One of the main combat missions of self-propelled anti-aircraft missile systems in the context of modern war is: protection against air strikes by enemy aircraft on important strategic, industrial or administrative facilities, protection of personnel and materiel of military units and various defensive structures, destruction in the air of controlled cruise missiles of various types, for example, such as Tomahawk, Helfair, Maverick, and other high-precision weapons, fighter and assault aircraft, enemy transport and landing helicopters, high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles for terrain reconnaissance. In addition to hitting air targets, the anti-aircraft missile system is capable of direct fire and destroy light armored vehicles, vehicles and enemy personnel.
Anti-aircraft missile artillery air defense system "Centaur" refers precisely to this type of self-propelled combat vehicles in the air defense forces. The use of the armored hull and chassis of one of the most modern Ukrainian tanks in the creation of the Centaur air defense system made it possible to achieve very high performance in both speed and maneuverability, as well as to increase the vehicle's cross-country ability. The combat weight of the anti-aircraft missile system does not exceed 38 tons, as a result of which the specific pressure on the ground is small and allows the machine to move without much difficulty even on soft ground. The maximum speed on the highway is high enough for this type of combat vehicles and is more than 60 km per hour, the capacity of the fuel tanks installed on the ZRAK "Centaur" provides it with a cruising range on the highway up to 500 km. In addition to high mobility, which allows you to quickly change firing positions, such missile systems have a number of advantages in comparison with stationary ones. In particular, the high protection of the crew, housed in the armored body of the vehicle, from being hit by small arms, mine fragments and shells. Modern, high-tech radar and optoelectronic equipment located on the anti-aircraft missile system makes it possible to detect and track several air targets at the same time. Also, accept and engage various targets indicated from a remote command post, including those flying at extremely low altitude, with anti-aircraft high-precision guided missiles or artillery fire from an automatic cannon.
The combination of missile and artillery weapons in one mobile anti-aircraft missile system makes it possible to multiply the effectiveness of combat use and, depending on the type and nature of the target, choose and use one or another weapon. The main parts of the design of the Centaur anti-aircraft missile system are: a launcher for homing surface-to-air missiles, an automatic anti-aircraft gun equipped with a new automatic loading mechanism, which makes it possible to increase the rate of fire and simplify maintenance in a combat situation, a radar control system (weapon control radar), OLSU (Optical Electronic Weapon Control Station), an on-board computer with the most modern means of detecting, guiding and hitting both air and ground targets.
The range of destruction of a target by missile weapons installed on the Centaur air defense system ranges from 1 km to 12 km, the maximum altitude at which an air target can be destroyed reaches more than 4 km. The anti-aircraft artillery armament installed on the Centaur consists of a rapid-firing 40-mm automatic cannon capable of firing both armor-piercing and high-explosive fragmentation shells equipped with proximity fuses. The ammunition load is 170 high-explosive fragmentation shells and 30 armor-piercing shells. The missile armament includes eight surface-to-air missiles equipped with a guidance system through several radio and laser channels, the guidance of which at the target can be carried out both by the vehicle's crew and according to data received from the command post. The reaction of the anti-aircraft complex to the target does not exceed 8-12 seconds in rocket fire mode and no more than 6-8 seconds in artillery fire mode.
ZRAK "Centaur" in all its indicators suggests that it is he who will replace the aging anti-aircraft systems, such as "Shilka" and "Strela - 10", the number of which in the armies of Asia, Africa and the Middle East exceeds 2000 units.
