Familiar to everyone who follows the news of the defense industry and the export of weapons, the word Mistral personifies not only a family of universal amphibious assault ships, but also a portable anti-aircraft missile system of French production. MANPADS Mistral is designed to destroy low-flying helicopters and enemy aircraft. Modifications of this complex are currently in service with more than 20 countries around the world. The complex was adopted by the French army in 1988, after which it was repeatedly modernized.
When creating the complex, the French tried to take into account the shortcomings of other MANPADS, as well as the increased requirements of modern highly maneuverable combat. The complex was developed by the Matra company. The main performers were: Societe Anonyme de Telecommunications (SAT) - infrared homing head; "Manufacture de Machines du Haut Rhin SA" - warhead; Societe Nationale des Poudres et Explosifs (SNPE) - solid propellant charge; Societe Europeenne de Propulsion - rocket engine. When creating the complex, the following requirements were imposed on the anti-aircraft missile: a single missile for all variants of the complex, independence from the launch method and a minimum amount of maintenance. Full-scale work on the creation of MANPADS was initiated in 1980. In the period from 1986 to 1988, the French army conducted extensive military tests of the new air defense system, which ended with its adoption in 1988 under the designation "Mistral".
In addition to the basic portable version of the complex, a wide range of options was created, designed for different situations and carriers, including: ATLAS - a mobile air defense missile system with a launcher for two missiles; ALAMO - a complex designed for installation on light automobile chassis; ATAM - helicopter version, used as an air-to-air weapon, primarily to combat enemy helicopters; SANTAL - tower system for 6 missiles with target detection radar; SIMBAD is a shipborne version with a twin launcher for small displacement vessels. And these are far from all the options developed on the basis of the Mistral air defense system. In 2006, at the Eurosatory exhibition in Paris, MBDA demonstrated the MPCV multipurpose combat vehicle based on the VBR light armored vehicle. The combat vehicle was equipped with a tower module for 4 Mistral missiles and a remotely controlled 12, 7-mm machine gun. Ammunition - 4 missiles inside the vehicle, manual reloading.
The Mistral MANPADS includes an anti-aircraft guided missile in a sealed transport and launch container (TPK), a friend or foe interrogator, a power source and a tripod with sights. A 20-kilogram stand (tripod) with equipment and sights and a 20-kilogram rocket in the TPK are carried by a crew of two: the commander and the shooter. To increase the mobility of the complex to the deployment site in a combat position, the crew can move by road.
Anti-aircraft missile "Mistral" is made according to the aerodynamic "canard" design, which provides it with high maneuverability, and also allows it to withstand strong overloads, ensuring high guidance accuracy in the final flight phase. According to the official website of the MBDA company, the most modern missile variants are able to reach speeds of up to 930 m / s and maneuver with overloads of up to 30 g (most likely, we are talking about the third generation of the missile - Mistral 3), which allows it to hit all types of modern air targets, including high-speed and highly maneuverable objects. Structurally, the rocket consists of a body, an infrared seeker, electric servomotors for controlling the rudders, electronic targeting equipment, a thermochemical battery, a fuse, a warhead, a sustainer, as well as a dumped starter engine and a self-destruction device.
SAM Mistral
The infrared seeker is installed inside the pyramidal fairing. Such a fairing has an advantage over an ordinary spherical fairing, since it reduces drag. The rocket body diameter of 90 mm allows you to install the seeker in larger sizes than in the complexes of competitors. In the seeker, a mosaic-type receiver was used, which is made on indium arsenide (K = 3-5 microns), this significantly increases the missile's ability to find and capture air targets with reduced IR radiation, and also allows the seeker to distinguish a real signal from a false one. (IR traps, brightly lit clouds, sun, etc.). In addition, to achieve high sensitivity of the seeker, cooling of the receiving device is implemented (the cylinder containing the refrigerant is attached to the trigger). The Mistral's homing head is capable of capturing and escorting jet aircraft at a range of up to 6 kilometers, and helicopters equipped with devices to reduce infrared radiation at a range of up to 4 kilometers.
The missile is equipped with a fairly powerful high-explosive fragmentation warhead (warhead weight is almost 3 kg), which contains ready-made spherical striking elements made of tungsten alloy - approximately 1500-1800 ready-made striking elements. The missile warhead is equipped with contact and non-contact laser fuses. A non-contact laser fuse with an accurate distance reading mechanism allows you to avoid premature detonation of warheads when exposed to interference emitted by trees or objects on the ground. The estimated value of the error for a given fuse fits within a range of one meter. As part of the field tests of the Mistral MANPADS, it was found that the detonation of warheads at such a distance from air targets leads to their destruction.
The demands made by the military to reduce the size and weight of the engine, as well as the order of its operation and ensure the required level of reliability, forced the developers to abandon the engine design traditional for anti-aircraft guided missiles in favor of a more complex technical solution. The propulsion system of the Mistral rocket consists of two engines at once: the launch and sustainer. The starting engine is located in the nozzle section of the main engine. During the movement of the anti-aircraft missile in the TPK, this engine gives it an initial speed of 40 m / s. The starting engine is equipped with several nozzles that rotate the rocket (10 revolutions per second) to stabilize the missile in flight. The opening of the planes of the stabilizer and the aerodynamic rudders of the rocket is carried out when it leaves the launch container. At a safe distance for the gunner-operator (about 15 meters), the rocket starting engine is thrown away, the main engine is started, which gives the rocket a maximum speed of M = 2, 6 (800 m / s). Thanks to such a high flight speed, the rocket reaches the helicopter, hovering at a distance of 4 kilometers from the launch site, in just 6 seconds, which does not give the helicopter the opportunity not only to use its own weapons, but also to try to hide behind the natural folds of the terrain. The upgraded missiles of the complex, according to the manufacturer, develop an even more impressive speed - 930 m / s (M = 2, 8).
For the convenience of targeting and launching an anti-aircraft guided missile, the operator of the complex uses a tripod with a seat, a TPK with a rocket and all the equipment necessary for the operation of the complex is mounted on the tripod. With the help of appropriate mechanisms, the required elevation angle and turn for shooting in almost any direction are provided. During transportation and carrying, the complex is divided into two parts weighing about 20 kg each: a tripod with sights and an electronic unit and a TPK with a rocket. When creating this complex, French designers paid much attention to reducing the time for its deployment and reloading. According to the results of the tests carried out, the installation of a TPK with a missile on a tripod and the complete bringing of the complex to combat readiness takes about one minute. It takes 2 seconds to turn on the seeker (cooling the IR sensor and spinning the gyroscope). The average reaction time (from the moment the launch circuit is turned on to the launch of the anti-aircraft missile) is about 5 seconds in the absence of external target designation data, or 3 seconds in the presence of such data. It takes about 30 seconds to reload the complex with a new rocket.
The sighting device of the portable complex consists of a telescopic and collimator sights. Using the readings from the collimator, the shooter can take into account the horizontal and vertical lead angles. MANPADS "Mistral" is also equipped with identification equipment "friend or foe" and a thermal imaging device, which ensures the effective use of the complex and at night. According to the manufacturer's assurances, the complex can be used in a wide range of ambient temperatures, including under rather severe weather conditions - at temperatures from -40 to +71 degrees Celsius.
The MANPADS trigger mechanism includes the following set of elements: a switching device that provides the required sequence of commands and signals; refrigerant cylinder; battery for powering electrical circuits; an indicator with a vibration and a sound device that is triggered when signals are captured from an air target of the seeker of an anti-aircraft missile. For use at night, the complex can be equipped with MITS-2 thermal imagers from Thales Optronics or MATIS from Sagem.
In 2000, an improved version of the Mistral 2 MANPADS complex was put into service; it is supplied to both its own French armed forces and for export. Both modifications were in service with more than 20 countries of the world, including Belgium, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Finland and others. Estonia is one of the largest operators of the complex; the first supply contract for 60 million euros was signed back in 2007. As the bmpd blog wrote, on June 12, 2018, in Paris, MBDA and the Estonian Ministry of Defense signed a contract worth 50 million euros with an option for another 100 million euros. With this money, Estonia expects to receive Mistral 3 MANPADS. Deliveries of portable systems will begin in 2020, in addition to the MANPADS and missiles themselves, control and testing equipment, simulators and training missiles will also be supplied. The acquired complexes, according to information from Estonian publications, are intended, among other things, for arming the newly formed 2nd Infantry Brigade of the Estonian Army.
The performance characteristics of Mistral MANPADS:
The range of targets hit is 500-6000 m.
The height of the targets hit is from 5 to 3000 m.
The maximum rocket speed is 800 m / s (2, 6 M).
The rocket body diameter is 90 mm.
Rocket length - 1860 mm.
The launch mass of the rocket is 18.7 kg.
The mass of the missile warhead is 3 kg.
The mass of the rocket in the TPK is 24 kg.
The weight of the tripod with sights is about 20 kg.
The time to bring the complex into a combat position is up to a minute.
