For some reason, few people are greatly surprised by the anxiety of the "independent military review" about modern anti-tank missile systems.
The NVO newspaper drew attention to a depressing pattern in the field of anti-tank defense. What is really happening, let's try to figure it out in this article.
Somehow it happened that the military department of the Russian Federation missed one aspect of development in the field of providing defense weapons - anti-tank missiles. The world has long acquired new systems and complexes in this area, which provide non-contact solutions for defense and attack.
Yes, we have something to fight against the heavy armored vehicles of a potential enemy, helicopters included in the weapons program until 2020 - Ka-52 and Mi-28N. But ATGM of the 2nd generation "Vikhr-M" and "Attack" by 2020 will catastrophically lag behind the ATGM of the third generation of foreign helicopters. Domestic ATGMs, put into mass production in the 90s, already require modernization and improvement.
Approximately the same situation develops in the tank forces, if quite recently the chief of the General Staff N. Makarov criticized the T-90, what can we say about the basis of the tank forces - the T-72.
It is clear that the statement by the Western media that NATO troops have worked out the technology of destroying domestic tanks should not be taken as true, but they have enough grounds for such statements.
ATGMs, which are in service with Russian tanks, were developed to destroy US tanks "Abrams-M1" and "Abrams-M1A1" twenty years ago. And over the past 20 years, the protection of tanks has increased so much that even a few direct hits from existing anti-tank systems do not guarantee the destruction of foreign tanks.
The Chief of the General Staff openly stated that the money that goes to purchase the T-90 makes it easier to acquire foreign Leopards, again, what can we say about the T-72 then.
Yes, domestic developments in this area are going well, but, unfortunately, they are not there and, most likely, will not be in the weapons program, since it has already been approved and is working.
The newspaper "NVO" also draws attention to changes in the nature of military operations. Almost all recent military conflicts are becoming non-contact, weapons are used by self-propelled vehicles or used from long distances to destroy enemy armored vehicles. Under these conditions, it is not clear how our military justified the use of morally aging ATGMs and their ability to counter modern weapons of foreign countries on equal terms.
Recall that all domestic ATGMs, both helicopter and ground, will not be able to overcome the bar to defeat the enemy for more than 15 kilometers.
Great Britain is actively working on the modernization of the 3rd generation ATGM "Brimstone" to increase the range of destruction. The ATGM is equipped with a missile with an active radar homing head, a digital autopilot, an inertial guidance system, a tandem warhead penetrating 1200 mm armor, the missile's flight range is about ten kilometers.
The United States already has a 3rd generation JAGM missile with a range of 16 kilometers; when firing a missile from an aircraft, the range is increased to 28 kilometers.
At this time, domestic ATGMs belong to the 2nd generation, except perhaps "Chrysanthemums", but its experts do not refer to the third generation, but rather to the intermediate generation 2+.
Today's ATGMs and ATGMs cannot cope with modern foreign reactive armor, and the tandem one completely neutralizes the warheads of modern domestic missiles to destroy enemy armored vehicles, and the absence of ATGMs with a long range and inaction in this area will soon make themselves felt.
