We are all well aware of the long and very successful tradition of the Soviet defense design bureaus, which consists in the development of ship modifications of anti-aircraft missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems, almost completely unified with their ground-based versions for missile interceptors, and in some cases for multifunctional fire control radars. … So, for example, the S-300F "Fort" long-range shipborne anti-aircraft missile system differs from the S-300PS ground-based air defense missile system by the round PFAR design and the ground RPN 30N6E), as well as the modernized 5V55RM missile defense system, which, unlike the 5V55R version, has on board specialized radio communication modules with transport and launch containers VPU B-204A. On a similar principle, anti-aircraft missile and artillery systems (ZRAK) "Kortik", "Pantsir-M" and self-defense air defense systems "Osa-M", "Dagger", "Gibka" were created, which received complete unification of missiles with the military complexes "Osa", "Tungusska", "Pantsir-S1", "Osa" and "Tor-M1" and "Igla-S".
We can confidently say that this solved all the issues with the interchangeability between the naval and military arsenals of anti-aircraft guided missiles of the above complexes. At the same time, the combination of these air defense systems in a tightly held ship or aircraft carrier strike grouping allows you to create a powerful echeloned air defense-missile defense system, when, for example, at the far line targets are intercepted by "Fort" from the missile air defense cruiser "Moskva", on the average - by "Shtilam- 1 "from the SC of pr. 11356" Admiral Grigorovich ", and on the near - anti-aircraft artillery complexes AK-630M and SAM" Osa-M "and" Gibka "(on the example of the KUG of the Black Sea Fleet). But judging by the latest news, not everything in the construction of naval air defense of the XXI century is going as smoothly as we would like.
So, on September 26, 2016, two very important news came from the General Director of JSC Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant '' Kupol '' Fanil Ziyatdinov, which can be classified as “good and bad”. The good thing is that the Kupol plant, which is part of the Almaz-Antey Concern, JSC, is starting a program to update the hardware and software base of self-propelled anti-aircraft missile systems of the Tor-M2 / 2KM family to implement the possibility of intercepting small hypersonic elements of high-precision weapons. The Tor-M2 family may become the first mobile air defense missile system capable of shooting down targets at speeds up to 1500 m / s, which was previously available only to systems such as the S-300PS. The military air defense will be endowed with even greater anti-missile qualities of a full-fledged aerospace defense (it is also known that the air defense of the Ground Forces will receive a Buk-M3 with a target speed range of up to 3000 m / s). The second piece of news from the CEO of Kupol causes very contradictory opinions, and is more likely to be bad.
It is noted that a new ship modification of the Tor-M2KM M-Tor air defense system is being developed, which will gradually replace the Kortik air defense missile system and the Dagger air defense system on various classes of warships. Such information, on February 2, 2014, was already reported by the press secretary of the general director of Almaz-Antey, Yuri Baikov. New combat modules (BM) and launchers will begin to be supplied to the fleet from about 2018. What does it mean?
From such NKs as patrol ships pr. 11540 "Yastreb" ("Fearless"), as well as large anti-submarine ships pr. 1155 / 1155.1 "Udaloy / Udaloy-II", combat modules 3S87-1 ZRAK "Kortik-M" will be dismantled, as well as the Kinzhal air defense missile system, including the 8S95 vertical revolving launchers and antenna posts of the K-12-1 multifunctional illumination radars. And instead of them, on special pedestals, autonomous combat control modules will be installed onom with RPN 9A331MK-1, as well as a certain number of quad anti-aircraft missile modules 9M334D with SAM 9M331D, depending on the displacement of the ship. There is no doubt that the process of re-equipping ships with modular air defense systems "M-Tor" is several times less laborious and costly than the installation of deeply integrated into the design of "Daggers", but it is difficult to imagine the level of combat potential of warships updated in this way, and even more so, after removing "Kortikov-M". An inevitable decrease in the anti-missile potential of the ships will follow, due to the irrational location of the M-Tor antenna post relative to the superstructures interfering with the view and the lack of protection of the "dead zone", which was usually carried out by the Kortik-M air defense system.
Let's start with the issue of the irrational location of the 9A331MK-1 autonomous combat module (ABM), and, accordingly, the M-Tor complex control radar. On the sketches and graphic images provided on the network, you can see a frigate-class combat ship, which has one autonomous ABM 9A331MK-1 module in place of the bow artillery mount, and on the sides of it there are 4 vertical built-in launchers for 16 missiles, assembled in 2 anti-aircraft missile modules ZRM 9M334D (8 missiles in each). There are absolutely no questions about the launchers, since the vertical "cold" launch of 9M331 anti-aircraft missiles, as in the early revolving VPUs, provides all-round shooting at air targets regardless of the location on the deck of the ship, which cannot be said about the location of the ABM. Its presence in the bow of the frigate is expressed by large restrictions on the sector of operation of the multifunctional radar in the rear hemisphere of the ship. The entire view of the main shooting radar "M-Torah" is covered by the architecture of the ship's superstructure and mast devices, which is why about 20 degrees of azimuth of the rear hemisphere of the ship in the heading direction remain completely unprotected before the strike of even one high-speed and intensively maneuvering anti-ship missile.
This is because the ships of the "frigate" -class displacement, most likely, will not have a rear autonomous combat module 9A331MK-1 with a second "firing" radar to work on targets attacking the ship from behind, since, firstly, additional space is needed for the installation of an artillery installation, secondly, the empty areas of the superstructure are also usually occupied by radars for detecting surface targets within the radio horizon, as well as artillery fire control radars and SCRC. The K-12-1 antenna posts of the "Dagger" complex have the most optimal location in the upper sections of the settings, due to which the radio horizon in terms of detecting approaching anti-ship missiles is pushed back by another 4-5 km. Without the "Kortik" type air defense missile system, which protect the close air line of the ship, the new "M-Tor" will not be able to repel the "star raid" of several dozen anti-ship missiles, some of which will be able to break into the 1.5-kilometer "dead zone" of the complex, and therefore, dismantling them is a completely wrong decision. If a similar "modernization" is carried out on the "Peter the Great" and "Admiral Kuznetsov", we will get 2 flagships with the missing lower echelon of missile defense, which in the end may become decisive.
A much more correct solution may be to replace the Kortikov with more advanced Pantsir-M anti-aircraft artillery systems, with the subsequent modernization of the latter to expand the speed range of intercepted targets, since even deeply modernized M-Torahs capable of intercepting hypersonic targets will have a "dead zone" about 800 - 1000 m long from the carrier ship. Also, a very interesting option could be the modernization of the radar elements in service with the ship's air defense system "Dagger" while maintaining the revolving PU 4S95.
It consists in the development of a promising 4-sided multifunctional guidance radar based on active or passive HEADLIGHTS, which can be installed in 4 rotary antenna posts located at the upper corners of the superstructure of a warship to ensure the most productive view of the airspace. Each antenna post must have a constructive ability to rotate +/- 90 degrees in the azimuth plane: as a result, this will allow 3 antenna arrays to simultaneously track and capture a large number of targets in a small section of airspace. As you know, all existing radar stations, including "Polyment" and AN / SPY-1A / D, have fixed PAA canvases on each side of the superstructure, which is why only 2 of them can operate in the same missile-hazardous direction, which reduces the overall performance of the ship SAM. A version with mobile radars would radically change the situation. Based on the modular concept of the M-Tor complex, such modernization can be carried out by placing four 9A331MK-1 autonomous combat modules at the corners of the superstructure, but the point is that they are large enough for ships with a displacement of up to 6,000 tons, and therefore it will be necessary to develop a small antenna post.
The shipborne air defense system "Dagger", as well as the anti-aircraft missile system 9M331MKM "Tor-M2KM" are 4-channel, and therefore, for example, any configuration of the sea "Thor" with four multifunctional radars will have 16 fired targets, from 12 to 18 of which can be simultaneously fired in one direction. At the MAKS-2013 air show, the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation presented a new missile defense system for the Tor-M2 family of missiles - 9M338 (R3V-MD). This interceptor missile, unlike the 9M331 and 9M331D missiles, has a 1.2 times higher maximum speed (1000 m / s), a range of 16 km (in previous versions, 12-15 km), better maneuverability, and more advanced avionics of the radio command control system. The aerodynamic design and geometrical dimensions of the 9M338 have undergone significant changes: from the "canard" design, the specialists of the Vympel Design Bureau have come to a normal aerodynamic configuration with a tail-mounted aerodynamic rudders and stabilizers.
The most important advantage of this missile is its significantly smaller dimensions with folded planes, which made it possible to reduce the transverse size of the new cylindrical 9M338K transport and launch container by about 35% compared to the modular square TPK 9Ya281 of the Tor-M1 complex. Thanks to this, it is planned to almost double the total ammunition load of missiles in the launch modules of all the latest modifications of the Tor-M2 air defense system. The smaller, "packed" in the TPK, the span of the rudders and stabilizers was achieved not only by reducing their size, but also by placing the folding mechanism: if in the 9M331 the folding mechanism was in the middle of the planes, then in the 9M338 it is located in the root part.
In addition, according to the statements of the deputy general director of the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern, Sergei Druzin, who had previously commented on the training interceptions of the conventional enemy's WTO elements, RZV-MD demonstrated the highest accuracy: out of five targets destroyed by 9M338 anti-aircraft guided missiles, three were hit by a direct hit (kinetic interception, - "hit-to-kill"). As you know, conventional radio command control can only in rare cases provide a direct hit of a "missile in a missile", this requires either an active or semi-active radar homing head, the method of radio correction from an optoelectronic TV / IR sighting device installed on a BM can also be used of the "Thor" family. The 9M338 rocket, as you know, possesses only the latter, and therefore the complex also owes its high accuracy to a guidance radar with a low-element PAR, operating in the centimeter X-band with a beam width of no more than 1 degree. Even the first modifications of the 9M331 missile defense system had a significant compartment for a radio fuse, and later, a compact high-energy ARGSN can be placed on the 9M338, capable of destroying hypersonic targets with a direct hit even with the strongest electronic countermeasures from the enemy.
It is possible that further work by Almaz-Antey on the modernization of Tor-M2KM and M-Tor in terms of developing new homing methods (including active radar) will lead to the emergence of more multi-channel naval and military options capable of simultaneously intercepting 6 and more aerial targets. And at the moment, it's too early to talk about the complete replacement of M-Tora combat modules with universal and unique in combat qualities anti-aircraft artillery Kortikov and optimized for all-round interception of Daggers, which have proven themselves well over a couple of decades of use.
"SECOND BREATH" FOR 9K33M3 "OSA-AKM" SAMS
With all the intensity of modernization work on the projects of promising naval and land versions of the Tor-M2U anti-aircraft missile systems, the Kupol plant does not forget about the earlier military short-range self-propelled anti-aircraft missile systems of the Osa family. Despite the fact that the single-channel Osa-AK / AKM air defense systems are practically unsuitable for repelling the strikes of modern, stealthy air attack weapons, their modernization potential still remains at a fairly high level, which led to the development of various advanced Osa concepts by Russian, Belarusian and Polish design bureaus. In his statement to the media, F. Ziyatdinov noted the modernization of the Osa-AKM air defense missile system to the level of the Osa-AKM1, which will extend their service life for another 15 years.
The self-propelled military air defense missile system 9K33 "Wasp" on October 4, 2016 marks exactly 45 years since the adoption of the USSR Ground Forces, and during this "hot" and difficult, from a geostrategic point of view, the complex has more than once had to prove a high technical level and prestige products of the Russian defense industry in numerous military conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and also in Iraq. The baptism of fire of the first Osa complexes took place in the First Lebanese War, where several Hel Haavir (Israeli Air Force) strike fighters were shot down, and the incredible fear among Israeli pilots was caused by the optical-location guidance used for the first time on self-propelled air defense systems using passive Television-optical sightings, because of which the radiation warning system of the "Phantoms" was often silent, and it was possible to prepare for an anti-aircraft maneuver only after the discovery of a smoke strip from the turbojet engine of the launching anti-aircraft missile 9M33, often at that moment the plane was already doomed.
In the future, the 9K33M2 Osa-AK air defense missile systems supplied for Iraqi air defense, during the start of a massive missile and air strike by the US Navy before Operation Desert Storm, were able to intercept several Tomahawk strategic cruise missiles. This modification was developed on the basis of the "Wasp" complex back in 1975, and even it confirmed the ability to cover troops and strategic objects from single strikes of modern high-precision weapons. Now several captured Osa-AK complexes, captured during the battles from Ukrainian military formations, have formed the basis of the middle line of the air defense of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. In Novorossia, they cover the largest transport interchanges, machine-building and coke-chemical enterprises, as well as military warehouses of the VSN in the Donetsk-Makeyevskaya agglomeration from the attacks of the Su-25 attack aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force.
The Polish modification of the Osa-AK - SA-8 "Sting", at first glance, is a licensed analogue of the Russian complex, but apparently it has improved display equipment for automated workstations of a combat crew, based on LCD MFI, as well as a radio station for exchanging tactical information with other BM 9A33BM "Osa-AK" at the battery level and receiving information about the air situation from the radar-AWACS and radar detectors of long-range air defense systems such as S-300PS, "Buk-M1 / 2". The appearance of the radar detection and tracking stations, as well as the missile unit, remained the same. Almost nothing is known about the "stuffing" of the SA-8 "Sting", since this information was not disclosed to the media and amateurs. It is obvious that the update was carried out approximately in the same way as during the development of the Russian version of the Osa-AKM.
The modernization of the Osa-AKM air defense system to the Osa-AKM1 level at the Kupol plant is no longer just the integration of network-centric data exchange equipment with other air defense units and the installation of multifunctional liquid crystal displays for displaying data from the radar and guidance radar, but also complete digitization of the entire element base in the paths of the transmitter and receiver of the radar signal, as well as in the TV-optical image converter for passive operation of the anti-aircraft missile system. Fanil Ziyatdinov noted that the noise immunity of the Osa-AKM1 will be significantly higher than that of the previous modification. After the upgrade, AKM1 will remain confidently competitive in the African and Asian arms markets. In what vector will the improvement of one of the most famous military self-propelled anti-aircraft missile systems move?
As an example of the most advanced versions of the Osa-AKM air defense missile system, one can consider the projects of the Belarusian research and production enterprise Tetrahedr, which is also known for upgrading the air defense missile system with the Strela-10M2 infrared guidance system to the Strela-10T level, as well as C- 125 "Pechora" to the level of C-125-2TM "Pechora-2TM". These projects include an intermediate modification of the "Wasp" - 9K33-1T "Osa-1T", as well as the most advanced version of the T38 "Stilet". In terms of hardware, these complexes hardly differ, the main differences are observed in the missile part.
The Osa-1T air defense system, which is a deep modernization of the Osa-AK complex, received a completely new three-axle MZKT-69222 off-road chassis with a 420-horsepower YaMZ-7513.10 diesel engine; the Tor- M2E . Due to this, the operating range for fuel without refueling (with a two-hour combat duty in position) of the Osa-1T is 500 km, which is 2 times more than that of the previous Osa complexes based on the three-axle chassis BAZ-5937 with a diesel engine BD20K300 300 hp
Even though the MZKT-69222 is not a floating platform, its superior thrust gives additional advantages in the European theater of operations with wet and soft ground. The speed parameters in the stowed position remained the same - about 75 km / h on the highway.
As for the anti-aircraft potential of the new Osa-1T, it is much higher than that of the Osa-AK / AKM. So, thanks to new hardware and software with advanced algorithms for radio command control of the standard 9M33M2 / 3 missile defense system, the probability of hitting a fighter-type target has increased from about 0.7 to 0.85. scattering 0.02 m2 (the complex can intercept F-35A fighters, as well as AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles and other high-precision weapons). The range of interception of air targets, in comparison with the "Osa-AKM", increased from 10 to 12 km, and the height from 5 to 7 km.
According to the graphs given on the advertising page of Tetrahedra products, Osa-1T is capable of intercepting targets flying at a speed of 500 m / s at an altitude of 6 km in the range of 3500 to 8000 m (Osa-AKM intercepts such targets at an altitude of only 5 km and with a small range of range from 5 to 6 km). If we talk about the destruction of the AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile at a speed of 700 m / s (2200 km / h), then the Osa-AKM will not be able to fulfill this task, because the speed of the HARM will exceed the speed limit of the complex. Osa-1T will intercept a similar target at an altitude of 5 km and in a range of 4 to 7 km. An updated two-channel calculating device SRP-1, which allows launching two missiles at once on one target, also contributes to increasing the speed limit and interception accuracy.
In addition to the standard single-stage 9M33M3 anti-aircraft missiles, which develop a speed of 500 m / s, the Osa-1T family's ammunition load can also include high-speed bicaliber two-stage SAM T382 developed by the Kiev Luch State Design Bureau. After being equipped with such missiles, as well as minor software and hardware upgrades, the complex turns into a radically modernized version of the T-38 Stiletto. Ammunition from the new missiles is located in 2 quadruple inclined launchers with cylindrical transport and launch containers (TPK). The T381 combat vehicle of the T38 Stilett complex can also carry mixed ammunition in the form of a standard triple launcher with 9M33M2 missiles (3) on one side of the combat module and a launcher with T382 missiles on the other side.
The combat characteristics of the Stiletto with the T382 missiles are about 35% higher than with the 9M33M2 missiles. Strategic cruise missiles of the Tomahawk or AGM-86C ALCM type are intercepted by a new anti-aircraft missile at a distance of 12 km, attack helicopters and enemy tactical aircraft - up to 20 km, high-precision air attack weapons (PRLR, guided aerial bombs, etc.) struck at a distance of 7 km. If you carefully compare the range graphs for the Stilett with the 9M33M3 and T382 missiles, you can note that the T382's cruise missile engagement range is much greater, and the range for small-sized WTO elements is identical for both missiles. Here the whole point is that the weaker rocket engine 9M33M3 does not allow to realize sufficient speed and range to destroy remote low-altitude TFRs at a distance of more than 8 km, and this is achievable for the two-stage T382. At the same time, the previous parameters of the tracking and targeting station (SSTs) do not allow either 9M33M3 or T382 to capture an inconspicuous WTO at ranges exceeding 7 km. This confirms the difference between the "Wasp-1T" and "Stiletto" only in terms of the rocket. Let's go directly to the review of the T382 SAM.
The first stage of the missile interceptor has a diameter of 209.6 mm, and is represented by a powerful solid-propellant launch booster that accelerates the rocket to 3100 km / h (for 9M33M3 - 1800 km / h). After acceleration to the required speed and "burnout" of the accelerator, the latter is separated, and the main engine of the combat stage starts to operate with an operating time of 20 s, maintaining a high supersonic flight speed even in the final phase of interception. The combat stage has a diameter of 108 mm and is equipped with a 61% heavier warhead (23 kg versus 14, 27 kg) than the 9M33M3: confident destruction of targets is achieved even with a strong missile guidance error, in the event of active electronic countermeasures. A compact main stage with large stabilizers and aerodynamic rudders can maneuver with overloads of more than 40 units, so that aircraft performing anti-aircraft maneuvers with overloads of up to 15 units will not be able to dodge it.
When the T38 Stilet complex is equipped with a T382 missile, the target speed reaches 900 m / s (3240 km / h), which brings the updated Belarusian Osa to an intermediate level between Tor-M2E and Pantsir-C1; Of course, this applies exclusively to the speed of intercepted objects, as well as work on targets in pursuit, since when repelling a massive airstrike, the Stiletto with 2 target channels has superiority only over the Tor-M1 air defense missile system - it is also 2-channel. The Stilett also does not lag behind the Tor-M2E in terms of the altitude of the destroyed aircrafts, which is 10,000 m: it is in the altitude range from 5 to 12 km that most of the upcoming air battles between multipurpose fighters of the 4 ++ and 5 generation will take place. and here both the new OsyAKM1 and Stilettes are capable of quite good support for our fighter aircraft over their own territory, having the ability to covertly work with the use of television-optical sighting devices of the 9Sh38-2 or OES-1T type.
If the modernization of the Russian Osa-AKM air defense systems is aimed at updating the missile part according to the Belarusian method, Kupol will need to develop its own high-speed missile defense system, similar in characteristics to the Ukrainian T382, because cooperation with the Luch State Design Bureau has been completely stopped to date. Its development will not require a long period of time, as well as significant and costly research, since our missile engineers have long had a project of a two-stage bicaliber high-speed missile-guided missile interceptor for a long time. We are talking about the 9M335 (57E6) SAM, which is the basis of the armament of the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun systems. The ballistic qualities of the compact sustainer stage of this missile significantly exceed those of the Ukrainian T382: the initial speed of the 57E6 reaches 1300 m / s (4680 km / h), and the deceleration speed of the sustainer stage (40 m / s per 1 km of trajectory) is significantly lower than that of the Ukrainian version. … Despite the smaller weight and overall dimensions of the 57E6 (the diameter of the launch stage is 90 mm and the sustainer stage is 76 mm), the rocket carries a similar heavy rod warhead weighing 20 kg. The operating time of the 57E6 launch stage is 2.4 s (T382 - 1.5 s), during which the rocket accelerates to its maximum speed, due to which it can hit targets at altitudes of 15,000 m. sustainer stage with the simultaneous imparting of significant qualities to the starting accelerator.
The 9M335 missiles used by the Pantsir-S1 complex also have radio command guidance based on a fully digital on-board computer element base and data exchange equipment, and therefore their integration into the new Osa-AKM1 weapons control system is quite feasible. Not much is known about the details of the modernization yet, but its potential for the Osa-AKM remains very, very large, which is noticeable in the example of the Belarusian Stilet. A huge number of armies of the operating countries of the Osa family of complexes, whose "club" includes the Armed Forces of Russia, India, Greece and Armenia, continue to harbor high hopes regarding the upgrade of the systems in service to the indicators that allow them to defend the skies of the 21st century on a par with such complexes. as "Tor-M1" and "Pantsir-C1", and therefore the financing of the ambitious program will continue for more than one year.
