What products of the South African military-industrial complex have we heard the most about? Naturally, these are: 155-mm mobile self-propelled artillery unit G6 "Rhino" (Rhino), placed on a six-wheeled chassis of high cross-country ability and capable of 1, 3 times faster to move to the firing line than the PzH-2000 or M-109A7 "Paladin"; 8-channel shipborne anti-aircraft missile system "Umkhonto", characterized by the presence of two types of missiles with active radar and infrared seeker, as well as deflected thrust vector; V3E "A-Darter" guided melee missile, also equipped with an OVT, allowing maneuvering with an impressive overload of 100G. But these are only those samples of high-tech weapons that received maximum popularity in the West, and then were placed in the translated sections of such Russian-language information resources as Military Parity, as well as in various encyclopedias. South Africa also has such developments that only in a few publications "leaked" to the Russian Internet, or generally remained only on the pages of foreign analytical resources. These include such high-precision weapon prototypes as the Raptor-1/2 guided bombs and the Raptor-3 long-range tactical cruise missile.
The first information about the Raptor-1 planning bomb project appeared in the late 70s - early 80s, when the South African company Kentron (now Denel Dynamics), which is a regional leader in the field of advanced missile weapons, was the task of creating a promising high-precision weapon was set. The Raptor-1 owes its appearance to the international embargo on the sale of modern military equipment to South Africa, which was imposed on the state in 1977 due to participation in the civil war in Angola and the policy of racial segregation (apartheid) in relation to the indigenous black population.
To maintain the republic's defenses and the possibility of further participation in the confrontation, Cape Town was forced to fully rely on military-technical cooperation with Israel. The fruits of this interaction were such projects as: the Cheetah multipurpose tactical fighter (an analogue of the Israeli modernization of Mirages-IIIDZ / D2Z, which received the Kfir TC-2 index), designed thanks to the participation of Israel Aircraft Industries specialists and unique in its a kind of 450-kilogram anti-radar missile-bomb guided munition BARB, developed by "Grinaker Aviatronics" on the basis of Israeli guided bombs of the "Whizzard" family. If it is extremely difficult to obtain any information about the use of the BARB ("Boosted Anti-Radar Bomb"), then the veil of secrecy over the combat use of the planning UAB "Raptor-1" is sufficiently open to draw certain conclusions.
By its purpose and flight profile, the Raptor-1 is similar to the more modern American tactical medium and long-range UAB type AGM-154 JSOW, differing from the latter by the absence of a receiving guidance channel using satellite radio navigation systems such as NAVSTAR / GPS. "Raptor-1" has a combined radio command-inertial guidance on the marching section of the trajectory and television - on the final one. According to various South African sources, including employees of the manufacturer Denel Dynamics, the baptism of fire of the UAB Raptor-1 (also known as the H-2) received in the midst of an escalation of the conflict between the Angolan People's Army (supported by Cuban volunteers and the Soviet military instructors) and the South African Armed Forces (in alliance with UNITA fighters) at the beginning of 1988.
Fierce fighting broke out in the city of Kuito Canaval, where, during Operation Hooper, the command of the South African Armed Forces decided to destroy a strategically important bridge in the vicinity of this city. To accomplish the task, the British multipurpose attack aircraft "Buccaneer S. Mk.50" ("414") from the 24th bomber squadron of the South African Air Force were involved, on the suspensions of which the UAB "Raptor-1" was placed. The attempt to destroy the bridge near Kuito Canavale, undertaken on December 12, 1987, was unsuccessful: it is obvious that due to failures in the "raw" homing system, the bomb simply went "milk". In a similar way, the situation unfolded during the first attempt on January 3, 1988, but the second attempt for the same number gave the expected result: the bridge was destroyed.
It is reported that MiG-23MF / MLD of the Angolan-Cuban Air Force repeatedly rose to intercept the Buccaneer, but they could not create serious obstacles for the Buccaneer S. Mk.50 - Raptor-1 link. One of the South African attack aircraft launched the Raptor-1 cruise bomb from a great height several tens of kilometers from the target and began to return to the base, while for the MiG-23MF, equipped with an outdated RP-23 Sapfir-23 airborne radar, detect unobtrusive UAB was not possible. Moreover, the Buccaneers were escorted by Mirage-III multipurpose fighters, which would definitely have drawn Cuban and Angolan MiG-23 pilots into close air combat. Our servicemen did not take part directly in the hostilities, and therefore the "run-in" of the A-50 AWACS aircraft could not be expected. Timely (early) notification of the Angolan-Cuban Air Force about the approach of enemy aircraft in fact was not observed. Small radar signature and uniqueness of the combined guidance system of the new gliding ammunition "Raptor-1" fully justified themselves. So, due to inertial guidance and TVGSN on the final 15-25 km of the trajectory, the "let it and forget" principle was implemented, in which the circular probable deviation from the target is 3-5 m. An infrared camera can also be integrated into the optoelectronic part of the rocket, allowing you to work more efficiently at night.
Even if, for some technical reason, the UAB deviates by more than 5 m from the target, the level of damage to the latter will turn out to be very high, because the bomb carries a powerful 600-kilogram HE or cluster warheads capable of turning any combat unit into a mountain of metal or ruins. or a strong point. To destroy small bunkers, pillboxes and disable the runways of enemy air bases, penetrating and concrete-piercing "equipment" is used. In the Air Force of the Republic of South Africa, the Raptor-1 can be used from the suspensions of the JAS-39 Gripen tactical fighters, while earlier it was possible to use bombs from the Cheetah, Mirage-III, Mirage F1AZ and Bucanir ". All fighters, unified for this type of bombs, are retrofitted with an additional control complex, which is a small joystick and an MFI indicator with an interface for receiving and displaying information from the bomb seeker. "Raptor-1" has a mass of 980 kg with a hull length of 3.65 m, a diameter of 38 cm and a wingspan of 3.7 m. The launch range from an altitude of 10-12 km can reach 60 km in gliding mode. The conceptual analogue of "Raptor-1" is the American guided bomb AGM-62 "Walley-II Mk5 Mod 4", capable of flying from 60 to 83 km in planning mode (adopted by the US Air Force in the early 70s). This bomb was nicknamed "Fat Albert" and featured a classic, large-area cruciform wing.
There is confirmed information about the beginning in 2003 of licensed large-scale production of UAB "Raptor-1" by the facilities of the Pakistani National Engineering and Scientific Commission NESCOM under the index H-2. Precision bombs are intended for use by Mirage-IIIEP / O, Mirage-5PA2 fighters and three existing JF-17 Thunder Block I / II / III modifications of the Pakistan Air Force. Assembles this military-industrial unit and a more advanced version of the missile - "Raptor-2" (H-4).
This product has a similar folding swept wing design, but has a 2 times increased range of 120-130 km, which became possible due to the introduction of a solid-propellant rocket booster into the design and a decrease in the mass of the warhead to 450-500 kg. Apparently, the solid-propellant accelerator accelerates the bomb to a speed of 1-1, 2M with an elevation on the trajectory of up to 14-16 km, and after a couple of tens of seconds or 1 minute, it is turned off and reset. Further, the lighter "Raptor-2" (about 750 kg without an accelerator) plans to reach the target at a much higher speed and from a greater height than the first version of the bomb. This modification also received improvements in "hardware" in terms of accuracy capabilities in the face of intense optoelectronic and electronic countermeasures from the enemy. This became possible thanks to the introduction of the GPS radio navigation system module into the avionics of the bomb: the rocket will clearly go out to the coordinates of the object, regardless of the jammer. Suppressing the Raptor-1 radio command guidance is a much simpler task.
The range of the Raptor-2 radio command correction channel remains the same at 250 km, so that not only the carrier, but also any other tactical fighter equipped with the Raptor-2 control terminal can retarget or correct the flight of the upgraded cruise bomb. The design of combat equipment in this modification of the bomb is also modular and involves the choice of the type of warhead in accordance with the task at hand. For the Pakistan Air Force, which is on a constant "confrontational path" with India, the presence of the Raptor UAB of the H-2 and H-4 modifications plays an important operational and tactical role in maintaining technological parity against the backdrop of a serious numerical superiority in the Indian Air Force's fleet. Nevertheless, Pakistan is also lagging behind due to the purchase by the Indians of the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems capable of withstanding any of the Raptor UAB modifications.
RAPTOR-3: NEW CLASS OPENS NEW HORIZONS. POSSIBLE PROSPECTS OF THE ADVANCED CHILD "DENEL DYNAMICS" IN THE EUROPEAN, SOUTH AMERICAN AND ASIAN WEAPONS MARKETS
As it became clear in 2014, Denel specialists did not limit themselves to developing only guided aerial bombs with accelerating solid-fuel modules, and focused as much as possible on fine-tuning their even more promising product - the Raptor-3 long-range tactical cruise missile. The full-size mock-up of this rocket presented at the exhibition stand indicates its exclusively "Raptor" origin. As we can see, the rocket is made in the same 380-mm hull with a length of about 4 m as the "Raptor-1/2"; installed a similar folding wing with a span of 4 m. Meanwhile, the tail of the "Raptor-3" is a classic X-shaped, in contrast to the spaced two-keel on gliding bombs.
The fact is that the final section of the flight trajectory of the gliding UAB passes at a relatively low speed of 450-600 km / h and for maneuvering aerodynamic rudders 2-3 times larger are needed, and therefore the spaced two-fin tail unit "Raptor-1/2" is full-turn, but only in the horizontal plane, which is why ailerons are also used to perform turns. The Raptor-3 rocket, which flies at a stable speed of 600 to 800 km / h, absolutely does not need a spaced-type twin-fin tail: in this case, such a design will lead to increased aerodynamic drag and, as a consequence, to an increase in fuel consumption with a loss of radius of action.
A double-circuit turbojet engine is also located in the tail section of the rocket, into which the air channels of the 2 upper air intakes smoothly pass. The scheme of the airframe of the Raptor-3 "low-wing" airframe freed up rather solid side areas of the hull, on which very capacious conformal fuel tanks are visible, allowing the missile to destroy a target 300 km from the launch point (similar tanks are installed on our SKR X-555). Considering that the speed of this missile will usually be about 25-30% higher than that of its bomb versions, the kinetic energy of the combat "equipment" will also increase significantly, which indicates the great potential of using concrete-piercing and penetrating warheads to combat well-protected enemy targets. The air intakes located in the upper projection of the rocket tail are not irradiated by ground-based radars of enemy air defense systems, which is why the Raptor-3 RCS from the downstream direction can reach only 0.2 m2.
In this case, one cannot say so positively about the measures to reduce the infrared signature of the rocket. From the places where the air channels merge with the body, we can say that the turbojet engine is extremely close to the Raptor-3 nozzle and the hot jet stream is ejected from the turbine into the atmosphere instantly, while on the one developed back in the late 80s. the promising strategic KR AGM-129ACM, you can see a completely unique technique for the time of the removal of reactive gases. Combustion products from the F112-WR-100 Williams jet engine enter a special intermediate circuit for mixing with cold air, and only from there they enter the atmosphere from a flat rectangular nozzle, which further reduces the IR signature. Such constructive measures are extremely important today, since more and more air defense systems, their anti-aircraft guided missiles and air-to-air missiles are equipped with bispectral infrared sighting systems and IKGSN, capable of easily detecting such an object as Raptor-3.
On the upper surface of the nose of the rocket (just behind the seeker) there is a small radio-transparent streamlined conformal container in which a precisely directed antenna of the GPS / GLONASS radio navigation system is located, and possibly also receiving and transmitting antennas for information exchange and radio correction via a remote terminal-PBU. The Raptor-3 guidance system, as in the previous missile and bomb versions, will receive a fully modular architecture. In addition to television, infrared, radio command and satellite guidance systems, the equipment is being considered with an active X / Ka-band homing head, which will significantly improve the missile's accuracy not only at stationary objects, but also at moving targets in difficult meteorological conditions. According to the developer, the software with flight profiles will be loaded into the INS of the Raptor-3 missile even on the ground, prior to the start of the strike operation in accordance with the operational-tactical situation, the main criterion of which will be the location of the most serious and long-range enemy air defense systems.
Modifications of the planning UAB "Raptor-1/2", as well as the "Raptor-3" missile launcher, promoted by "Denel Dynamics" on the world arms market, can be easily reprogrammed under the KUV of most types of modern tactical fighters, which include: F-5E, "Mirage-2000C / -5 / -9", "Tornado GR4", EF-2000, JAS-39 "Gripen", MiG-29 family, Su-27, etc. Nevertheless, the demand for them will be very narrow, since in the armament of the air forces of the European NATO member states, the niche of promising operational-tactical missile weapons has been firmly occupied by the many times more long-range and no less advanced KEPD-350 "Taurus" missiles (range of 500 km) and AGM-158A / B JASSM / JASSM-ER (1100-1200 km); and even in Poland, a more compact 2, 2-meter analogue of the Tomahawk is being developed - the Pirania rocket, capable of "competing" with the Raptor-3 both in flight range (300 km) and in the ability to overcome enemy missile defense at altitude 20-25 m.
The only way out for Denel Dynamics in this case is to focus on the states-operators of light multipurpose fighters of the Mirage-III / 2000C / -5, Gripen and JF-17 Thunder families. The first place in this list will continue to be Pakistan, which needs modern strike aircraft systems with an acceptable cost, as well as has already organized the serial production of "Raptor-1" at the facilities of the National Engineering and Scientific Commission NESCOM. Several hundred Raptor-3 missile systems will significantly enhance the Pakistani Air Force's combat capability against the backdrop of the recent deployment of Spyder-SR anti-aircraft missile systems purchased from the Israeli Rafael almost 10 years ago to the Indian-Pakistani border. The missiles will be used from the pods of Mirage-III-EP / O, Mirage-5 and JF-17 fighters.
The next contender is the Brazilian Air Force, which in October 2014 ordered 36 promising Gripen-NG fighters (28 single-seat JAS-39E and 8 double-seat JAS- 39F) to be delivered between 2019 and 2024. The promotion of UAB and cruise missiles of the Raptor family on the Brazilian arms market is also supported by the fact that the South African company Denel Dynamics is carrying out appropriate work to adapt control terminals for these missiles to the avionics of its own JAS-39C / D fighters - this experience has very important for the integration of "Raptors" on the Brazilian "Gripen". The Brazilian Air Force is also in service with 55 F-5E / F light multi-role fighters, as well as 8 Mirage-2000Cs, which are at the top of the South African list for integrating Raptor-1/2/3 into the tactical aviation weapons control system 3 th and 5th generations. Moreover, the fact that close military-technical cooperation has been continuing between the countries for several years now plays into the hands of the South American company. In particular, before the start of a deep recession in the Brazilian economic system, Mectron, Avibras and Atech actively participated in the development program of the super-maneuverable V3A A-Darter close-combat guided missile in cooperation with Denel Dynamics. The amount of investments in the project by Brazilian companies amounted to about $ 52 billion.
Another large Latin American state, Argentina, may well become the third customer. But here the situation is extremely neglected. The state of the air force of this country has already reached a critical level. The Air Force is armed with 36 "ancient" subsonic attack aircraft A-4AR "Fightinghawk", which were acquired from Kuwait in the late 90s. Such a primitive aircraft fleet will not be able to oppose anything even to the shock 2-fly modifications of the Tornado GR4, not to mention the promising Typhoons, “loaded” with new versions of the avionics software and long-range missile missile systems MBDA “Meteor”. Moreover, the outdated fire control systems of these Skyhawks at the hardware level do not support the integration of South African guided bombs and Raptor family missiles, and modernizing 36 obsolete A-4 attack aircraft following the example of the Brazilian company Embraer to the AF-1M level will cost Buenos Aires in about 180-200 million dollars (the cost of modernizing one Skyhawk was 5 million dollars). In view of such circumstances, it would be much more profitable for the Argentine Air Force to purchase from the Chinese Chengdu one squadron of 12 FC-1 Xiaolongs, 5-6 MiG-29SMTs or a pair of Su-35S.
Fighters "Mirage-IIIEA" and "Finger-I / II / IIIB" (Israeli modification "Mirage-5"), despite the existing possibility of updating avionics, were removed from service. And on February 2-3, 2017, according to the Minister of Defense of Argentina Julio Martinez, it became known about the temporary transition of the country's air force to twin-engine turboprop attack aircraft IA-58 "Pucara" from the "FAdeA" company. In such a difficult situation, there can be no question of any kind of revenge in the Falklands territorial dispute with the growing London. In order to "pacify" Buenos Aires, the command of the Royal Navy of Great Britain will need to send a pair of multipurpose nuclear submarines of the Trafalgar class to the South Atlantic, which will launch 30-40 Tomahawks at Argentine strategic industrial facilities. 1 or 2 Typhoon squadrons, which will reach Argentine airspace 25 minutes after takeoff from the Falkland Islands, can be used as a secondary deterrent. Argentina's air defense does not possess the proper medium- and long-range anti-aircraft missile systems: the "revenge" will end with dire consequences for the South American country in just a few hours.
For this reason, Argentina is considering a much larger-scale renovation of its fleet, rather than the purchase of cheap and ineffective turboprop attack aircraft "Pukarra", which can only be used in clearing the borders from illegal paramilitaries, and then, until the latter are in the hands of modern portable air defense systems of the "Stinger" type. So, at the end of January 2017, the Ministry of Defense of Argentina put forward a commercial offer to Russia for the purchase of 15 multipurpose fighters of the MiG-29 family (no exact information about the modification has been reported). Even if we take into account the possibility of Argentina acquiring MiG-29SMT or M2 fighters, this number will not be enough for a full-fledged confrontation with the British Navy and Air Force. But provided that the entire squadron will carry 3M54E or Kh-31AD anti-ship missiles on board, at least 1-2 of the advertised British destroyers can be disabled or sent to the bottom.
In this case, the purchase of the South African Raptor-3 cruise missiles can also serve the Argentine Air Force well. In addition to delivering high-precision strikes against the British units defending the Falklands, these drones, due to their modular design with a large number of homing heads combinations, are able to conduct optical and electronic reconnaissance on the trajectory (similar options are possessed by the tactical long-range LAM cruise missiles of the NLOS-MS complex). South African specialists will be able to easily adapt the Raptor-3 control terminals for the avionics of the new versions of the MiG-29 thanks to the MIL-STD-1553B interfaces.
One of the most important details of successful military-technical cooperation and the conclusion of defense contracts between Argentina and South Africa remains the extremely weak British lobby for all defense structures of the Republic of South Africa. This was fully confirmed at the February 3rd ASA (Organization of African and South American) Heads of State Summit in 2013, when South Africa helped 54 African states legally recognize the legitimacy of Buenos Aires' demands for the return of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands in the Malabo Declaration.
An equally important point is the fact that Argentina and South Africa act as a united geopolitical front in the structure of the G20 and harbor rather ambitious methods for building up overall geopolitical power and economic power in the entire South Atlantic. These states are quite capable of complementing the multipolar system of the world order, but for this, both Argentina and South Africa will certainly need unprecedented programs to update their armed forces. So, in South Africa, the submarine component of the fleet, represented by 3 outdated German patrol diesel-electric submarines Type 209, which can be replaced by a large number of more advanced diesel-electric submarines pr. 877EKM "Halibut", or Chinese anaerobic diesel-electric submarines with an air-independent Type 041 power plant, needs to be updated as soon as possible. "Yuan".
The armed forces of Argentina are in a much more deplorable state: it requires a comprehensive update of both the Navy and the Air Force (including air defense). For confrontation with the Navy and the British Air Force (we do not take into account the Vanguard SSBNs with the UGM-133A Trident-IID5 SLBMs at the disposal of London) Buenos Aires will need not 15 MiG-29SMT / M2, but at least 30-40 MiG -35 or Su-35S or a similar number of Chinese FC-31 "Krechet" armed with modern supersonic anti-ship missiles and other high-precision weapons. It follows from this that the current list of Argentina's capabilities is not able to satisfy rather solid ambitions, because even for the banal adoption of the South African Raptor-3 cruise missiles, the Argentine Air Force lacks the necessary aviation platform.
USE OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOUTH AFRICAN CONTROLLED AIRBOMBS AND RAPTOR FAMILY ROCKETS IN MODERN PAKISTAN AIR STACKS. WINGED ROCKET "RA`AD-II"
According to the military-analytical resource quwa.org, during the ceremonial parade in honor of Pakistan Day, March 23, 2017, a modern tactical long-range cruise missile "Ra`ad-II" ("Hatf-8") was demonstrated to those present. This modification of the missile has a range of 550 km, a flight speed of 0.8-0.95. The mass of the product is 1100 kg, and the warhead is 450 kg (it is possible to equip a nuclear warhead with a capacity of 10 to 30 kt).
Developed and produced by the Pakistani AWC complex and the NESCOM commission, the Raad-8 cruise missile received aerodynamic planes from the Raptor-1/2 guided bombs (a movable two-keeled H-shaped tail and a rectangular wing with a sweep of 40-45 °), which indicates extensive use by Pakistani specialists of the experience of the South African company "Denel Dynamics". Despite the fact that back in 2012 the developer announced the implementation of low radar signature in the Raad, it's hard to believe in it. The rocket is almost free of structural edges and corners, and therefore the reduction of the RCS could only be achieved by the introduction of radio-absorbing materials and coatings, which in practice does not give a result in hundredths of a square meter.
In front of the center section (on the lower edge of the rocket), you can see a small green triangular window. This is an optoelectronic correlation sensor of the DSMAC system used in the Tomahawk TFR. This missile will be the main strategic weapon of Pakistani Mirages and JF-17 Thunder. Recall that the first modification of the Raad-1 rocket was tested back in 2008 and was put into service shortly thereafter. Its radius of action reaches about 350 km.
