero out the drift in flight, and for this need, a radar based TERCOM system was added. Development was approved in July 1970, and it was given the designation ZAGM 86A, the Z indicating its initial development status.

As SCAD moved from the pure decoy role to decoy and attack, this meant it would be able to carry out the same mission as SRAM, but from much longer range. This would reduce the need for a decoy. Accordingly, in June 1973, SCAD was canceled in favor of a system dedicated purely to the long range attack mission. The original designation number remained, but the name changed to reflect the new mission, becoming the Air Launched Cruise Missile, or ALCM. The first example, similar to the original SCAD in most ways, flew for the first time in March 1976, and its new guidance system was first tested that September. In January 1977, the missile was ordered into full scale production. Compared to the models that entered service in the 1980s, the A model had a distinctive look; the nose tapered sharply to a triangular point giving it a shark like appearance, compared to the later models which had a more rounded conventional appearance.

Meanwhile, the Air Force had also issued a requirement for a version with a much longer range. This would allow the bombers to launch their missiles from far off the Russian coast, placing it outside the range of the interceptors as well. To reach the intended range, this new Extended Range Version (ERV) would have to be lengthened to contain more fuel, or external fuel tanks would have to be added. Either change would make it too large to fit on the SRAM launchers and the extended fuselage version would be too large to fit in the bomb bay of the new B 1 Lancer bomber. The Air Force intended to replace the original ALCM with the new version at some future date. The Navy was also in the midst of its own cruise missile project, the Sea Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM), which ultimately emerged as the BGM 109 Tomahawk, which was similar to ALCM in many ways. In 1977, the Air Force and Navy were ordered to collaborate under the "Joint Cruise Missile Project", JCMP, with the intention of using as many parts in common as possible. After considering the two designs, the Air Force agreed to modify the ALCM with the SLCM's McDonnell Douglas AN/DPW 23 TERCOM system, as well as using its Williams F107 turbofan engine. While the JCMP program was taking place, the B 1 was canceled. This eliminated the need for ALCM to fit in the B 1's bomb bay, and the length limitations that implied. The Air Force decided to cancel production of the A model ALCM, and replace it with either an air launched version of the SLCM, or the ERV. The ERV flew in August 1979, and was declared the winner of the head to head fly off against the SLCM in March 1980.

Production of the initial 225 AGM 86B missiles began in fiscal year 1980. It entered operational use on the B 52H in August 1981 and became its primary weapon in December 1982. Production of a total 1,715 missiles was completed in October 1986. The air launched cruise missile had become operational four years earlier, in December 1982. More than 100 launches have taken place since then, with a 90% approximate success rate.

In June 1986 a limited number of AGM 86B missiles were converted to carry a high explosive blast/fragmentation warhead and an internal GPS. They were redesignated as the AGM 86C CALCM. This modification also replaced the B model's TERCOM and integrated a GPS capability with the existing inertial navigation system computer
Even with the SLEP (service life extension program), the remaining AGM 86s were to reach their end of service by 2020, leaving the B 52 without a nuclear mission. However, in 2012, the USAF announced plans to extend the useful life of the missiles until at least 2030. To replace the ALCM, the USAF planned to award a contract for the development of the new Long Range Stand Off (LRSO) weapon in 2015. Unlike the AGM 86, the LRSO will be carried on multiple aircraft, including the B 52, the B 2 Spirit, and the Northrop Grumman B 21. Like the AGM 86, the LRSO can be armed with either a conventional or nuclear warhead. The LRSO program is to develop a weapon that can penetrate and survive integrated air defense systems and prosecute strategic targets. Both conventional and nuclear versions of the weapon are required to reach initial operational capability (IOC) before the retirement of their respective ALCM versions, around 2030. The technology development contracts were to be submitted before the end of 2012. In March 2014 a further three year delay in the project was announced by the Department of Defense, delaying a contract award until fiscal year 2018. The House Armed Services Committee moved to reject this delay. The delay was caused by financial pressures and an uncertain acquisition plan, and allowed by the long remaining service life left for the AGM 86 and lack of urgent necessity compared to other defense needs. As of August 24, 2017, the Department of Defense has awarded both Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Corporations with $900 million to develop the LRSO. Contracts end in 2022, when the Department of Defense will select one design to continue further developments. The CALCM was retired on 20 November 2019, replaced in the conventional standoff strike role by the AGM 158B JASSM ER.