Air defense missile systems have always been and remain among the leaders of the most advanced intelligent, high-tech and, accordingly, expensive types of military equipment. Therefore, the possibility of their creation and production, as well as possession of advanced technologies at the industrial level, the availability of appropriate scientific and design schools are considered one of the most important indicators of the level of development of the country's defense industry.
The modern stage of their development is associated with a number of features. First of all, it should be noted that the intensification of the development and procurement of air defense systems correlates with the continuous strengthening of the role of aviation and air attack weapons, characteristic of modern wars and conflicts, as well as an avalanche-like growth in demand for funds designed to protect against strikes of tactical ballistic missiles (TBR) and promptly - tactical ballistic missiles (OTBR). Air defense systems and complexes of previous generations are being replaced due to their massive and complete obsolescence. At the same time, the circle of developers and manufacturers of air defense systems is expanding. Quite intensive work is underway on air defense weapons, which use new means of engaging air targets, primarily laser ones.
For existing and promising air defense systems, the division into long, medium and short-range complexes, as well as short-range ones, remains, which differ among themselves not only in the tasks and characteristics being solved, but also in complexity and cost (as a rule, by an order of magnitude). As a result, only the United States can independently carry out full-fledged development of long and medium-range air defense systems abroad. For the countries of Western Europe, cooperative programs are characteristic, and a number of states carry out these works with the assistance of American (Israel, Japan, Taiwan) or Russian (Republic of Korea, India, China) developers.
One of the central tasks facing long and medium-range systems today is their use to combat ballistic and cruise missiles. And they are being improved in the direction of increasing the ability to defeat the largest possible number of such targets.
Such requirements have led to a sharp increase in the number of air defense systems with a pronounced anti-missile potential. The most typical example of such a development is Lockheed Martin's American mobile THAAD complex, designed to destroy ballistic missiles at altitudes of 40-150 km and ranges up to 200 km, with a firing range of up to 3500 km.
Achievement of such high characteristics became a serious exam for its creators, who started working in 1992, and required a long-term development of the promising technical solutions used for THAAD. As a result, it was only in August 2000 that Lockheed Martin received a $ 4 billion contract, under which THAAD was fully developed and prepared for production. Tests of a prototype of the complex took place in 2005, and on May 28, 2008, the first battery was put into operation.
In order to further improve the THAAD complex, new software is being created for it, which will triple the size of the area it protects. Another area of improving its performance should be the installation of new engines on the rocket, which will more than triple the size of the affected area.
The most ambitious American program for the creation of similar shipborne assets is based on the use of the advanced multifunctional system Aegis and Standard-3 (SM-3) missiles. The main differences of these missiles from the previous Standard variants are the equipping of the third stage with a double activation and a 23-kg combat stage of kinetic destruction. To date, a series of SM-3 tests has been completed, during which successful interceptions of TBR targets were carried out, which are in the process of acceleration and descent, as well as during the flight of the warhead separated from the acceleration stage. In February 2008, SM-3 intercepted the out-of-control satellite USA-193 located at an altitude of 247 km.
Representatives of the developer SM-3 Raytheon, together with the US Navy, are working on a variant of using the missile in conjunction with a ground-based X-band radar and a VLS-41 shipborne launcher deployed on the ground. Among the scenarios for such a use of the SM-3 to intercept ballistic missiles, the deployment of such complexes in a number of European countries is envisaged.
The anti-missile potential of the most massive American Patriot long-range air defense system - PAC-2 and
PAC-3. In recent years, in accordance with the GEM, GEM +, GEM-T and GEM-C programs, PAC-2 missiles have become more effective in combating TBRs, as well as manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (LA), which have a small effective reflective surface. To this end, the GEM series missiles are equipped with an improved high-explosive fragmentation warhead and a radio fuse that is reprogrammed during flight.
At the same time, at a rate of 15-20 units per month, Lockheed Martin's PAC-3 missiles are being produced. The features of the RAS-3 are the use of an active RLGSN and a relatively short range - up to 15-20 km for ballistic targets and up to 40-60 km for aerodynamic targets. At the same time, in order to maximize the capabilities of the Patriot and minimize the cost of performing a combat mission, the PAC-3 battery includes missiles of earlier versions (PAC-2). Lockheed Martin is currently working under a $ 774 million contract for the manufacture of 172 PAC-3 missiles, modernization of 42 launchers, production of spare parts, etc.
In July 2003, Lockheed Martin began work on the PAC-3 MSE program with the aim of improving the PAC-3 missiles, including increasing their impact area by one and a half times, as well as adapting them for use as part of other air defense systems, including shipborne ones. For this, the PAC-3 MSE is planned to be equipped with a new double-engagement cruise engine with a diameter of 292 mm from the company Aerojet, to install a two-way communication system of the missile with the command post of the Patriot air defense missile system and to carry out a number of other measures. The first test of MSE took place on May 21, 2008.
In January 2008, Lockheed Martin, in addition to a $ 260 million contract for the development of the PAC-3 MSE, was awarded a $ 66 million contract to study the possibility of using this missile as the main weapon of the MEADS system. It is being developed to replace the classic Improved Hawk medium-range air defense system, which is in service with more than 20 countries around the world. This work has been carried out for more than 10 years by the MEADS Int consortium (Lockheed Martin, MBDA-Italy, EADS / LFK), and its financing in the proportion of 58:25:17 is carried out by the USA, Germany and Italy. It is planned that the serial production of MEADS will begin in 2011.
A series of Franco-Italian SAMP / T air defense systems of the Eurosam consortium, based on the use of two-stage missile defense systems Aster, also has significant anti-missile potential. Until 2014, it is planned to manufacture 18 SAMP / T for France and Italy, as well as the production of various Aster variants for equipping French and Italian aircraft carriers, as well as for the RAAMS naval air defense system, which is located on Franco-Italian frigates Horizon / Orizzonte and British destroyers of the type 45 (Sea Viper version). In the coming years, it is planned to manufacture up to 300 Sylver vertical launch systems for these ships, which, like the American VLS-41 launchers, can be used to launch missiles and other types of guided missiles.
The Israeli developers of the air defense missile system are also increasingly making themselves known, the most significant achievement of which was the Arrow system, which is capable of simultaneously intercepting up to 14 ballistic targets with a range of up to 1000 km. Its creation was 70-80% funded by the United States. Together with the Israeli company IAI, the American Lockheed took part in this work. Since February 2003, Boeing has become the coordinator of the Arrow work on the American side, which currently manufactures about 50% of the rocket's components, including the apparatus unit, the propulsion system and the transport and launch container.
In turn, Israeli firms are actively involved in the implementation of anti-missile plans in India, which is developing the PAD-1 system with Prithvi antimissiles, which have been tested for several years. The only one of the Indian developments brought to completion is the Akash medium-range air defense system, on which work has been carried out by order of the Indian Air Force since 1983.
One of the notable trends in the improvement of the air defense system, which unites dozens of states, is the work to replace the American air defense system Improved Hawk. In addition to the already mentioned complex MEADS, among the means proposed for its replacement, complexes using AIM-120 (AMRAAM) aircraft missiles are increasingly mentioned.
The first of them, in the mid-1990s, was the Norwegian NASAMS. However, the most intensive work on the introduction of AMRAAM into various air defense systems began several years ago (HAWK-AMRAAM, CLAWS, SL-AMRAAM). At the same time, research and development work is being carried out to improve this rocket, including giving it the ability to launch from various launchers. So, on March 25, 2009, within the framework of the program for creating a single launcher, two AMRAAM missiles were successfully launched with a HIMARS multiple launch rocket launcher.
Work is underway to radically modernize AMRAAM, in order to bring its range at launch from the ground to 40 km - similar to the MIM-23V missiles used in the Improved Hawk. The features of this development, designated as SL-AMRAAM ER, should be the use of the propulsion system of the ship-borne anti-aircraft missile ESM (RIM-162), a more powerful warhead, as well as an active RLGSN capable of interacting with various radars and command control systems.
The first stage of this work, which ended on May 29, 2008 with the throw-in launch of the first sample of the rocket at the Norwegian Andoya test site, was carried out by Raytheon and the Norwegian companies Kongsberg and Nammo on their own initiative. As noted by foreign experts, in the future, these works can make it possible to create a new medium-range missile defense system for a ground-based air defense system (including one compatible with the Patriot air defense system) and a new shipborne missile defense system compatible with Aegis means.
Undoubtedly, with the successful development of the work, SL-AMRAAM ER can arouse considerable interest among the developers of MEADS, for which one of the problems is the high cost of the PAC-3 missiles. To solve it, European developers have already made proposals to introduce other missiles into the MEADS. For example, the aircraft missile IRIS-T of the German company Diehl BGT Defense. Currently, work is underway on two versions of it as a vertically launching missile defense system: IRIS-T-SL with a range of up to 30 km for MEADS and IRIS-T-SLS with a range of more than 10 km, proposed for use as part of a short-range air defense system.
The European concern MBDA (МICA missile) and Israeli companies Rafael and IAI (SAM Spyder-SR with Python-5 and Derby missiles) are just as actively promoting their options for using aircraft missiles as missiles.
In turn, the American Missile Defense Agency is studying the issue of using ground-based missiles TNAAD and PAC-3 (ADVCAP-3) in the variant of their installation on F-15 aircraft in order to intercept TBRs located in the active section of the trajectory. A similar concept is being studied regarding the use of B-52H bombers to launch the KEI anti-missile.
Work on the creation of short-range and short-range air defense systems is developing mainly in the direction of making them capable of destroying high-precision weapons, as well as artillery shells and short-range missiles. At the same time, there is a certain stagnation in the development of these complexes, which was the result of the end of the Cold War, when most of the programs for their creation were curtailed or frozen. One of the few examples of short-range air defense systems, the improvement of which continues, is the French Crotal-NG, for which a new Mk.3 missile with a range of up to 15 km is being tested, as well as a vertical launch from the Sylver shipborne launcher.
The basis of most military short-range air defense systems are complexes using MANPADS missiles. So, in transportable (ATLAS) and self-propelled (ASPIC) versions, various versions of the French Mistral complex are offered. The complex of the Swedish company Saab Bofors RBS-70, equipped with a laser guidance system, continues to be in great demand. In the Mk.2 version, it has a firing range of up to 7 km, and with Bolide missiles - up to 9 km. Since 1988, more than 1,500 Avendger complexes have been manufactured in the United States using Stinger MANPADS missiles. Currently, work is underway to make Stinger missiles twice as effective against UAVs by installing an improved fuse. In 2008, this version of the missile was successfully intercepted by a mini-UAV.
Among the promising works that in the coming years will be able to influence this market segment, the German NG LeFla short-range ground-based complex, which has a range of up to 10 km and uses a missile with IR-seeker, should be highlighted. These works are being carried out by order of the Ministry of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany by LFK (MBDA Deutschland). As noted, this air defense system has every chance to replace the Stinger in the German army and the armies of a number of other European states.
The improvement of naval air defense systems is largely focused on the existing scenarios of the combat use of ships, which, to one degree or another, are associated with their combat operations in the coastal zone. Among such works, attention should be paid to the SM-6 missile, a development contract for which worth $ 440 million was issued in the fall of 2004 by the US Navy to Raytheon.
The SM-6 provides for the use of the propulsion system of the SM-2 Block IVA rocket and an active seeker. According to Raytheon, the developers of the SM-6 are aimed at achieving a missile range exceeding 350 km, which should ensure the protection of not only ships, but also coastal areas from attacks by promising aircraft and cruise missiles, as well as intercepting TBRs. The first SM-6 launch took place in June 2008 and ended with the interception of the BQM-74 target.
Gradually, the ESSM (RIM-162) missile, created by a consortium of firms from 10 states to replace the Sea Sparrow SAM, which has been in service for several decades, is gradually occupying a dominant position among shipborne medium-range air defense systems. The new rocket can be launched from both rotary and vertical launchers.
The short-range missile Barak, which has become one of the most successful Israeli developments of the last decade and has been adopted by a number of navies in Asia and South America, also launches vertically. A further development of this missile may be the joint development of the Barak-8 missile with a range of up to 70 km, launched in 2008 by Israel and India.
In the process of improving another widespread short-range missile system RAM by Raytheon, the possibility of using it to engage targets on the surface of the sea was realized.
Summing up, we can state the multidirectional improvement of modern air defense missiles. The developers strive to create sufficiently compact, high-speed and long-range means of intercepting aerodynamic and ballistic targets. There is also a tendency towards the universalization of a number of air defense systems, but this is more the exception than the rule.
