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Praetorium Honoris

Monday, February 14, 2022

How to get High...Fast!

 No, Beans, this post has nothing to do with our fearless white house occupant's idea to distribute crack pipes. The idea came to me while reading a link I found on Instapundit the other day.  The post was fairly interesting as it discussed a proposal to modify F-15E's to carry a 45' long missile and launch it at altitude and speed.  Currently, most of a missile's fuel is used getting it off the ground and up to an altitude.  Launching it from altitude and speed would alleviate that problem.  

What caught my eye were a couple of things.  First, this.


The F-15D, at the top, ~35 years ago had my name painted on the canopy rail.  Glad to see she's still around and kicking.

The second thing that caught my eye was the launch profile they proposed to use.


I recognized it immediately.  It's called the Rutowski Climb profile.  For those of you who are engineering oriented, here's a detailed description. For those of you German Engineers, try this one out. And for those of you with a Naval background, here's one for you.

Basically, the objective is to get as much altitude and speed as possible in the least amount of time.  It was theorized and developed in the 70's as a means to defend against the MiG-25 Foxbat, a very fast, high flying fighter.  (That was proven to be somewhat overrated when Viktor Belenko defected in one in '76).  

In any case, the F-15 was used to test the theory and did so by busting several time to climb records in the Streak Eagle program.  Most of those records still stand.



I recognized it, because while stationed at Kadena, we practiced it because the Russian's had the MiG 25 in the area and it was rumored that the North Koreans had some also.

So, we would practice the maneuver pretty regularly.  We referred to them as the "High Fast Profile".  Our target referred to that portion of their mission as the "Low, Slow Profile".

Our Target
Source

We would intercept them as they returned to Kadena from "parts unknown".  We'd orbit in the mid 30's saving gas and GCI would commit us to the intercept at about 200 miles. Suffice it to say, they were WELL above us.

We'd turn hot, light the burners and begin the climb profile.  We'd push over to 0 g.  (Basically, Beans, my 200 Lb (then...now +) body would be weightless.) The engines were at max and we'd continue that descent until we were well above the Mach.  

Then we'd pull it into a climb to gain as much altitude as possible when we reached weapons range.  Timing of this maneuver was absolutely crucial.  Closure rates of 2000NM/hour were regular. To put that in layman's terms, that's 33.3 Nautical miles/minute or ~1 mile every 2 seconds.  So the intercept is either made or missed in less than 400 seconds.  

So, yeah, we practiced the Rutowski Climb profile....a lot.  In fact the highest I've ever been was the result of one.  GCI turned me hot at about 190NM.  (They needed training also, newish guy on the scope, didn't realize that 10 NM is critical.) Typically, the climb angle was about 45o and the target indicator would be steady in the HUD.  That was not the case on this intercept, it was moving towards the top of the HUD.  

So, me being me, I kept pulling, making my climb angle steeper and steeper.  I pass through 50k' as he passes above me (Well Above) and I'm nearly vertical.  About this time, I learn an important lesson. Jet engines need air to run.  In addition, the flight controls need air to function.  There is very little air above 50K'.  

In short I'm riding a bullet with nothing to do until gravity takes pity on me and begins pulling me back to Earth.  That happened at 78,123' on my altimeter.  The sky was very dark and the SR-71 was a reddish-white.

The GCI guy and I reviewed my video tape in private.  No sense in causing consternation in our higher ups.

And THAT is why I recognized the Rutowski Climb Profile immediately.

37 comments:

  1. I understand the principle and didn't anything about how it was actually done.

    As I've said before, I'm absolutely in awe of what of the things that are sort of routine in a high performance military aircraft.

    I reserve future rights to engage in TIT. (Testicle Integrity Testing. Also know as Ball Busting.)

    Happy Valentine's Day to all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I experienced a case of first comment anxiety, and did not proof read enough.

      Please add the word "know" between the words "didn't" and the word "anything." Sigh.

      I'm still in awe, and I'm serious about that.

      Delete
    2. In non-fighter pilot-ese. The objective of the maneuver and distance was to get the nose of the jet ahead of the target with enough airspeed to keep it there for the time of flight of the missiles. Much like a deer hunter leads a running deer by one time of flight of the bullet. The ten mile late meant I had to keep pulling more and more lead as the target got closer. Pulling lead meant steepening my climb, and the rest, as they say, is history.

      Delete
  2. How high did they take you in T-38s during UPT? I think they got us up around 50k in 1973 at Moody. Of course, never got anywhere near there again in BUFFs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. M2,
      I don’t recall, high 40’s maybe. I don’t recall a syllabus very high altitude ride. Most high rides were in the 30’s

      Delete
    2. The ride got high enough to clearly see the curvature of the earth!

      And that was indeed pointed out by the IP.

      Delete
  3. Damn!

    That must have been, shall we say, exciting?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. Fun, is probably not the right word. Exciting is much more realistic.

      Delete
  5. Quite the club to belong to, juvat - namely those that have seen a reddish white Blackbird in flight ... wow! And I imagine you and GCI guy took the wiser course for the debrief.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I’d most likely have had several “educational” mobile control tours to reflect on my sins.

      Delete
  6. Wow Juvat. That is quite a tale, and glad nothing more significant than some self reflection came of it.

    As opposed to myself, who considers myself in “the danger zone” at 68 mph.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 68 isn’t the danger zone…unless you’re in the left lane.

      Delete
  7. So what exactly is that hanging below the -D? Looks sort of like a Phoenix missile...

    RAS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RAS,
      Exactly correct! They were testing it for compatability. I thnk there were issue as well as size fit, Hence the proposed ICBM loaded on top.

      Delete
  8. Is that in your logbook? I remember reading about an anti-sat missile profile in a Clancy book. Female pilot, F-15 IIRC. I thought when I read it (late 80s) that it would work (based on my experience with the Piper Cherokee... I mean, flying is flying.... trading airspeed for altitude is a rule)

    That is really a great story. What happened at max altitude??? Flame out??? Hammerhead?? Tailslide?? How did the descent go? Need more info!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fortunately I was not perfectly vertical, the nose was still out front of the cg which made the nose heavier than the tail. The engines were definitely flamed out, But that was a lower priority. I was focused on the cabin pressure, not that I could do much if that failed (besides a quick Hail Mary). Once I got below 50k, I had enough flight control to fly the jet and things got better from there!

      Delete
  9. Hey Juvat;

    STxAR beat me to it, it was "Red Storm Rising", and they were using an ASAT to kill a "RORSAT" that was tracking the convoys and the fleet as they tried to reinforce Europe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I’m going to have to reread that one. It’s been awhile, And since the ship’s internet seems to be working I may just download it

      Delete
  10. For those without a Federal budget..
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_gedJrWbT4

    ReplyDelete
  11. Why? Referring to the dorsal launch of a big rocket. We have all sorts of 'normal' aircraft that can launch at altitude basically 2nd stage launch vehicles.

    Stratolaunch.
    Virgin Galactic.
    Various B-52s.

    Heck, the B-58 would have been ideal for this.

    I can kind of see if they're thinking of launching hypersonic cruise missiles and using the supersonic ability of the Eagle as a 1st stage, but... Still... What the Hell?

    And taking a cruise again? Sure you don't have secret desires to be a Naval Aviator?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beans, Mrs J put together a wine cruise for a local winery. Details to follow. It’s not all bonbons and tea. As to the missile and the Eagle, highly doubt it’ll happen given the people with the influence some people have on some people. ;-)

      Delete
  12. I worked with Pete Knight for a year or two, and when I asked him the "What was it like?" question he chuckled and said he was pretty busy flying the airplane (X-15A2), but that the sky sure got real dark, real fast!

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  13. I worked on the ASAT program at LTV. We built the third stage (F-15 being the fist stage) and the kill vehicle. When I read juvat's post the ASAT and its launch profile came to mind. As I remember, the pilot only took off and started the profile. Computers on the ground completed the profile and launch. The only actual target that was shot at was hit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BillB,
      Having the computer start the climb and launch the weapon was probably a wise decision for a lot o reasons, reaction times and human error being two big ones.

      Not that I, as a Fighter Pilot, ever encountered those issues! 😉

      Delete
  14. Seems very similar tho what Russians have done with MiG-31 (MiG-25 successor) and Kinzhal missile complex...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pawel,
      Most likely. Physics is physic and immutable.

      Delete
  15. Juvat, Tom Clancy knew about this profile and wrote about it in Red Storm Rising. I'm talking about the flight profile, not the one at the link for Navy guys!

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    Replies
    1. Ah, the sat-killing ace Amy!
      loved that part of the story

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    2. Me too! He was a master at describing and dramatizing the use of our tactics and technology.

      Delete
    3. Yeah Amazon log in requirements and the ships WiFi security are arguing with each other. Guess I’ll wait til I get home and reread my hard copy.

      Delete
  16. I loved the full blower missions we had on both of the aircraft I flew. The deuce and the phantom. In the deuce we had a thing called a snap up that we were supposed to do to some Russian bombers somewhere somehow and we would just leave it in blower until we got as high as we could then level off and then accelerate to as fast as we could and then do a snap up on the target. In the phantom of course as an IP I did lots of Mach two demos and that was a full blower from takeoff until you get up at the top the idea was to get the gear and flaps up before you realize you’re going too fast. I had a student one time not roll in enough bank at Mach two and we did sort of a snap up I don’t remember how high we got but I remember this sky being fairly black. We were supposed to turn and pull as hard as we could to see that the turning radius at mach two was pretty big. That’s all I remember, I’m old.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LtFuzz,
      As to old, aren’t we all? I think you got the important details. Nobody turns tight ar Mach 2.

      Delete

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