MIM-23 HAWK

MIM-23 HAWK

The development of the HAWK started in the early ‘50s in US and entered in service in US Army in 1959
and 1960 in USMC. It was a very advanced system in its time many of new technology advancements were
applied first for HAWK (almost a decade earlier comparing to Soviet SAM systems). The name of the system
is an acronym HAWK means Homing All the Way Killer. Many sources call system “Hawk” which is incorrect
the system was not named about a bird.

1
Above are the sites of HAWK batteries in West Germany during the Cold War . The site locations tell something
about how the NATO planned defending against the attack of Warsaw Pact. The HAWK barrier was not at the
border of East and West Germany. As we can judge in early stages of an imagined war NATO planned to give up
territory because the border region mostly is not under protection HAWK SAMs.

1
https://bit.ly/2rN9GTo

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The HAWK is not a classical homeland SAM system only a minimal quantity was deployed on US soil in
Florida close to Cuba. Similar to Soviet S-75 and S-125 HAWK is deployable – moreover it is much mobile,
see later – but in West Germany all HAWK got hardened sites forming a 900 km long SAM barrier. 2

HAWK was used by most of NATO member countries and literally all US friendly countries with a little
euphemism we can say it was the “SA-2 of the western world”. Hundreds of batteries were manufactured
with more than 40 000 missiles from different variants. Similar to SA-2 or other Soviet SAM families the
HAWK got upgrades during its very long career but the changes were more serious in many cases than for
Soviet SAMs.

When HAWK started its service it was more advanced than any contemporary Soviet
SA-2 family (SA-75/S-75) or the SA-3 family (S-125) variant but in some features they were similar. HAWK
also used different radars for different purposes but the used guidance and antenna type HAWK was much
more advanced. The fire control radar of the HAWK used a continuous wave (CW) and the antenna was
monopulse type which ensured far better electronic jam resistance; even the US was not able to jam such
radars until mid ‘70s. (Monopulse antenna makes radar immune the angle deception jamming method.)
The low level search radar also used a continuous wave which provided very good search capability against
targets in ground clutter or a low level. The first Soviet SAM with low level CW search radar was the
S-300PT (5N66 Clam Shell) which entered in service only in 1978 (in a more advanced form).

Besides being more advanced in electronics the missile of the HAWK was simpler than the most widely
used Russian missiles of S-75/125 it had only a single stage it did not have booster stage. Also was very
important difference between the HAWK and traveling stage of Dvina/Volkhov missiles. The Soviet SAM
used very toxic two component liquid propellant which meant much complicated and more equipment
demanding service operations for the crew.
Considering against tactical aircraft first version of HAWK had similar engagement range to S-125M1
Neva maximal engagement range was 25 km up to 11 km altitude; upgraded variant with different missile
have 35 or 40 km range up to 18 km altitude which was similar to SA-75 Dvina. The main elements of the
HAWK were the followings:
1 x PAR
Target acquisition radar against medium and high flying targets
Pulse Acquisition Radar
1 x CWAR
Continuous wave target acquisition radar against low level targets
Continuous Wave Acquisition Radar
2 x HPIR Continuous wave fire control radar against low level targets with
High Power Illuminator Doppler Radar monopulse antenna
Target distance meter radar, pulse radar. It was used only in case
1xROR other radars are jammed The ROR used different wavelength than
Range Only Radar other radars of the battery. (The Nike Hercules and the
S-75+Amazonka represented same conception.)
6 x M192 Missile launcher with 3 pcs missiles.
12 x M390 Missile transporter with 3 pcs missiles
Solid fuel single stage missile; 18 missiles are on launchers, 36
(18+36) x MIM-23
missiles on transporters / full battery
1 x BCC
Battery command element, the human-machine interface
Battery Control Central
1x ICC ICC process the data from radars and transfer to BCC;
Information Coordination Central communications also installed in ICC as well as the IFF equipment.
1 x PCP For later HAWK variant performed tasks of the ICC, it has 3 men
Platoon Command Post crew.

2
https://goo.gl/VFUACf

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On the image left is the main equipment of

Improved HAWK (I-HAWK) battery; in fact the battery
is not a single unit it consist two fire sections. A part of
the battery can be detached from the rest of
equipment to create the assault fire unit. (AFU) In the
AFU are 3xM192 launchers, 1xCWAR, 1xHIPIR
(it has “ILL” label on the image left, ILL = illuminator)
and the 1xPCP also moves with the detached part of
the battery.

In this configuration AFU can act as a smaller

mobile unit which suits better to be an army air
defense system (using the Soviet term). In this
configuration the AFU has only a single target channel
comparing to the 2 channels of a full battery. In case
AFU is not detached the ICC does not have crew it acts
only a comm/data center for BCC.

In normal operation the tactical control officer

(TCO) in the BCC supervise the work of the full crew.
The core guidance crew is 5 men including the TCO
(1 TCO + 2x2 men for the two target channels).

The HAWK was a very mobile system comparing to SA-2 and SA-3 family moreover the main elements
where so small and light it could be airlifted by large transport helicopter such as CH-47 Chinook. The
HAWK can be deployed to such locations which cannot be reached on road or even on terrain.

The MIM-23A missile had M22E8 solid fuel rocket engine with 25-32 seconds burn time with 25 km
maximal engagement range and 2 km minimal engagement range. From the MIM-23B the missile had
M112 type dual-thrust rocket engine; after 5 seconds of initial very high thrust in the traveling phase for
21 seconds provided smaller thrust but the total impulse of the engine became higher. Besides new rocket
engine the warhead weight slightly was increased to 75 kg the total mass of the missile was increased from
about 585 kg to 635 kg. The engagement range was increased to 35 or 40 km (depending on source) the
maximal altitude to 18 km, the minimal engagement distance was reduced to 1.5 km which was
exceptionally good in that time.

The kinematic parameters of later missile variants did not change seriously the missile got other
improvements. The maximal overload capability of the missile was 15G which was far better than any SAM
had in the ‘60s (Soviet SAMs had about 6-9G in this era.) The weight and dimensions of the missiles
especially the non-toxic solid propellant made much more easily serviceable the missiles comparing to SA-2
family. (Weight of SA-2’s missile was about 2.2-2.4 tons, even the smaller Neva was almost 1 ton.) The
missile had much smaller warhead than Soviet missiles with RCG guidance because the accuracy of SARH
guidance is not distance dependent.

Thanks to the CW fire control radar with semi active radar homing (SARH) guidance the minimal
engagement altitude was only 60 meters which was exceptionally good in the early ‘60s when first
generation of RCG guided SAMs many times had kilometer scale minimal engagement altitude both in US
and the Soviet Union.

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SA-2A/SA-75 Dvina had 3000 meters engagement range, the SA-2C/S-75 Desna had 500 meters, SA-2E/S-
75M Volkhov had 300 meters even in early ‘70s the SA-2E/S-75M2 still had 100 meters. The SA-3A/S-125
which was designed against low level targets had initially 300 meters minimal altitude only SA-3B/S-125M
reached 50 meters and S-125M1 to 20 meters but the minimal engagement range of the Neva was 3.5 km
because of the booster stage of the missile which does not allow any maneuver until they have not beet
jettisoned. (Dvina/Volhkov had 5/7 km minimal range.)

Main components of the HAWK battery in Phase III configuration

For the system was designed self-propelled missile launcher but it remained in test phase never entered in service
the project was cancelled in 1971. Above left is the M192 launcher.

Since the first variant the HAWK got many upgrades thanks to the changes different kind and quantity of
radars were used see them in the chart below.

IOC Type PAR CWAR HPI ROR

1959 Basic HAWK AN/MPQ-35 AN/MPQ-34 AN/MPQ-33/39 AN/MPQ-37

1972 Improved HAWK AN/MPQ-48
AN/MPQ-46
1979 PIP Phase I AN/MPQ-51
AN/MPQ-50 AN/MPQ-55
1983 PIP Phase II AN/MPQ-57
1989 PIP Phase III AN/MPQ-62 AN/MPQ-61 -
HAWK XXI AN/APQ-64 - AN/MPQ-61 -

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One of the main changes during the upgrades in Phase III configuration the ROR radar was not necessary
anymore. In HAWK XXI configuration only two radars are used; for target acquisition is the AN/APG-65
Sentinel (3D electronically scanned, LPI capable).

The function of the BCC, ICC and PCC is replaced by a single unit the Fire Distribution Center (FDC).PIP III
Phase HAWK variant enjoyed the benefits the advancements of the digital era and solid state electronics
FDC was a key upgrade to be part of an IADS with Patriot batteries to be able to share and get data from
the new SAM system. Replacement of the vacuum tube technology started in Phase II. Of course not only
the radars other electronics also got upgrades as well as the missiles:

Generation and capability IOC Missile type

Basic Hawk 1959 (M3), MIM-23A
I-HAWK 1971 MIM-23B
Improved ECCM 1982 MIM-23C/D
Low-level/ multi-jamming 1990 MIM-23E/F
New body section early ‘90s MIM-23G/H
New warhead and fuzing for anti-TBM capability 1995 MIM-23K/J
New fuzing only, old warhead 1995 MIM-23L/M

Following the upgrades the HAWK had remarkable features even in the late ‘70s which for the Patriot
system became even more pronounced. The central processing unit and computer of the HAWK made
possible instead the full manual operation (target sorting, target selection, illumination and guidance tasks)
the semi-automatic operation mode3 where the crew is mostly supervised/managed the system similar to
later Patriot. The crew just could gave priorities the system to have a “to be engaged queue”; the system
was able to launch missile in semi-auto mode. The features and automatization was not on the same level
as for the Patriot but the upgrade showed the dawn of a new era.

The Phase III HAWK was able to shoot down tactical ballistic missile (TBM) according to fire range tests
but obviously this capability could be done only in semi-auto mode with small offset distance parameter
and much smaller engagement range comparing to subsonic aircraft.4 Ballistic missiles have to be tracked
from much bigger range than maximal engagement range to be determining the impact point to have
enough time for the engagement procedure and missile reach the target in time.

The US Army retired the HAWK in the middle of ‘90s the USMC used until 2002. Regardless the USA does
not use anymore many countries still keep in service different variants of HAWK. HAWK XXI variant is used
in Turkey, South Korea and Romania but older PIP II/III types are still in service in more than 20 countries.
HAWK was so strongly upgraded it survived all of its contemporary Soviet SAM system such as
SA-75/S-75 (SA-2 family) and S-125 (SA-3 family). These old Soviet SAMs today (in 2018) are used mostly
poor and 3rd World countries while the HAWK is still being used in the Western world.

The HAWK is not a widely known5 SAM system because it was not as widely used in real combat as
Soviet SAMs in the conflicts of Cold War. The HAWK was used in Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988) and by Israel in
4th and 5th (1973, 1982) Arab-Israeli Wars and Kuwait in 1990 but sources about these are very limited. The
most known combat action of the HAWK happened under Israeli flag it damaged a MiG-25 which later was
downed by and F-15 Eagle.

3
https://youtu.be/85n8MbTh5mI?t=4m14s
4
See the meaning of the term at Russian SAMs.
5
As I can judge it.

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In 1973 Israeli HAWKs with 63 missiles during 32 engagements downed 22 Arab aircraft.6 (Israel had 12
HAWK batteries with 24 fire channels.) This is far better statistics compared to any Soviet SAM system
concerning a single conflict during the Cold War it means 68% engagement success rate and 34% hit rate
assuming every time only a single missile hit the target. (See in another chapter about statistics of some
conflicts.)

The most similar Soviet SAM to HAWK is the 2K12 Kub (SA-6). The Kub uses too SARH guidance with CW fire
control radar, monopulse antenna and solid fueled missile. It was designed for army air defense role which
means it is a mobile SAM system. All main elements are installed on tracked self-propelled vehicles which
provide good mobility even on rough terrain but comparing to HAWK it could not be airlifted by
helicopters.

The first HAWK entered in service in 1959/60 while the first Kub variant reached IOC in 1967, the first mass
produced Kub version the 2K12M1 was available only from very 1973.

We can see again what has been mentioned. Most of people are amazed on Soviet SAMs while the US was
in some areas decades comparing to Soviet Union such as using SARH guidance instead RCG, using CW
illumination instead pulse radar, using monopulse antenna to eliminate some jamming methods, using solid
rocket fuel instead liquid fuel.

6
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/LOC-HAK-480-3-1-4.pdf