In March 2014, the Bastion coastal missile system became the "shield" of Crimea, forcing a squadron of NATO warships to withdraw from the coast of the peninsula
After the demonstration of the television documentary “Crimea. The Way to the Homeland”, many even skeptical Russian viewers began to speak with greater pride about our weapons. And the reason was Vladimir Putin's phrase about a certain weapon that frightened NATO warships. According to the president, it was the Bastion coastal missile system. Putin explained that "so far no one has such weapons" and "this is perhaps the most effective coastal complex in the world today." After the transfer of the complex from the mainland and the deployment in Crimea, open for US space reconnaissance, the grouping of NATO warships in the Black Sea sharply moved away from the Russian shores.
According to media reports, the movement of the Bastion complex launcher was recorded on the night of March 8-9 in Sevastopol. One of the reasons for this was the ultimatum statement made by US Secretary of State John Kerry to Russia the day before. It admitted the possibility of a NATO military build-up and non-diplomatic actions of the American side. The appearance of "Bastion" in Crimea became a "cold shower" and noticeably quieted Washington's warlike ardor.
The American side was well aware of the Bastion coastal missile system deployed on the Russian Black Sea coast long before the events in Crimea. Therefore, only a suicide could give the order to NATO ships to pass the Black Sea straits, approach the shores of the Crimea and begin an operation to "force" Moscow to do something. The Bastion cruise missile is capable of hitting a target at a distance of 500 km. In other words, starting from the Sevastopol region, fly over the Black Sea, “reach” the target near the coast of Turkey and make a hole in its side the size of a tram car. For comparison: the distance between Sevastopol and Istanbul in a straight line is just over 552 km.
What is this "miracle weapon" that has become a reliable missile "shield" for Crimea?
History of creation
The operational-tactical anti-ship missile system "Bastion" with the missile "Onyx" ("Yakhont" - export version) was developed on the basis of a government decree (of 1981-27-08) at NPO Mashinostroyenia (Reutov) under the leadership of General Designer Herbert Efremov for replacement of the Redut and Rubezh complexes. The complex is universal in its carrier and can be placed on submarines, surface ships and boats, aircraft and ground launchers.
The ground-based version (from TsKB "Titan") of a self-propelled launcher (SPU) assumed the placement of three unified anti-ship missiles (ASM) on the MAZ-543 chassis in transport and launch containers (TPK). Since 2008, the main version has become the SPU K-340P (Technosoyuzproekt LLC, Belarus) on the MZKT-7930 Astrologer chassis with two TPKs, which relied on the ground when firing. The general concept of using the complex remained unchanged.
The supersonic unified anti-ship missile 3M55 “Onyx” (“Yakhont”) has an over-the-horizon firing range and variable flight profile, operates on the “fire-and-forget” principle, is unified in terms of carriers and is hardly noticeable for modern radar reconnaissance equipment.
After successful state tests in the area of Cape Zhelezny Rog (Taman) in 2010, the complex entered service with the Russian army. The Onyx (Yakhont) missiles are serially produced by Strela (Orenburg).
Supersonic cruise missile "Yakhont-M". Photo: Anatoly Sokolov
Purpose, composition and main characteristics
"Bastion" (3K55, according to NATO classification - SSC-5 Stooge, Russian "puppet") is a coastal missile system (DBK) with the Yakhont / Onyx anti-ship missile system. It is designed to destroy surface ships of various classes and types, acting independently and as part of groups (formations, convoys), including aircraft carrier, as well as ground radio-contrast targets in the face of intense enemy fire and electronic countermeasures. Created in mobile ("Bastion-P", K-300P) and stationary ("Bastion-S", K-300S, shaft placement) versions.
The standard composition of the Bastion-P battery with the K-310 Onyx / Yakhont anti-ship missile system: 4 SPU K-340P (2 TPK with anti-ship missiles, crew of 3 people), 1–2 combat control vehicles (crew of 5 people), a combat watch support vehicle and 4 transport-loading vehicles (TZM) K-342P. The "Bastion" complex can be equipped with a self-propelled radar station for over-the-horizon detection of air and surface targets of the "Monolit-B" type. The complex also includes maintenance facilities and training facilities.
The main element of the Bastion DBK is the Onyx P-800 universal high-precision cruise anti-ship missile (3M55, according to the US, NATO classification - SS-N-26, Strobile, Russian "pine cone") of medium range. Provides destruction of surface and ground targets in conditions of active fire and electronic countermeasures of the enemy. Has a normal aerodynamic configuration with the placement of the starting engine in the combustion chamber of the main engine. With a launch mass of 3000–3100 kg and a length of 8 m, the rocket speed when flying at altitude and near the surface reaches M = 2, 6 (750 m / s) and M = 2, respectively. The maximum target destruction range is 450-500, up to 300 and 120 km for high-altitude (up to 14 km), combined and low-altitude flight paths, respectively. In the final section (about 40 km), the flight altitude is 10–15 m. The launch readiness is 2 minutes after turning on the power. The missile goes into operation in a sealed TPK with a designated storage period until the moment of combat use of 10 years and an inter-regulatory period of service of 3 years.
An anti-jamming active-passive radar homing head weighing 85 kg detects a target at a distance of up to 75 km and guides a missile at it in waves of up to 7 points. The mass of the warhead of the Onyx / Yakhont anti-ship missile system is 300/200 kg. The missile is made using stealth technology, unified for various carriers, has an over-the-horizon firing range according to the “fire - forget” principle and operates in a wide range of altitudes at supersonic flight speeds. The anti-ship missile control system provides evasion from enemy fire weapons, independent distribution and classification of targets, as well as the choice of attack tactics for the intended target.
The coastal missile system "Bastion-P" provides protection of the coastline with a length of more than 600 km. Ammunition is determined by the number of SPU. The launch interval of missiles from one SPU is 2.5 seconds. The time for transferring the DBK from the traveling position and back is no more than 5 minutes. The time of autonomous combat duty is 24 hours, with additional means - up to 30 days. The guaranteed service life is 10 years.
In October 2013, the "Bastion" missile launcher with the "Onyx" anti-ship missile system, after a march (100 km) to the area of firing positions, hit a surface target - a metal container with a volume of about 0.25 cubic meters. m at a distance of several tens of kilometers from the coast. In September 2014, during an exercise in Crimea, the complex destroyed a freely drifting small-sized target.
Around "Bastion"
According to experts, the warhead of the Onyx missile is designed to defeat a surface target such as the American cruiser Tikondenrog with a displacement of 10,000 tons. And US specialists quite reasonably consider the Bastion DBK a serious threat not only to their cruisers, but also to aircraft carriers.
Currently, the DBK "Bastion" is owned by the Russian Federation, Vietnam and Syria. In the Russian army, three complexes are in service with the 11th separate coastal missile and artillery brigade of the Black Sea Fleet. These complexes are quite enough to cover not only the Crimean, but the entire Russian Black Sea coast. Earlier, Admiral Viktor Chirkov said that in the period until 2020, the coastal forces of our fleet should receive about 20 new coastal missile systems of the Bastion and Bal type. According to some reports, the deployment of "Bastion" was also planned on the Kuril Islands. It is very likely that a certain number of Bastion missile systems will be deployed on the long Russian coast in the Arctic, which is due to the growing role and importance of this region for the Russian Federation.
Vietnam became the first foreign buyer of the Russian DBK "Bastion-P", which today has two complexes. The proceeds from this contract made it possible to complete the necessary work at the final stage of the complex creation.
Syria became the second foreign owner of this formidable defensive weapon. The Syrians received the first and second battery sets of Bastion-P in August 2010 and June 2011, respectively. And already in July 2012, at the joint exercises of the Navy and coastal defense forces, the Syrian "Bastion" was first tested in action. These complexes became one of the reasons for the cautious actions of Western warships in this area of the Mediterranean Sea, which do not risk approaching the Syrian coast.
According to media reports, in 2013, Israel launched an air strike on the Syrian port of Latakia. The reason for this was the desire to destroy the arsenal of Yakhont anti-ship missiles. Later this was indirectly confirmed by Benjamin Netanyahu. He stated that "he will not allow radical groups to receive modern weapons from the arsenals of the Syrian army." According to janes.com, The Wall Street Journal and other American media outlets, after this attack, part of the Yakhont anti-ship missile system was disassembled and delivered to Lebanon in order to protect this country from Israeli air strikes.
It is known that negotiations are currently underway to sell the Bastion-P coastal missile system with the Yakhont anti-ship missile system to Venezuela. It is not excluded that in the near future this complex will become the subject of negotiations with some other countries of Southeast Asia. This is due to the active build-up of naval forces in the region and the associated increased attention to the defense of the sea coast.
