Crotal (fr. Crotale - rattlesnake) - French all-weather short-range air defense system, which is designed to destroy air targets in the ranges of medium, low and extremely low altitudes. It can be used both as an air defense complex for the defense of strategically important objects, missile launch sites, control centers, and to cover the deployment and combat formations of troops. The Crotale air defense system was created by the French company "Thomson-CSF / Matra" and exists in 2 main deployment options: a land-based mobile and a naval ship-based version. The missile of the complex can reach its maximum speed of Mach 2, 3 only for a few seconds. Currently, the complex is in service with France, the Netherlands, Greece, Finland. Since its inception, the air defense system has been repeatedly modernized.
The latest version of the complex is Crotale-NG (New Generation). The main task of this air defense complex is to cover tank units on the march, as well as to carry out zonal and object air defense. Serial production of Crotale-NG was started in 1990. Almost immediately 20 tracked air defense systems based on the Sisu XA-180 were acquired by Finland, 12 stationary-based systems were purchased by the French Air Force and Navy (container-type air transportable firing assemblies), another 11 complexes were bought by Greece (9 for the ground forces and 2 for the Navy) …
The new version of the Crotale complex uses the high-speed VT-1 rocket, created jointly by the French company Thomson-CSF and the American LTV. The missile was developed for the American army under the "Faad" program. According to the manufacturers, the Crotale-NG air defense system was a response to the emergence of new aviation equipment, which allows aircraft to carry out air raids at any time of the day and in any weather, and attack helicopters to use the ability to fly around the terrain.
The VT-1 (Vought-Thomson) rocket has been in development since 1986 and went into production in 1990. The missile has a radio command / electro-optical targeting system. The maximum range of the missile is 10 km, the maximum speed is Mach 3.5, the missile also has high maneuverability and can withstand an overload of 35 g. All this allows the missile to effectively hit maneuvering air targets at a distance of 8 km in about 10 seconds.
The VT-1 anti-aircraft guided missile (SAM) consists of a warhead, which can use a contact fuse and a non-contact radio fuse, guidance system equipment, a battery, electronic equipment for data processing, a directional fragmentation warhead weighing 14 kg. The warhead of the missile contains pre-fragmented fragments, which, when detonated, directly hit an air target and are quite effective against small targets. The electromagnetic fuse is triggered in the range of 0.2-0.5 seconds before the point of impact of the missile with the target. The radius of destruction by fragments of the warhead is about 8 meters. In the central compartment of the rocket is a solid propellant engine with a powder charge, which uses a special low-smoke fuel. In the tail compartment there is a folding stabilizer, a transceiver and a control unit (gas, high pressure).
SAM Chun Ma
In the early 90s, South Korea purchased several Crotale-NG air defense systems for the purpose of their further modernization. As a result, the Korean Pegasus air defense system, the Korean name Chun Ma, was born. Currently, at least 114 such complexes are in service with the South Korean army.
The production of individual units of the Chun Ma air defense complex was started by South Korea in 1996. The main executor of the project was a special division of the well-known South Korean corporation Daewoo. The developed complex was created to protect the mechanized units of the South Korean army on the march and on the battlefield. As a platform, a tracked chassis was chosen, which is the latest option from a number of samples designed by the corporation on order of the South Korean army. The new all-wheel drive chassis K200A1, taken as the basis of the Chun Ma complex, has a greater length compared to previous versions, including the chassis on which the anti-aircraft 30-mm coaxial artillery mount of the Flying Tiger type is located.
The first prototypes of the complex were ready already in 1996, at the same time the military began testing it. The chassis of the Chun Ma air defense system is armored to protect the crew from small arms fire and shell fragments. The driver is located in the front on the left side. Also in front on the right side is a 10-cylinder diesel engine D2840L with a power of 520 hp, which is paired with an automatic transmission. The engine power allows the complex to reach a speed of 60 km / h. From a standstill to 32 km / h, the car accelerates in 10 seconds. The mileage without refueling is 500 km, while the air defense system is able to climb up to 60%.
The total weight of the complex with weapons, according to experts, is 25 tons. At the same time, a 43-horsepower engine is additionally installed on the chassis, as well as a set of equipment, which includes a system for warning about machine fire, a filter-ventilation unit and a smoke jamming system.
On top of the K200A1 chassis, the launch complex equipment is mounted, which consists of 8 transport and launch containers with missiles (4 on each side). In the central part there is a pulse-Doppler surveillance radar of the E / F-band, which is able to detect targets at a distance of up to 20 km. Surveillance radar of the complex is able to detect and track up to 8 targets simultaneously. Below the surveillance radar is a pulse-Doppler radar tracking station operating in the Ku-band of wavelengths. The range of its action is 16 km. This radar is used to track air targets, the maximum speed of which does not exceed Mach 2.
Control commands are transmitted aboard the missile by radio beam. Both radars are capable of instantaneous frequency tuning from pulse to pulse. On the left side of the target tracking radar, a special FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red) thermal imaging system is installed, the range of which is 15 km. To the right of the radar is a TV camera with an IR goniometer with a target detection range of up to 10 km. The IR goniometer is used for the initial detection and capture of the launched rocket, its field of view is 10 degrees.
The missile used in the Chun Ma complex was developed by the South Korean consortium independently, therefore it differs from the French-made missiles. Solid-propellant missiles are manufactured according to the normal aerodynamic design. The rocket has 4 rudders in the middle of the hull and 4 rudders in the tail. The maximum rocket speed can be Mach 2.6. The maximum effective range of destruction of targets is 10 km with the possibility of maneuvering at the farthest point of the affected area with an overload of up to 30g. The warhead of a high-explosive fragmentation missile, directional action. The warhead can be equipped with both contact and non-contact laser fuses and provides a high probability of hitting enemy air assets.
When all 8 missiles are spent, reloading is carried out by the air defense missile system crew in manual mode. The missile guidance operator has a multi-screen panel in front of him, consisting of color monitors. The software and computing tools used on this air defense system allow it to be integrated into any air defense system.
According to the Daewoo corporation, the Chun Ma complex can destroy targets at any time of the day, as well as in a difficult jamming environment. The equipment of the launch complex and the means of detecting targets are identical to those used in the French version of the air defense system and are supplied by Thomson-CSF Airsys."
TTX SAM Chun Ma
Target detection range - 20 km.
The number of tracked targets - 8 units.
The maximum engagement range is 10 km, the minimum is 0.5 km.
The maximum target destruction height is 6 km, the minimum is 0.02 km.
The recharge time of the complex is 10 minutes.
The length of the rocket is 2, 29 m.
The rocket diameter is 0.16 m.
The mass of the rocket is 75 kg.
Warhead weight - 14 kg.
Warhead type high-explosive fragmentation with contact or proximity fuses
Maximum rocket speed - 2, 6M
Maximum allowable overload - 30g
Rocket guidance method radio command
