About a week ago, on the vastness of the Russian Internet, data on the ongoing work on the project of a promising heavy aircraft-carrying complex of pr. 23000 "Shtorm" reappeared. Several dozen news and analytical sources stated this with reference to Nikolai Maksimov, head of the Institute of Shipbuilding and Weapons of the Military Educational and Scientific Center of the Navy of the Russian Ministry of Defense. A promising aircraft carrier with a displacement of more than 100 thousand tons will receive a 4-position launch system, represented by a 2-springboard complex and a complex of two electromagnetic catapults, which will provide the aircraft carrier with a unique air wing efficiency even in the Arctic latitudes. The very same air wing (shipborne fighter regiment), consisting of 90-100 aircraft and helicopters, in the future can receive not only promising multifunctional MiG-29KUB fighters equipped with new on-board radar systems Zhuk-AE and Zhuk-AME, but also a slightly heavier deck version of the promising Su-57 aircraft complex with a reinforced chassis and airframe. Valentin Belonenko, the head of the surface ships design department of the FSUE Krylov State Scientific Center, recently announced the probable introduction of the PAK-FA into the Shtorm air wing.
If Belonenko's assumption is destined to be embodied "in iron", then the Su-57K will become the first heavy multifunctional fighter of the 5th generation in the history of carrier-based aviation, because in 1993 Lockheed Martin and Boeing curtailed work on the Raptor deck modification project "With variable geometry of the wing AX (A / FX) in favor of the cheaper machine F / A-18E / F" Super Hornet ", especially since Russia at that time was in turmoil. What is noteworthy, the "overwhelmed" Su-57 will open up completely new horizons for the Shtorm ship fighter regiment in terms of establishing no-fly zones and delivering long-range strikes against surface and coastal targets in remote parts of the World Ocean, which will be achieved thanks to 70 - 80% more combat radius than the US F-35B and F-35C. But today all such reflections can be considered only dreams with an unclear future, since according to the statement of the General Designer of the United Aircraft Corporation PJSC Sergei Korotkov, made for the Interfax agency, the Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet put forward requirements for the development of a carrier-based version of the Su-57.
In reality, taking into account the heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser pr. 1143.5 "Admiral Kuznetsov" with its 279th separate shipborne fighter aviation regiment, represented by Su-33 fighters with obsolete highly specialized radar N001, at the disposal of the Northern Fleet, the surface component of the Russian Navy in In the context of a global conflict with the Joint Armed Forces, NATO is absolutely not ready to act even in 2,5-3 thousand km from the Russian shores. Indeed, in the very near future, the enemy fleets will have at least 13 operating aircraft carriers (10 Nimitz class, 1 Jerald Ford class, 1 Queen Elizabeth and 1 Charles de Gaulle), which have an aviation component of more than than 950 generation 4 ++ / 5 fighters (Super Hornets, Rafali and Lightnings).
Until yesterday's speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin with a message to the Federal Assembly, it was quite logical to assume that for combat duty of anti-submarine aircraft of the Russian Navy, or for carrying out a powerful preemptive anti-ship strike on the reinforced AUG of the NATO Naval Forces off the coast of Iceland or Scotland, cover from the Air Force fighter aircraft was required. cosmic forces. In the first case, air defense aviation was in great demand for escorting Il-38N and Tu-142M4 anti-submarine aircraft, as well as Tu-142MR Oryol repeater aircraft, maintaining communication with strategic missile submarine cruisers or MAPLs through an ultra-long-wave radio station with 8, 6 -kilometer cable antenna. In the second case, - to cover the Su-34 and Tu-22M3, performing the opening of the "anti-missile umbrella" of the enemy's AUG using anti-radar missiles X-58 and heavy high-speed anti-ship missiles X-32. Here, the probability of an air meeting with the enemy carrier-based fighter squadrons on duty is extremely high.
The problem was that for the aforementioned tactical and long-range aviation (including the Su-34, Tu-22M3 and Su-35S / Su-57 covering) to reach the southern borders of the Norwegian Sea, without fuel-costly flying around the Scandinavian Peninsula, there was a need for a "breakthrough »Air defense of Finland, Sweden and Norway. And this task is not so simple, given the fact that the Swedish Air Force is armed with about 100 light multifunctional fighters JAS-39C / D "Gripen", some of which have been upgraded to the MS20 version, which means they are equipped with the most advanced radar stations with AFAR PS-05 / A Mk4 and for more than a year and a half has been carrying the MBDA Meteor ultra-long-range "ramjet" guided air-to-air missile on suspension. Moreover, in the near future, the Swedish Armed Forces will receive from the United States the latest Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile systems, capable of working both on ballistic elements of high-precision weapons and on aerodynamic targets at ranges from 30 to 80 km, respectively, and altitudes up to 35,000 m. An immediate and effective asymmetric response was required to the dominance of NATO airborne strike forces in the North Atlantic and on the Mediterranean distant approaches to Russia, allowing Tomahawk strikes to strike strategically important targets in the Western and Southern military districts.
It was this asymmetric response that Vladimir Putin announced during his speech at the Manezh central exhibition hall. We are talking about the strategic hypersonic aeroballistic missile "Dagger" (product index is still unknown), which is a distant descendant of the Soviet tactical attack aeroballistic missile Kh-15 ("Product 115"). In the video for official use presented to the Federal Assembly, you can see the long-range interceptor MiG-31D3 with tail number "592" (serial number 5902, "Product 01D3"), which became the first Foxhound adapted for air refueling and known for its flight over the North Geographic and North Magnetic Poles under the control of test pilot Roman Taskaev and test navigator Leonid Popov. This aircraft became the first Russian fighter to fly over the poles thanks to double air refueling.
Analyzing the video material, we can conclude that the design of the attachment points of the "Dagger" rocket involves all 4 ventral suspension assemblies intended for the R-33 / C air combat missiles, while the estimated length of the product corresponds to 6.5-7 meters, the body diameter is about 1000-1100 mm. The appearance of the missile resembles the 9M723-1 Iskander-M operational-tactical ballistic missile, which leads to the likely unification of the Dagger and Iskander in many avionics modules, including: an inertial navigation system, a control system (represented by a gyro-stabilized platform and a digital Onboard computer),a guidance system of an active radar type (the video shows an ARGSN radio-transparent fairing, possibly a 9B918 product from the Radar MMC scientific production association), as well as a control complex based on aerodynamic rudders, a gas-jet thrust vector deflection system, as well as four paired (2- nozzle) blocks of gas-dynamic control.
Despite the solid structural similarity with the Iskander, the flight performance of the Dagger is about an order of magnitude superior to the 9M723 and X-15 combined. In particular, according to Vladimir Putin, the new air-launched missile system is capable of hitting targets with conventional high-explosive fragmentation and nuclear war "equipment" at a distance of 2000 km! Such a long range at such a small size is achieved by a high-altitude stratospheric launch, which allows the rocket to avoid the ascending branch of the trajectory in the dense layers of the troposphere, which burns up an impressive percentage of precious fuel. This automatically classifies the "Dagger" as a medium-range missile (RSD), and even in a supermobile version! An excellent response from Moscow to the recent approval by the US Congress of a $ 58 million appropriation for the development of a land-based medium-range missile, isn't it? The most interesting thing is in the second part of the video.
The aeroballistic hypersonic missile "Dagger" has a "quasi-ballistic" flight trajectory at altitudes from 35 to 50-80 kilometers or more, due to which the air attack means is capable of overcoming almost any anti-missile defense systems over their maximum altitude line of interception. MIM-104F (Patriot PAC-3) and Aster-30 Block 1NT anti-missile missiles will not be able to reach the Dagger on the marching high-altitude trajectory. Conclusion: promising hypersonic missiles launched from air platforms (tactical fighters) over the territory of the Leningrad region will be able to strike without difficulty at the reinforced AUG of the NATO Joint Navy in the North Atlantic indicated at the beginning of our review. At the same time, the Swedish "Patriots" and "Gripenes" will not be able to oppose anything to the "Dagger" rocket flying in the stratopause or thermosphere.
In the immediate vicinity of the battlefield, where the enemy's naval unit is located, the Dagger will fall within the range of the RIM-161B / RIM-174 REAM anti-missile systems of the Aegis systems and the AN / SPY-1D radars. Here, in favor of our hypersonic "killer of aircraft carriers" will play such advantages as an ultra-small EPR (approximately corresponding to the radar signature of the 9M723-1 missiles of the Iskander-M complex), a huge approach speed of 10,500 km / h (which takes away precious seconds from the Aegis operators on the "tie-in of the target track" and "capture"), as well as the possible implementation of anti-aircraft maneuvers with overloads of more than 30 - 35 units. This will prevent it from being intercepted not only on the descending branch of the trajectory in the thermosphere / upper stratosphere using exoatmospheric combat stages Mk 142, but also in denser layers of the atmosphere using anti-aircraft interceptor missiles RIM-174 ERAM ("Standard Missile-6") and RIM-162 ESSM, unable to operate on such maneuverable targets. Americans may not even dream of intercepting the "Dagger" on a catch-up course with the help of "Standards", because its speed is 2 times higher than that of the SM-6 and approximately corresponds to the SM-3. The highlight of the multipurpose aeroballistic missile "Dagger" is its ability to attack at a dive angle of 90 degrees, which greatly complicates detection by AN / SPY-1 radar systems, which have a noticeably lower elevation angle of the scanning beam. Apparently, the product can also be used for ground-based radio-emitting / radio-contrast targets such as "radar", "PU OTBR", etc.
