Although this publication is dedicated to the American 20-mm rapid-fire small-caliber artillery anti-aircraft gun, I want to start it with a confession - a declaration of love for the Military Review.
Our relationship, like that of most lovers, was not always simple. Nevertheless, "VO" has become a part of my life, and it was doubly pleasant on the eve of Defender of the Fatherland Day to learn that the authoritative Israeli-British project SimilarWeb, engaged in web analytics, in-depth data analysis and Internet research, recognized Topwar.ru as the most visited resource in the world among sites writing on defense topics. This became possible largely due to the editorial policy, which allows authors with a wide variety of views and levels of knowledge to submit their publications to the readers' judgment. Each user registered on the site has a real opportunity to publish an article reflecting his views on various topics related to defense topics. But sometimes the flip side of such openness is the appearance of fantastic stories that talk about the Russian missile defense system in the Kuril Islands or predict the appearance of modern analogues of heavily armored battleships in the fleets of the leading naval powers.
It was just such publications and the excessive “shrieking” of individual visitors to “VO” that became the reason that, despite the teasing from my “other half”, I took up “writing”. So, quite recently, a dispute with a group of site visitors, who spoke extremely unflatteringly about the capabilities of the Chinese industry to build modern fighters and air defense systems, led to the creation of a very protracted cycle about the PRC's air defense. However, despite the invitation to take part in the discussion, commentators who had previously argued that “a copy is always worse than the original” and “the Chinese are not capable of designing anything on their own”, to my great regret, did not find it possible to present evidence-based evidence of their innocence.
To create this publication on the American anti-aircraft artillery complex, I was prompted by the article "A threat coming from the sky", in which the author, based on pictures published in magazines 50-60 years ago and American comics, proposes to create a weapon that will give potential to aggressors "asymmetric response". But I was not interested in "funny pictures" of the level of the "Murzilka" magazine, but in the description of the use of a very specific type of weapon, which literally says the following:
Where Soviet troops (in Afghanistan) suffered losses, the Americans learned to quite successfully deal with shelling from mortars and mobile multiple launch rocket systems. With defensive fire, rapid-fire machine guns simply shot down all incoming mines and rockets.
Having become interested, I asked the author, acting under the pseudonym Arkady Gaidar, the question, what kind of sample is this, what are its characteristics and real achievements? To which I received the following answer:
Let's start with the fact that real numbers are unlikely to be found. For the publication of such statistics will reveal the weaknesses of such anti-aircraft technology. Actually, the Americans, the Israelis, declare that the technique of this class is used quite effectively and quite successfully. But how successful is it? They keep quiet. So what then do you want from an article about politics, where technical aspects are inserted precisely to draw readers' attention to the problems of countering American military doctrine …
Having failed to get a clear answer from the respected author of the "article about politics", I decided to find out for myself what kind of "rapid-fire machine guns" that so effectively protect American military bases from massive MLRS attacks and artillery and mortar attacks. It soon became clear that we were talking, most likely, about the 20-mm rapid-fire artillery installation Centurion C-RAM - a land modification of the widespread American naval anti-aircraft artillery complex Mark 15 Phalanx CIWS. The abbreviation C-RAM stands for Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortars - against unguided rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds.
After the invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003, American troops were able to quickly suppress the resistance of the regular Iraqi forces. But soon a guerrilla war broke out in territory captured by the American coalition. Since the allied forces suffered serious losses from regular missile and artillery attacks on their bases, the American command was concerned about countermeasures. The situation was complicated by the fact that mortars and launchers of the rebel MLRS were often located in residential areas, and the return fire of American artillery led to large casualties among the civilian population. Under these conditions, the Raytheon corporation proposed to use the Mark 15 Phalanx CIWS 20-mm naval artillery complex adapted for use on land to intercept the NAR and mortar mines.
In the basic version, ZAK "Falanx" is intended to protect warships from anti-ship missiles, short-range aircraft and helicopters, small high-speed combat boats and the destruction of floating mines. 20-mm six-barreled cannons with a rate of fire of 4500 rounds per minute are controlled by a radar that detects and tracks missiles and aircraft and surface targets. The marine "Falanx" is a 20-mm rapid-fire six-barreled artillery mount with a rotating barrel block, mounted on a single gun carriage with two target detection and tracking radars. The ZAK also includes a rack with electronic units and a remote control. The mass of the artillery system is about 6 tons.
Initially, the Centurion C-RAM anti-aircraft artillery system was a naval installation, with minimal changes, moved to a towed platform designed to transport heavy armored vehicles. Since on the trailer, in addition to the artillery mount itself with ammunition, they placed detection and guidance equipment, as well as power supply equipment, the mass of the ground complex exceeded 24 tons. This made the Centurion C-RAM less mobile. The complex did not fit into the required standards, according to which short-range anti-aircraft systems should be able to be transported by military transport aircraft C-130J Super Hercules. "Centurion" could be transported over considerable distances only with heavy C-5V / M Galaxy or sea transport. The towing speed on a paved road does not exceed 20 km / h.
The Centurion anti-aircraft artillery complex is designed to cover important ground targets from air attack weapons at extremely low and low altitudes, MLRS missiles, artillery shells and mortar mines, as well as to destroy enemy personnel and lightly armored targets in difficult conditions and in any Times of Day. When creating the Centurion C-RAM, Raytheon specialists used the developments and combat experience gained during the creation and operation of the M163 Vulcan ZSU based on the M113 armored personnel carrier and the latest modifications of the Phalanx CIWS marine ZAK. In comparison with the Vulkan anti-aircraft self-propelled gun, it was possible to significantly reduce the reaction time of the complex, increase the degree of automation and increase the accuracy of fire.
With a high degree of continuity with the naval Mark 15 Phalanx CIWS, the dimensions and weight were subsequently reduced, which made it possible to place all the ZAK elements on a heavy army truck. In connection with the changed specificity of the application and another type of air targets, the sighting and survey complex underwent significant refinement, hardware and software changes were made to the control and guidance systems.
As you know, the ship-based ZAK "Falanx" is mainly designed to counter anti-ship cruise missiles, for which there are 20-mm shells with a U-238 core in the ammunition load. This isotope of uranium has a density of 19.1 g / cm³ (iron 7.8 g / cm³). A depleted uranium projectile has a smaller diameter than an equivalent mass projectile made of another metal and has less aerodynamic drag. Due to the higher specific pressure at the moment of hitting the target, it is able to penetrate thicker armor. In addition, uranium dust generated by the partial destruction of the pyrophoric core has a high incendiary effect. Thus, shells with a core made of U-238, with a high armor-piercing effect, cause significant destruction after breaking through the armor. This is especially important when firing at anti-ship missiles, which can be equipped with additional warhead protection. At the same time, the use of shells containing depleted uranium against mortar mines, artillery and rocket shells was recognized as ineffective and unjustified. Since destruction with a high degree of probability of unguided artillery ammunition can be achieved as a result of the detonation of an explosive contained in a solid body, it is necessary to achieve hitting its warhead. In addition, artillery shells and mines, in addition to being less vulnerable to external influences, compared to cruise missiles, have much more modest geometric dimensions.
During the hostilities in the Middle East and the Balkans, it turned out that particles of U-238, scattered on the ground, when ingested into the human body, due to their high toxicity and alpha radiation, poses a great threat to human health. The danger of contamination of the territory with depleted uranium, the risk of shells falling from a height and the ineffectiveness of armor-piercing shells against small-sized ballistic targets - all this became the reason that the M246 fragmentation-tracer shells and high-explosive fragmentation M940 are used in the ammunition of the Centurion C-RAM artillery mount. For the safety of people on the ground, all the shells are equipped with self-destructors that detonate them at a given time interval. The total ammunition is 1,500 rounds.
Since the land-based ZAK Centurion C-RAM was functionally very different from the Mark 15 Phalanx CIWS marine installation, it used a different radar and optoelectronic equipment, as well as a different algorithm of actions. The land-based "Centurion", like the shipborne anti-aircraft complex, searches for and engages targets in automatic mode. The operator's functions during combat duty are reduced to monitoring the performance, confirming the request to defeat the target that entered the guarded perimeter and suppressing emergency situations. Unlike the naval ZAK, to calculate the ballistic trajectory of an artillery or rocket projectile and determine whether it poses a threat to the covered object and whether there is a need to fire it, the AN / TPQ-36 Firefinder counter-battery radar is attached to the Centurion. Information about the detected targets in real time is transmitted to the control center of the anti-aircraft artillery complexes via microwave communication channels at a frequency of 2.4 GHz or via fiber-optic cable.
The compact towed radar with HEADLIGHTS AN / TPQ-36 Firefinder is capable of detecting shells and MLRS missiles at a distance of 18-24 km, simultaneously tracking up to 20 targets and, based on the calculation of their trajectories, determine the coordinates of artillery positions with high accuracy. Since 2009, the AN / TPQ-53 Target Acquisition Radar has been used for early detection of mines, missiles and projectiles on the trajectory, with a maximum range of 122-mm rockets - 60 km.
All elements of the AN / TPQ-53 counter-battery radar are located on the chassis of a 5-ton armored FMTV truck, which is capable of moving along the highway at a speed of more than 80 km / h.
On the first version of the ZAK Centurion C-RAM, the AN / TPQ-48 radar was used to detect mortar mines and shells in the immediate vicinity of the protected area. The set of station equipment weighs 220 kg, the detection range of a 120-mm mine is 5 km. However, after a number of incidents, when the AN / TPQ-48 equipment missed several enemy shells, it was replaced by the AN / TPQ-49 station. In fact, the AN / TPQ-49 is an improved version of the AN / TPQ-48 radar, designed for use by expeditionary forces. In addition to increasing reliability and reducing the mass to 70 kg, the detection range of 120-mm mines has been increased to 10 km. For use in the ZAK Centurion C-RAM, Raytheon has developed a Ku-band (10, 7-12, 75 GHz) MFRFS (Multi-Function RF System) radar with a 360-degree scanning sector. Its characteristics were not disclosed, but after the introduction of the MFRFS radar in the hardware part of the Centurion ZAK, the efficiency of the complex increased significantly. In addition, optoelectronic equipment with a thermal imaging channel (FLIR) and automatic tracking of captured moving objects is intended for searching and firing at air and ground targets of the type. This makes it possible, in addition to destroying artillery shells at any time of the day and in difficult weather conditions, to counteract cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, low-flying aircraft and helicopters, as well as use the complex for self-defense in the event of a direct attack by enemy forces on the position.
The rate of fire of the land-based anti-aircraft complex Centurion C-RAM compared to the naval Mark 15 Phalanx CIWS has been reduced by about 2 times and is 2000-2200 rds / min. Apparently, this was done to save the resource of the barrel unit, since on land the artillery part of the installation has to work in much more difficult conditions.
In November 2004, before sending the Centurion into the war zone, the complexes underwent a test cycle at the Yuma test site in Arizona. During test firing, conducted day and night, it was found that the anti-aircraft artillery complex is indeed capable of intercepting single 81-120-mm mortar mines. The greatest efficiency was achieved when several installations fired at one target.
The first Centurion C-RAM units were deployed in Iraq in the summer of 2005. They defended the "Green Zone" in Baghdad with a total area of about 10 km², the area around the international airport known as Camp Victory, Balad Air Force Base and British fixed installations in southern Iraq. By 2008, there were more than 20 Centurion artillery systems on Iraqi territory. A representative of the Raytheon corporation in an interview with the Navy Times said that 105 ballistic targets were destroyed by the fire of 20-mm protective artillery systems, and about 2/3 of them were mortar mines. In the course of combat use, it turned out that one ZAK is capable of covering an area of 1.3 km². An additional 23 Centurion C-RAM units were reportedly ordered in September 2008. In addition to Iraq, the Centurions defended American installations in Afghanistan.
Based on the experience of the combat use of the Centurion C-RAM, the US Marine Corps ordered a mobile version on the chassis of a four-wheel drive 14-ton Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT). In February 2019, Raytheon announced that it had signed an agreement for the supply of Falanx anti-aircraft artillery systems in the ground version. The total cost of the contract was $ 205.2 million. The contract must be fully executed by December 27, 2023.
However, in the United States there were quite a few critics of the concept of intercepting artillery and rockets using a 20-mm rapid-fire artillery unit. It is reliably known that in the past, the Falanx naval anti-aircraft complex could not guarantee with a sufficient degree of probability of destruction of supersonic cruise anti-ship missiles. It demonstrated quite decent results when intercepting subsonic targets imitating the Soviet P-15 anti-ship missiles or the French Exocet. In 1996, the US Navy purchased from Russia a batch of 34 M-31 target missiles, based on the Kh-31A anti-ship missile, for testing and control and practice shooting.
The results of firing with the participation of M-31 target missiles are still not reliably known. However, in 1999, American admirals started talking about the need to improve the close air defense of warships. Against the background of information about the existing difficulties with the protection from the RCC, the statements about the success of the "Centurions" are surprising. After all, an artillery shell, mortar mine or MLRS missile are more difficult targets than anti-ship missiles. Although artillery shells do not maneuver after firing, but fly along an easily calculated ballistic trajectory, due to their much smaller size and strong hull, it is more difficult to hit them. Even a single 20mm projectile hitting an anti-ship missile stuffed with sophisticated electronics is likely to destroy it. A blow to the tail section of the 122-mm rocket launcher "Grad" will only change its trajectory, and this does not mean that it will not be able to inflict damage on the covered objects and manpower. Moreover, information was leaked to the media that the Centurions were able to shoot down a little more than 30% of the fired targets, despite the fact that the fire was often fired at single mines and 107-122-mm rockets simultaneously with 2-3 anti-aircraft guns. The ZAK Centurion C-RAM has no way of repelling the simultaneous impact of a 120-mm mortar battery or a BM-21 combat vehicle with 40 guides. In Afghanistan, there was a case when, due to uncoordinated actions of the early warning radar operator and the control officer and an incorrect assessment of the situation, information about the firing of 122-mm Grad rockets launched by the Taliban from artisanal launchers was not brought to the duty crew of the Centurion C-RAM installations. As a result of the fall of two shells in the territory controlled by the Americans, there were killed and wounded.
The reliability of the complexes also left much to be desired. In 2009, the MTBF was 356 hours. During the first three months of operation, 22% of the AN / TPQ-48 radars were faulty. Subsequently, the coefficient of technical reliability was at least 0.85. The electronics and mechanical part of the complexes, designed for deployment on warships, turned out to be too delicate for the harsh conditions of Iraq and Afghanistan. The average time required for repair and restoration after the ZAK breakdown, taking into account the delivery of spare parts, was 8.6 hours.
Thus, to assert that “the Americans have learned quite successfully to deal with shelling from mortars and mobile multiple launch rocket systems. Barrage of fire, rapid-fire machine guns simply shot down all the incoming mines and rockets too optimistic.
At the same time, there is no reason to consider “probable partners” to be frankly “stupid people”. Thinking readers may have a question, why is the Centurion C-RAM needed then by the US Army and the USMC? For an answer, it is worth looking at the structure and armament of the units of the American military air defense. At the moment, the only means of dealing with low-altitude air targets are FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS and M1097 Avenger air defense systems, which also use Stinger missiles. After the last ZSU M163 Vulcan was decommissioned in the mid-1990s, American ground units were left without barreled anti-aircraft guns.
As you know, in the United States, fighters play the main role in providing air defense. Relatively few long-range air defense systems MIM-104 Patriot PAC-3 should provide protection against enemy bombers and operational-tactical missiles of troop concentrations and critical facilities. At the same time, it is not always possible to protect troops along the entire length of the front line from attacks by breakthrough attack aircraft and combat helicopters with MANPADS alone. Obviously, having initiated the development of the ZAK Centurion C-RAM, the American military decided to "kill two birds with one stone" - to obtain a tool capable of intercepting mines and shells with a certain degree of probability, as well as to fight aircraft, helicopters and cruise missiles at low altitudes. In addition, recently, remotely piloted aircraft are becoming more widespread. They appeared not only in the armies of technologically advanced states, but also at the disposal of various irregular formations, sometimes openly terrorist. Having demonstrated not very brilliant results in intercepting mines and rockets, the Centurion anti-aircraft artillery complex leaves no chance of survival for drones caught in its zone of action.
