Maverick Makes Perfect Score
The Maverick missile, long scorned by defense critics as an ill-conceived weapon, recently scored 11 direct hits in 11 launches during tests over a seven-day period, according to missile manufacturer Hughes Aircraft Co.
The test results would seem to refute the long-held contention by critics that the “imaging-infrared” guidance system in the Maverick is not capable of distinguishing targets and cannot remain “locked on” to a target after it is released.
The tests of the aircraft-launched missile included successful hits against a variety of day and night targets, including moving tanks and personnel carriers, El Segundo-based Hughes said in a news release sanctioned by the Air Force.
The Air Force conducted the tests as part of a “follow-on test and evaluation” program for the Maverick. The special test program includes more than the 11 tests that Hughes disclosed, but the overall success rate is considered classified, a Hughes spokesman said.
Critics have contended that in earlier Air Force tests the Maverick was easily led off target by such sources of infrared energy as rocks heated by the midday sun. Also, critics have claimed that the narrow field of vision of the Maverick’s imaging system make it virtually impossible for an aircraft pilot to spot a target.
But Hughes has held that such criticism is out of date and invalid. In October, 1982, Hughes said the Maverick scored 20 direct hits out of 26 launches.
The Maverick is the Air Force’s primary anti-tank missile. According to the most recent report to Congress, the Air Force plans to buy 60,697 Maverick missiles at a total cost of $2.2 billion in current dollars. Estimating for future inflation through the next decade, the cost of the missiles will be $5.7 billion, or about $94,000 each.
The Maverick missile currently is being produced in small numbers at Hughes’ Missile Systems Group in Tucson, Ariz.. Deliveries of the Maverick had been suspended by the Air Force during the last half of 1984 when the Hughes factory was found to be lacking in quality control. Deliveries have since resumed.
