The cruise missile is almost devoid of wings. At 900 km / h, small folding “petals” are enough to create lift. Unlike airplanes, the KR has no takeoff and landing modes; rockets fly and “land” at the same speed. And the higher the speed at the moment of "landing" - the worse for the enemy.
Appearing in the middle of the twentieth century, tactical cruise missiles have long become synonymous with anti-ship weapons. The reason was the lack of guidance systems suitable for hitting ground targets.
Even the most primitive radar seeker confidently “captured” ships against the background of the flat surface of the sea. But for finding point goals in the folds of the relief the radars of that era were useless.
Progress was outlined towards the end of the 1970s. with the development of relief correction systems (American TERCOM - Terrain Contour Matching). It was they who led the legendary Tomahawk and its Soviet rival S-10 Granat to their goals.
TERCOM determined the current coordinates by checking the radio altimeter data with a digital elevation map along the flight route. The method had two important advantages:
a) low-altitude flight with a rounding of the terrain. That ensured the stealth of the missile and made it difficult to intercept it by air defense. From the ground, a low-flying CD can be seen only at the last moment, when it flashes overhead. It is not at all easier to spot it from above against the background of the earth: the detection range of the CD by the MiG-31 fighter-interceptor was about 20 km;
b) sufficiently high accuracy and complete autonomy - the Tomahawk can only be deceived by digging up the plains and leveling the mountain ranges with the help of a battalion of the construction battalion.
Now about the disadvantages. For the operation of TERCOM, it was required to have digital elevation maps for each separate region of the Earth. For obvious reasons, TERCOM was useless over water (before reaching the shore, SLCMs were conducted by gyroscopes) and not very reliable when flying over low-contrast terrain (tundra, steppe, desert). Finally, the circular error probable was about 80 meters. This accuracy was enough for the delivery of nuclear warheads, but it was completely insufficient for conventional (conventional) warheads.
1986 was the year of birth of long-range tactical missile launchers. The UGM / RGM-109C was adopted by the American fleet. The third modification of the Tomahawk”, equipped with an optical target recognition system and a 450-kilogram charge of a powerful brizant. Overnight, from a “Doomsday” weapon, the SLCM turned into a threat to all the “non-democratic regimes” of the planet.
Like a merciless killer from Cameron's fighter, he went into the attack zone, guided by the height of the underlying terrain, then the electronic “eyes” of the DSMAC (Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation) system were turned on.
The killer compared the received pictures with the “photograph” of the victim embedded in his memory. And he flew right through the window, arranging a “surprise” for everyone in the room.
The window, of course, was turned down. Nevertheless, with a CEP of about 10 meters, the "Tomahawk" was able to hit any selected structure.
The small, deadly robot quickly gained popularity.
Operation Desert Storm (1991) - 288 missiles fired. Operation Desert Fox (1998) - 415 missiles fired. Invasion of Iraq (2003) - 802 Tomahawks released!
Apart from smaller episodes with the use of SLCMs (Yugoslavia - 218 launches, Afghanistan - 125, Libya - 283). The last time a flock of Axes hit ISIS (47 missiles fired in 2014).
The Philippine Xi cruiser fires at ISIS positions from the Red Sea
Winged Tomahawks cannot win a war alone. But they are a great help in the dirty business of the Pentagon.
Ax is not subject to any international restrictions. Fits in any secluded place (up to 122 launch cells on surface ships, up to 154 on submarines). Mercilessly slaps backhand - dives at the selected target, rams it in horizontal flight or explodes when flying over it. Extremely versatile. It has several attack algorithms and various types of warheads (high-explosive / cluster / penetrating).
Even despite the possible failures of TERCOM (according to rumors, some Tomahawks flew into the territory of Turkey and Iran), as well as the inability to hit mobile targets, such missiles are capable of causing colossal damage. "Knock out" stationary towers, buildings and hangars, leaving the enemy without warehouses, communications and electricity.
And, most importantly, the Tomahawk launches cost mere pennies in comparison with the conduct of air operations with the obligatory involvement of cover groups, suppression of air defense and jammers. Without the need to risk planes and the lives of pilots - when the cost of one cruise missile approaches the cost of a laser-guided bomb.
Among the main disadvantages was the short-range flight of the conventional "Tomahawk". With the mass of conventional explosives 450 kg versus 120 kg for a thermonuclear warhead + installation of optical sensors, the range was more than halved - from 2500 to 1200 km.
The problem was partially solved by 1993 with the advent of the Block 3 modification. With a decrease in the mass of the warhead (340 kg) and the "upgrade" of equipment based on new generation microelectronics, the flight range of the "Tomahawk" increased to 1600 km.
Having fired a couple of thousand missiles, the Pentagon came to the conclusion that the SLCM is not exotic, but a consumable. This means that it is necessary to abandon the excesses and to reduce the cost of production as much as possible. So, in 2004, a “cattle-tomahawk” appeared for brutal colonial squabbles.
Where is his four keels? Three is enough. "Tactical Ax" (TacTom) received a new cheap turbofan engine and a plastic body made from scrap materials (due to which it lost the ability to launch from great depths). The cost of manufacturing a rocket has fallen by half.
Despite all these "improvements", the new missile has become more dangerous than the previous one. Advances in electronics have made it possible to place on board a whole range of guidance systems, including an inertial navigation system, a relief-metric TERCOM, an infrared DSMAC, as well as a GPS, a television camera and a two-way satellite communication system. Now "Axes" can hover over the battlefield, waiting for the enemy. And their operators - to determine the state of the target and, if necessary, promptly change the flight mission already upon the arrival of the SLCM in the combat zone.
In November 2013, the Raytheon company transferred the three thousandth CD of this modification to the US Navy.
At the moment, the development of the next generation "intelligent" SLCM "Tomahawk Block 4", capable of striking moving sea and ground targets, is underway overseas. Instead of DSMAC sensors, the promising rocket will receive a millimeter-wave radar.
The ability to engage naval targets was first implemented in the BGM-109B Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missle (TASM) modification, which was put into service in 1984. An anti-ship version of the Ax, in which instead of the TERCOM there was a radar seeker from the Harpoon missile.
The flight range of the BGM-109B TASM was only 500 km (2.5 times less than that of other CR variants with conventional warheads). It was pointless to shoot at long range.
Unlike a stationary military base, an enemy ship could crawl 30-50 kilometers from the design point in just one hour. There were no communication systems with the rocket and the possibility of correcting the flight task at that time. The anti-ship missile system flew to a predetermined area using an inertial system, where its compact radar missile system was then activated. To increase the probability of target "capture", various algorithms were implemented, incl. search "snake". But this could not radically affect the situation. The flight range of the anti-ship missile was not to exceed 30 - 40 minutes, otherwise, by the time the missile arrived in a given area, the target could go out of the seeker's line of sight.”By almost 300 kg.
Nowadays, the task becomes even more complex and confusing. The emergence of two-way communication systems with a missile and the possibility of its retargeting in flight opens up practically unlimited prospects for the developers of anti-ship missiles. But this is now, and at that time … It seemed there was no point in shooting at long distances.
However, even 500 km is a huge distance. Only the most exotic examples of Soviet anti-ship missiles (for example, Granit) were able to surpass the TASM in launch range, and even then, only with a high-altitude flight profile, through the rarefied layers of the stratosphere.
Unlike the Granites, the TASM flew the entire distance close to the water, invisible to enemy radars. Subsonic speed was compensated by massive use in a salvo. A compact, simple, massive and ubiquitous rocket was capable of launching from hundreds of launch vehicles. And the power of its heavy 450 kg warhead was enough to destroy the target with one hit.
Due to the lack of an equal rival at sea, the anti-ship version of the Tomahawk was withdrawn from service in the mid-1990s.
BGM-109A with nuclear warheads was cut even earlier, as part of the START-I treaty. Since then, only tactical SLCMs with conventional warheads for engaging ground targets remain in service. The Tomahawks are carried by 85 surface ships and 59 nuclear submarines of the US Navy, along with seven submarines from the British Navy.
Russian fireworks
The initiation of interest in the topic of cruise missiles is the result of the recent “fireworks”, whose flashes were visible from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the hills of ancient Judea. And their crimson glow was reflected in the trembling windows of the Pentagon.
26 fire-tail ghosts that melted into the night. Death coming on schedule. Fear, horror and confusion in the offices of the Pentagon.
All this is the Caliber missile system (NATO designation SS-N-27 Sizzler,. "Incinerator"). NK modification (for launching from surface ships).
The type of missile used is the ZM-14, a long-range subsonic SLCM for engaging ground targets. In addition to it, the range of unified missiles of the “Caliber” family includes the ZM-54 anti-ship missile (it has both a conventional and an “unusual” version with a three-speed combat stage) and an 91P anti-submarine missile with a warhead in the form of a homing torpedo.
The carriers are three small missile ships of the Caspian Flotilla (Uglich, Grad Sviyazhsk and Veliky Ustyug), as well as the Dagestan patrol ship, equipped with a universal shipborne firing complex (UKSK).
No, the power of the “fireworks” was not strong. 26 missiles from four ships - the equivalent of half a salvo from an American destroyer. But the effect produced was similar to that of Armageddon. An excellent demonstration of the achievements of the military-industrial complex. The Russians now have their own analogue "Tomahawk". More accurate and more powerful than its overseas rival! 26 shots without a single mistake. 11 successfully destroyed targets.
MRK "Grad Sviyazhsk". On the roof of the superstructure, the covers of the UKSK launchers are visible
The small missile ship has considerable strike potential. Missiles of the "Caliber" family bring the Russian MRK to the level of the American missile destroyer (on the bottom photo)
At present, Kalibr missiles can carry and use 10 warships of the Russian Navy, incl. three boats - "Varshavyanka" and the multipurpose nuclear submarine K-560 "Severodvinsk" (32 launch silos). And this is just the beginning! By the middle of the next decade, the number of carriers should increase to several dozen. The missiles will be installed on ships under construction and upgraded, incl. on the heavy nuclear cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov". And in the future, they will re-equip all multipurpose nuclear submarines of the Russian Navy.
Due to the lack of reliable data on domestic SLCMs in open sources, the story about the "Tomahawk" took up most of the article. Secrets and features of various guidance systems, designs and warheads of cruise missiles. It is on the basis of these data that certain conclusions can be drawn about how domestic missiles work. What are their real characteristics and capabilities.
Weight and dimensions of "Caliber" (ZM-14) are similar to "Tomahawk block 3". With the same length (6, 2 m) and the same diameter (slightly less than 533 mm - dictated by the limitations of the torpedo tube), the domestic missile is 250-300 kg heavier than the "American". Both SLCMs have no subsonic mode. The difference in mass is explained by a combination of one or more of the listed factors: a more powerful warhead (~ 450 kg versus 340 kg), an increased flight range (up to 2000 km in conventional equipment) and the use of a radar seeker to guide a missile at point targets (because we do not have a domestic analogue of the DSMAC optical recognition system). The last point imposes additional conditions on the rocket power system.
Instead of the classic TERCOM, the domestic ZM-14 "Caliber" is equipped with a combined control system on the cruise section, including a GLONASS signal receiver and a radio altimeter, which allows you to accurately maintain altitude in the terrain enveloping mode. Of course, there is also an inertial navigation system based on accelerometers and gyroscopes on board.
Finally, the question that most worries the public: will RTOs from the Caspian be able to “get” an American aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf?
We will talk about this another time.
