| « | The Centurion surface to air missile system was designed to protect NATO naval vessels from any possible aerial threats in medium to long range. Armed with radar-guided medium-range anti-air missiles. This asset is normally deployed in tandem with Spartan surface to air missile system to deny air superiority to the enemy. Field Manual
|
» |
The Mk21 Centurion is a static 254 mm anti-aircraft weapon system mounted on NATO warships in ArmA 3. It was added with the release of the Jets DLC.
Overview[]
The Mk21 Centurion is a medium-ranged, surface-to-air missile launcher that launches missiles which utilise semi-active radar homing guidance. It provides reliable self-defence capability against agile, high-speed and low-altitude aircraft.
Its 254 mm radar-guided missiles are fitted with high-explosive fragmentation (HE-Frag) warheads, with each launcher always being pre-loaded with up to 8 missiles at a time. Its fire control system has access to three magnification zoom modes, and is able to switch between using normal day, night, and black/white-hot thermal vision modes. It can be used to strike aircraft flying at distances of up to 14 km.
The heaviest anti-air system available to NATO warships like the USS Freedom, the Centurion serves as a larger counterpart to the smaller Mk49 Spartan. Compared to the Spartan, the Centurion has access to missiles that are not only more powerful, but have more than double the acquisition range, velocity, and precision.
Because it uses radar guidance as opposed to infrared, the Centurion's missiles do not need to rely on the state of the target's thermal signature. At the same time, it can also fall back onto its visual sensor as well for backup guidance.
Its main drawback mostly stems from the launcher being limited to containing only 8 missiles at once, whereas the Spartan has access to 13 more (for a total of 21). Its usage of radar guidance also makes it vulnerable to the anti-radiation passive sensors used by ground attack jets like the CSAT To-199, which can easily detect the Centurion from afar as soon as its radar powers up.
As with the Spartan, the Centurion eschews the need for a human operator and will automatically attack enemy aircraft that come within range. If needed however, a human can still connect to the Centurion via UAV Terminal to manually control it.
Camouflage[]
- Light Grey: Standard light grey paint scheme.
- Sand: Desert tan paint scheme.
- Green: Dark olive green paint scheme.
Sensors[]
The Centurion has access to three sensors in total, one active and two passive-types:
| Sensor type | Max range (Air/Ground) | Min range (Air/Ground) | Affected by environment? | Target max speed (km/h) | Azimuth coverage (°) | Elevation coverage (°) | Friendly identification range (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active | A: 14,000 m G: 10,000 m |
A: 14,000 m G: 10,000 m |
Terrain clutter (200 m) | 5,000 km/h | 15° | 15° | 10,000 m |
| Visual | A: 4,000 m G: 3,500 m |
A: 500 m G: 500 m |
Fog/Light (6%) | 2,160 km/h | 360° | 95° | 4,000 m |
| Data Link | A: 16,000 m G: 16,000 m |
A: 16,000 m G: 16,000 m |
Nothing | 1e+10 km/h | 360° | 360° | 0 m |
Active Radar[]
The Centurion's Active Radar can only acquire targets that get within bounds of the sensor's cone (represented by the teal cone on the SENSORS panel). It has an elevation offset of 0.5 degrees.
Note that although ground targets at distances below 200 metres remain "invisible" to the radar due to terrain clutter, any targets that begin moving at speeds of ~ 100 km/h or greater will immediately become visible on the Centurion's radar.
Visual Sensor[]
The Centurion's Visual Sensor is partially limited by the turret's facing direction due to its elevation limit of 95 degrees (represented by the yellow circle on the SENSORS panel). The Visual Sensor can be affected by heavy fog and can lose up to 6% of its range depending on its thickness. The Visual Sensor becomes completely blind at nighttime and very low-light conditions.
It should be noted that the Visual Sensor has an elevation offset of 0.5 degrees.
Data Link[]
The Centurion is data link-capable. It can receive the locations of radar contacts from any friendly forces within 16 km range.
Note that unlike its Visual Sensor and Active Radar, the Centurion's data link is not restricted to the turret's facing direction.
Missile specifications[]
Centurion
| Base damage value | Proximity fuse radius (metres) | Maximum speed (m/s) |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | 30 | 900 |
Centurion missiles are radar-guided and retain lock-on after launch (LOAL) capability.
The seeker on the missile has a lock-on cone of 120 degrees (horizontally and vertically). They can track aircraft that are flying at speeds of up to 3,200 km/h. The seeker itself has a 5% chance of losing lock to chaff countermeasures.
Missiles are always hard launched with an initial velocity of 60 m/s. It takes 7 seconds for their motors to reach a top speed of 900 m/s in-flight. The warheads are high-explosive (HE) based and have a blast radius of 13 metres.
Centurions only retain enough fuel for 35 seconds of flight time. They will automatically self-destruct if they cannot intercept their target within that duration.
Trivia[]
- The launcher for the Centurion is modelled after the real-world "Mk 29 Guided Missile Launching System", while the missiles that it fires are based on the "RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile".
- "Centurions" were professional officers who served in the Ancient Roman army, and often commanded military units (known as "centuria") that consisted of a hundred men.
- Before the release of the Tanks DLC, it was not possible to lock onto Centurion turrets even if they were active. This was changed with Game Update 1.82 so that it is now possible to lock onto them infrared-guided missiles once the turret heats up.[1]
- Like the smaller Spartan launcher, the Centurion is one of the first two usable missile defence systems that are actually functional gameplay-wise in the entire series.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Kovařič, V 2018, SPOTREP #00079, Arma 3, viewed 2 September 2023, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00079>.
External links[]
See also[]
Heavy AA systems of comparable role and configuration[]
- Praetorian 1C (Gun-based counterpart)
- Mk49 Spartan (Short-ranged infrared-guided counterpart)
| Heavy anti-air systems of ArmA 3 | |
|---|---|
| Land | MIM-145 Defender* • S-750 Rhea* |
| Naval | Mk21 Centurion • Mk49 Spartan • Praetorian 1C |
| Jets DLC * denotes content added as part of the Encore platform update. | |