At the IDEX-2019 international defense and industrial exhibition held in Abu Dhabi (UAE) in February, the Serbian state defense company Yugoimport SDPR first showed the general public a new tactical (anti-tank) missile system, designated RALAS. This complex is a cheaper and lightweight version of the Serbian ALAS (Advanced Light Attack System) missile system, which has been repeatedly demonstrated earlier, with guidance over a fiber-optic cable. According to the assurances of representatives of the company Jugoimport SDPR, the new RALAS missile system has already successfully passed the stage of field tests.
Already, we can say that the new Serbian missile system was created under the auspices of Yugoimport SDPR with the participation of the lead developer represented by the Serbian company EDePro (Engine Development and Production), which is clearly indicated by the markings on the previously presented missiles of the ALAS complex. This company was formed on the basis of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the University of Belgrade and currently specializes in the development of rocket engines and jet weapons.
Unlike the rocket of the ALAS (Advanced Light Attack System) complex, which received a small-sized turbojet engine, similar in design, but with a smaller size, the RALAS rocket is equipped with a simpler solid-propellant single-stage engine, this was the reason for the decrease in the maximum firing range from 25 to 10 km. It is reported that the missile control system includes a thermal imaging or (based on customer requests) a cheaper television camera installed in the head section with image transmission and control commands via an optical fiber cable, as well as an inertial-satellite correction unit with an autopilot system. The presence of an autopilot makes it possible to automatically bring the rocket to a given point, from where the stage of command guidance of the rocket to the target will begin. The targeting range with the camera mounted on the rocket is 8 km. Guidance can be carried out from a portable control station, while the developed software allows, after capturing a target by the operator of the complex, to continue tracking even a hidden target (for example, hiding behind buildings).
RALAS missile system based on the Lazar 3 armored personnel carrier, photo: Ministry of Defense of Serbia
At the IDEX-2019 exhibition, which was held in the United Arab Emirates from February 17 to February 21, the rocket system was presented in the form of a self-propelled launcher (8 launch containers), made on the basis of a modern Serbian Lazar 3 armored personnel carrier with an 8x8 wheel arrangement. The Serbian military received the first 6 armored personnel carriers of this type in December 2018, earlier in 2017, another 12 Lazar 3 vehicles were transferred to the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (gendarmerie). According to the assurances of the developers, the launchers of the new missile complex can be installed on various platforms, not only ground-based, but also surface-based.
According to Dragan Andrik, one of the RALAS developers, the new complex is indeed a smaller version of the previously created longer-range ALAS system, the new rocket received a solid-propellant engine and a fixed booster, while the ALAS rocket was equipped with a turbojet engine and a reset booster. In addition to the reduced range of destruction of targets, the new RALAS missile is also trite cheaper.
At the same time, the rocket of the RALAS complex received a guidance system similar to that installed on the ALAS missiles. The operator of the complex can program the route of its flight by points immediately before launch. The ammunition will follow a given flight path using a combined INS / GPS system for navigation. At the end of the flight path, video information from the electro-optical seeker is transmitted to the control station via a fiber-optic cable, which makes the rocket resistant to all kinds of interference. In this case, the operator can always select the target after it becomes visible (ideally at a distance of up to 8 km). At the same time, the system is able to automatically track the target, even if it is temporarily hidden, representatives of Yugoimport SDPR demonstrated the capabilities of the missile's seeker at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The operator can also decide to refuse the target's attack, after which the missile will receive a command to detonate in the air, or simply send the ammunition into the ground. The RALAS missile can be equipped with two types of warheads: tandem cumulative and thermobaric high-explosive fragmentation. The presence of two different warheads allows you to effectively deal with different types of targets.
Rocket complex RALAS, photo: Ministry of Defense of Serbia
Experts also note that the new missile is similar to the LORANA (Long Range Advanced Non-Line of Sight Attack System) solid-propellant long-range missile system, which was also created by an engineer of the Serbian defense company Yugoimport SDPR, but never reached the production stage. At the same time, the developers say that the GOS of the new missile, as well as the design of the ammunition, have been finalized. If we talk about the ALAS complex, then its development began in the 1990s, while the Serbian designers managed to bring the complex to a combat-ready state only after February 2013, when Jugoimport SDPR signed an agreement on joint development and the release of these missiles with the Emirates Advanced Research and Technology Holding (EARTH). At the same time, the total cost of Emirati investments in this program was estimated at $ 220 million.
Since the amount of information about the new Serbian RALAS missile system is not yet large enough, you can dwell in more detail on the related ALAS complex. This complex is equipped with anti-tank / multifunctional missiles with a flight range of 25 km (possibly increasing up to 60 km), which implement the principle of "launching into the area of the intended location of the target - detection and identification, target selection - hitting the target", including the missile can operate in full automatic mode, semi-automatic mode is also available. Thanks to communication with the launcher using high-speed fiber optics (losses not more than 0.2 dB / km), the image of the target search area in the visible and infrared ranges allows the operator of the complex or a more powerful computer (than is installed on the rocket itself) to detect and identify targets, calculate the optimal trajectory of approach to the goal. Due to the absence of radiation (unlike missiles that are guided at a target using radar or a laser beam), fiber-optic communications (up to 240 Mbit / s), small radar and IR signatures provide the ALAS missile with very high levels of stealth and noise immunity, and the economical double-circuit turbojet engine 400N TMM-40 installed on the rocket provides a given flight range and long-term (up to 30 minutes) loitering in the target area with the possibility of re-targeting the missile after launch.
Launch of the ALAS tactical missile complex from a six-shot launcher on the chassis of the Nimr (6x6) car, photo: Serbian Ministry of Defense
Originally developed as an effective anti-tank system, the missile, due to the use of a high-explosive fragmentation or thermobaric warhead in conjunction with an adaptive attack program, is also able to successfully hit air targets at low flight speeds (UAVs and helicopters), as well as ground and surface targets (various military equipment, pillboxes, field fortifications, boats and small boats). This effectively turns the ALAS system and the recently introduced RALAS into tactical infantry support systems on the battlefield. At the same time, infantry units get their hands on a tool that increases their ability to concentrate and mobilize firepower.
Currently known about the following variants of ALAS missiles:
ALAS-A (up to 25 km).
ALAS-B variant of a longer-range missile (up to 60 km).
ALAS-C is an anti-ship missile for short-range coastal defense (up to 25 km, possibly increasing up to 50 km).
