Battle of the Microchips

The French-built Super-Etendard Argentine fighter-bombers probably approached the British fleet flying at around 575 m.p.h. H.M.S. Sheffield 's radar would in all likelihood have picked them up only as they climbed to identify their target and launch their Exocet air-to-sea missiles. From that moment, the attack that crippled the British destroyer some four minutes later was no longer a matter of daring and courage. It had become a 20th century battle of microchips and computers, of decisions and reactions far too fast for the human brain to make. Says a weapons expert for Jane's Yearbooks, the authoritative military reference volumes: "Today's wars are a battle of computer vs. computer."

Just as the Spanish civil war in the 1930s proved to be a testing ground for arms and strategies later used in World War II, military planners around the world are viewing the battle of the South Atlantic as a trial of high-technology weapons, ships and aircraft never before used in combat. Britain's Sea Harrier, a vertical/short-takeoff and -landing (V/STOL) attack plane, is winning high praise for its maneuverability. The plane can stop dead in midair, turn on a dime and leap straight upward to dodge an oncoming enemy missile. The Harrier's limited striking range (288 miles) and maximum speed (736 m.p.h.), however, make it unsuitable for extended fleet protection and vulnerable to missiles. Perhaps greater attention is being given to a new generation of missiles and bombs. Both sides have their fair share of them--often, ironically, bought from the same source.

The Tigerfish MK 24 torpedo used by the British nuclear submarine H.M.S. Conqueror to sink the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano is typical of the new weapons. Built in Britain, the Tigerfish is 21 ft. long, weighs 3,400 Ibs. and has a range of approximately 20 miles. After launch, it speeds toward its target at about 58 m.p.h., playing out thin wires attached to the submarine's computer and changing direction as the computer dictates.

In the final stages of the attack, when the submarine has determined that the torpedo is heading in the right direction, an automatic homing system takes over and guides the torpedo to its target. The superquiet Tigerfish is "one of the most deadly underwater weapons yet produced," says the Jane's expert. "It is virtually impossible for the target to know that the torpedo is approaching."

The British used another combat-untested weapon to sink one Argentine patrol boat last week and damage another. Lynx helicopters operating from one of the task force's destroyers or frigates fired British-built Sea Skua missiles, air-to-ship weapons that have been deployed by the Royal Navy for less than a year. Many details of the Sea Skua remain secret, but it is a sausage-shaped device, 8 ft. long and weighing about 165 Ibs.

Designed for helicopter launch, the missile is believed to have a range of about nine miles, greater than that of the antiaircraft weapons it is likely to encounter on its intended victims, small boats and patrol craft. To use it, a helicopter flies close enough to let its radar light up the target with radio energy, which, when reflected, provides a guiding point for the missile's homing computer. The Sea Skua streaks to its destination at over 550 m.p.h. and as little as 6 ft. above the surface. It is designed to penetrate the target before exploding, in order to create maximum damage.

Earlier in the battle, the British may also have used two air weapons for the first time. The 610-lb. BL 755 cluster bomb destroys armored and thin-skinned targets and mines the area with smaller bombs timed to go off at varying intervals. In addition, it is suspected, though not confirmed, that the Vulcan bombers that struck Port Stanley airfield may have used the new JP233 airfield attack bomb. The result of a collaboration between British and U.S. firms, the JP233 craters enemy runways by penetrating the concrete before exploding, causing the surface to lift and fracture over a wide area. The bomb also seeds the territory with delayed-action antipersonnel explosives.

For their part, the Argentines made first use in the conflict of the 30-month-old French-built Exocet AM 39 missile, a 15 1/2-ft, 1,440-lb. air-to-sea version of an older ship-to-ship missile now deployed by both the British and the Argentine navies. The air version can be launched by a plane flying as high as 33,000 ft. or as low as 300 ft. The pilot simply programs the Exocet's computer with range and bearing of the target and then, when the plane is between 37 and 43 miles away from its goal, launches the missile and heads for home. The Exocet drops to the surface and skims 8 ft. or so above even the roughest waves at just below the speed of sound. About eight miles from target, the missile's radar takes over and steers it toward the enemy ship.

Defense against such weapons is, as the sinking of the Sheffield and General Belgrano attest, not easy. Modern torpedoes like the Tigerfish can be avoided only by throwing out decoys like big air bubbles, using acoustic countermeasures like sonar jamming or, better yet, sinking the attacking submarine. But deep-diving nuclear attack submarines and the noiseless Tigerfish are hard to detect until it is too late. Similarly, the Sea Skua and Exocet antiship missiles are almost impossible to evade. A would-be victim can use electronic countermeasures like radar jamming to confuse the attacking missile's guidance system. A ship can also launch clouds of metallic strips from a special mortar to decoy its radar. Perhaps the best defenses are computer-guided antiaircraft guns and supersophisticated antimissile missiles.

The British task force has one weapon that would probably have downed the Exocet. The British-built Seawolf, a 6 1/2-ft.-long missile, is capable of intercepting a 4 1/2-in. shell. It might have stopped the Exocet, but within the task force, only the frigates Broadsword and Brilliant are armed with the Seawolf. Instead, the Sheffield carried the Sea Dart, a reliable but older missile, that, so far as is known, was never fired.

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