The Russian Ministry of Defense began to create a system for controlling artillery at a distance.
With the help of this system, commanders of artillery and missile forces will be able to simultaneously control several dozen systems and weapons. The armies of Western countries have already been using such systems for several years, and in Russia they are just beginning to test them.
If you take a closer look, it all looks impressive: heavy weapons simultaneously deploy, aim and hit the target, and the military only monitors so that the whole process goes smoothly.
The technological process of the automated guidance and fire control system (ASUNO) is extremely simple: commands are sent from the control complex via high-frequency communication to special modules that are mounted in self-propelled units. These modules calculate the trajectory of the projectiles and, through a special drive system, direct the systems and weapons, and then fire a shot at the target.
The disadvantage of the Russian system is that it still lacks a modern control complex, which the Taman brigade is currently trying to bring to mind. It is necessary for the distribution of goals and objectives between the guns of the same division.
As military engineers say: “It happened that after the command was received from the control panel, the barrels of the gun could be aimed in different directions. If this happens in combat conditions, the firing mission will fail, and the guns can even shoot at their own. That is why we are now setting up this complex in the most thorough way."
According to calculations, the end of testing of new ASUNO complexes is expected in 2012. It is also planned to fully integrate these complexes into the Unified Tactical Control System (ESU TK), with the help of which the entire Russian army will be controlled in the near future.
ACS will make it possible to increase the fire accuracy of artillery by 20-30%, as well as optimize the time allocated for preparing for firing by 6-10 times. According to the editor-in-chief of the specialized magazine "Arsenal" Viktor Murakhovsky, this whole set of measures will lead to a significant increase in the effectiveness of artillery.
Mr. Murakhovsky also noted: “Outdated control systems, such as Kapustnik, could only calculate ballistics. These calculations were transmitted by voice to the commanders of the crews and entered manually into the weapon. Now this whole process will be automated and will take place in real time.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia, without waiting for the test results of the control complex, began to purchase artillery systems that are equipped with ASUNO. Presumably, as soon as all tests are over, the artillery crews will be re-equipped with command vehicles and the formation of the system will be completed.
Indicatively, ASUNO modules are also quite suitable for outdated guns, on which they can be installed as part of a planned upgrade. Such control modules can be installed on the self-propelled howitzers "Msta-S" and "Akatsiya" (152 mm), as well as on the 122-mm "Carnation".
The Ministry of Defense has planned to carry out a complete renewal of the fleet of artillery and missile units with guns from ASUNO by 2015.
