By the beginning of the 70s, the classical methods of protecting silos (silo launchers) of ICBMs from enemy attacks using high-precision weapons were becoming ineffective. Counteraction to technical means of enemy reconnaissance, camouflage silos, the creation of many false targets imitating silos with the development of new satellite reconnaissance technologies has become a difficult and sometimes impossible task. By 1970, thanks to advanced tracking tools, the coordinates of all silos of ICBMs of the Strategic Missile Forces become known to the enemy.
The fortification method of protection, based on increasing the armor protection of the launcher, was also ineffective due to the rapid increase in the accuracy of targeting nuclear warheads in the mid-70s and the emergence of new types of high-precision weapons. If in the middle of the twentieth century, guidance accuracy was determined by tens of meters, then by 1970 it was already a matter of several centimeters. It became clear that the missile silos could be put out of action by a sudden preemptive strike, not even by nuclear weapons, but by conventional weapons with high targeting accuracy. Even if an accurate hit of the warhead of an enemy guided missile does not lead to the destruction of the silo or to the penetration of the silo cover, it will at least lead to its jamming, which ultimately will not allow the launch of the missile, that is, will not allow the combat mission to be completed. Therefore, Soviet engineers were tasked with developing and creating a fundamentally new and highly effective system for protecting mine launchers in a short time.
One of the first Soviet projects aimed at creating a KAZ (active protection complex) silos of ICBMs was the project KAZ "Mozyr", or "complex 171" (however, there is an opinion that this designation is incorrect), developed in the design bureau of the city of Kolomna. Work on the project began in the mid-70s, the chief designer of the complex was N. I. Gushchin, the general management was carried out by the talented engineer and designer S. P. Invincible. It was thanks to his initiative and perseverance that the Soviet and then the Russian army received a new type of weapon, such as the Strela MANPADS, and the Arena active protection complex created for tanks. The principle of operation of KAZ Arena is the same as that of KAZ Mozyr. In total, more than 250 various enterprises of the Soviet industry of almost all the ministries of the USSR worked on the project of the KAZ "Mozyr".
The territory of the DIP facility at the Kura test site, Kamchatka. In 1988, nearby - at the DIP-1 facility - the Mozyr missile defense system of the Machine Building Design Bureau was supposedly tested. Photo - not later than autumn 2010
The KAZ design includes a large number of small-caliber barrels assembled in a package (the Mozyr complex, according to various sources, included from 80 to 100 barrels), each of which contains a charge of gunpowder and a striking rod element (projectile?) Made of high-strength alloy … When a signal is received about an enemy attack on a guarded object, in a split second the KAZ, which is in standby mode, captures an approaching target and shoots hundreds of small striking elements (shells) towards it. The shot is fired simultaneously from all barrels, in one volley. A wall or cloud of steel shells forms in front of the enemy warhead, the density of which is such that it is almost impossible to overcome this obstacle. As a result, the target, in this case the enemy warhead, is destroyed (at a distance of up to 1,000 meters) before reaching the target. With the help of this type of weapon, you can protect almost all important objects.
According to unconfirmed reports, the Mozyr complex was created in the early 1980s, and the first prototype was sent for testing to the Strategic Missile Forces Kura training ground, military unit 25522, located in Kamchatka. Where, again, according to unconfirmed reports, as part of the tests carried out, in the late 1980s, the first interception of a target block imitating the warhead of an intercontinental ballistic missile launched from Baikonur was made (however, some sources claim that the launch was made from a test site located in Plesetsk). However, the changes that came in the country influenced the further course of events. In the early 90s, the allocation of funds for further work on the project was discontinued, and it was soon closed. At the moment, it is difficult to judge how effective the KAZ "Mozyr" was and how the further fate of the project would have developed if the Soviet Union had not collapsed. Data on this project was not disclosed, and all information is speculative. However, the very idea of creating this fundamentally new weapon gave impetus to the creation of other models (Arena, Drozd complexes), the action of which is based on the principle of self-defense and worked out in the creation of the first domestic active protection complex.
