64 THE DEVELOPMENT OF WEAPONS SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 



40 



50 100 150 200 250 



DISTANCE FROM FLEET CENTER (n.mi.) 



Fig. 2-12 An Attack Diagram. 



300 



From Fig. 2-5 it is seen that an additional 3-minute delay is created by 

 the interceptor climb and acceleration characteristics. This makes the 

 total effective reaction time of the deck-launched aircraft equal 6 minutes. 

 After the initial reaction, interceptors will be launched at a rate of 1 per 

 minute from each of the two carriers until either no more interceptors are 

 left or it is obvious that the interceptors will not be able to intercept the 

 targets outside of the surface-to-air missile zone corresponding to a 50-n.mi. 

 radius from the fleet center. In our example, this latter consideration is the 

 limiting factor, and it is possible to launch only 32 interceptors from the 

 carriers. Thus, a total of 38 attacks can be made against the raid with the 

 assumed deployment, tactical doctrine, and equipment performance. This 

 is close to our previously assumed case with 40 interceptors, and the 

 required interceptor kill probability will be slightly greater than 0.5. The 

 air battle takes place during a 16-minute time period to enemy penetration 

 of the missile defense zone barrier. The maximum time that any interceptor 

 must fly at Mach 1.2 is 11 minutes (for the first two deck-launched inter- 

 ceptors), which is well within the interceptor performance capabilities as 

 displayed in Fig. 2-5. 



This model may be used to examine the effect of variations in the 

 system parameters. The results of such an analysis are shown in Fig. 2-13, 

 where trade-off curves relating pertinent factors are given. If the early 

 warning range is increased to 300 n.mi., 50 interceptors can engage the raid. 

 With 50 interceptor attacks, the required interceptor kill probability will 

 be reduced to 0;42. However, with the tactical doctrine assumed, the 

 maximum interceptor complement available to counter an attack is limited 

 to 42. Thus as early warning range increases, aircraft availability in this 



