Regularly focusing on such "poles" of geostrategic tension as the Syrian theater of military operations or the pre-escalation Korean Peninsula, not everyone has time to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the less covered technological events on the pages of various military analytical publications. Nevertheless, it is from the latter that the most reliable tactical picture can be formed, which makes it possible to relate relatively correctly the forces of the parties that have entered the escalation path; point by point to arrange their strengths and weaknesses, as well as to partially predict the outcome of the upcoming sea, land and air battles.
Now such events can be safely ranked the active phase of testing the most ambitious brainchild of the Matra BAE Dynamics Alenia Corporation (MBDA) - the Meteor air-to-air missile. Over the past month, Western European military analytical resources posted on their pages several news posts at once regarding the stages of progress achieved in integrating Meteor missiles with the weapons control systems of the main fighters of American and European design.
So, on April 27, 2017, the British portal ukdefencejournal.org.uk announced the successful launch of two MBDA "Meteor" simultaneously for different targets from the experienced fighter "Eurofighter Typhoon IPA4" (a flying laboratory of the "Instrumented Production Aircraft 4" version for testing new elements of avionics and weapons) of the Spanish Air Force. During the test, the possibility of multichannel operation of the Typhoon, equipped with an early modification of the ECR-90 CAPTOR-M radar with an ECR-90 slot antenna array, was confirmed. In combat conditions, due to its technical capabilities, this radar can simultaneously "capture" 6 air targets of the "fighter" type (EPR 1 m2) at a range of 115 km in a simple jamming environment and at a distance of about 50 km in a complex one. Meanwhile, for the first time, the initial combat readiness of "Meteors" was achieved in conjunction with the avionics version MS20 of light multipurpose fighters JAS-39C "Gripen" version 20 of the Swedish Air Force on July 11, 2016. This date can be considered a turning point in the quality of air superiority operations by fighter aircraft of pro-American countries in the European theater of operations. On the same day, the ratio of tactical and technical capabilities between the fighter composition of the 105th mixed air division of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the Kola air direction and the Swedish air wings (Skaraborg - F7, Bleking - F-17, etc.) changed significantly; as you can imagine, the change is far from in our favor.
Meanwhile, the modernized MiG-31BM interceptors with R-33S and R-37 missiles being adopted by the Aerospace Forces in the Western Military District, for technical reasons, cannot be considered a worthy asymmetric response to the Gripenes armed with the MBDA Meteor. So, although two types of missiles have a huge range of 160 and 300 km, respectively, as well as flight speeds of 3700 and 6400 km / h, their maneuverability remains at a very mediocre level, making it possible to intercept air targets maneuvering with overloads of up to 8 units … only at distances of about 120 or 220 km. And even then only in the stratospheric segment of the flight, where the ballistic deceleration rate of missiles is very low due to the rarefied air. At low altitudes, the R-33S / 37 ranges are significantly reduced due to tropospheric loss of speed and energy characteristics. The main purpose of this family of missiles is to intercept hypersonic stratospheric targets at ultra-long ranges and low-maneuverable low-altitude missile launchers at medium distances.
At a time when some of our ignorant members of the forum and the media continue to present the integration of the R-33S and RVV-BD interceptor missiles into the Foxhound and PAK FA fire control systems as a "significant gap" from Western air combat missiles (as you know, a comparison of different for the purpose of the R-37 with the AIM-120D absolutely makes no sense), very disappointing refuting information comes from Western Europe, which should be carefully read. In particular, some Western news resources with reference to airrecognition.com and sources in the defense department began to openly point out the main advantages of the MBDA Meteor missile. One of them, without a doubt, is an advanced sustainer ramjet engine, which uses a heavy boron-containing oxygen-deficient fuel as a gas generator, which has about 2 times higher calorific value than standard hydrocarbon fuel. The engine from the Bayern-Chemie Protac company is equipped with a control valve in the gas generator nozzle, which allows a very precise flight speed change and saves the remaining fuel for the critical approach section of the trajectory.
After the Meteor climbs to an altitude of 20-25 km and a speed of about 3800-4000 km / h, the ramjet engine makes a transition to an economical mode of operation with minimal fuel consumption, the rocket moves with a 3.5-fly speed and minimal ballistic braking in the stratosphere. Upon reaching a distance of 90 - 110 km from the launch point, the ramjet engine switches to medium or maximum thrust, and the rocket accelerates to 4 - 4.5M. As a result, in the final flight segment (120 - 150 km) MBDA "Meteor" has quite sufficient energy qualities to intercept targets, maneuvering with overloads of up to 11-12 units. In this case, the pursuit of the goal can occur both in the stratosphere and in the lower layers of the troposphere. Today no Russian or American long-range air-to-air missile has such qualities.
If the US Air Force at least has an AIM-120D (C-8) AMRAAM, which retains a good energy potential at a distance of up to 70 - 90 km when working on medium-altitude and low-altitude targets due to an increase in the length of the fuel charge and the efficiency of the fuel itself in comparison with the early AIM -120С-5/7, then in the fighter aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces there is not a single light long-range airborne missile system with a similar set of flight performance characteristics. The R-27ER / ET, R-77 (RVV-AE) and the more modern RVV-SD ("Product 170-1"), which are in service at low medium altitudes, have an effective range of only 60 - 80 km. After the development of fuel charges, the lattice and "butterfly" rudders of the R-27ER and R-77 missiles, which have enormous aerodynamic resistance, instantly reduce the speed from 4 to 2 or less the speed of sound, especially at low altitudes: the rocket becomes ineffective. The British Meteor missile is absolutely immune to the shortcomings of the above types of conventional solid-propellant air combat missiles, and therefore even the presence of our Su-35S unique on-board Irbis-E radar does not give a decisive advantage over NATO Allied Air Force fighters equipped with promising ramjet Meteors ". Moreover, for the effective use of these airborne missile systems, neither Typhoons nor Gripenes absolutely do not need urgent modernization with new powerful radars with AFAR "CAPTOR-E" and ES-05 "Raven", since "Meteor" can either aim at a remote an enemy object by its own radiation, or receive target designation from third-party RTR / RER equipment via the Link-16 or CDL-39 channel. Do we have an answer to the emergence of promising MBDA "Meteor" among the closest opponents?
Without a doubt, yes. But the prospects for its implementation, unfortunately, are not yet entirely clear. In the late 80s - early 90s. GosMKB Vympel began to develop the K-77PD (RVV-AE-PD), the most unique guided long-range air combat missile at that time. The new product was designed on the basis of the hull and lattice aerodynamic rudders of the R-77 rocket, but it got 100 mm longer. Lattice rudders made it possible to preserve the high maneuverability of the PD missile in comparison with the conventional RVV-AE, which, in addition to the ramjet engine, made it possible to several times increase the efficiency of intercepting maneuvering targets at ranges of more than 100 km and altitudes of 3 - 5 km (the angular rate of turn of the R-77PD is estimated at 130-150 deg / s, and the maximum overload is 30 - 35 units). In terms of the aggregate combat qualities, this missile is in no way inferior to the British Meteor air-launched missile system, which was developed almost a decade later. One of the design differences between RVV-AE-PD and Meteor is the original design of the bearing planes. So, the role of the wings in the aerodynamic scheme of the Russian rocket is performed not by individual planes, but by the developed outer surfaces of the four air intakes and air channels of the ramjet engine.
The mass of the R-77PD URVV is 29% higher than the mass of the serial RVV-AE (225 versus 175 kg). Consequently, to compensate for the weight, which has a direct effect on maneuverability, the span of the cross-shaped lattice aerodynamic rudders was increased by 70 mm (from 750 to 820 mm). The rudders of this design are much more efficient in maneuvering and ergonomic in terms of maintaining an acceptable weight and dimensions of the rocket for placement in the internal armament compartments of 5th generation fighters (lattice rudders confirmed excellent qualities even in the design of the 9M79 Tochka operational-tactical ballistic missile). The range declared by the manufacturer of the R-77PD exceeds the parameters of the Meteor and is 160-180 km. The rocket mock-up was first presented to the Western European public at the exhibition in Farnborough in 1993, while the Russians were able to get acquainted with the unique creation of Russian engineering thought during the MAKS-1999 aerospace show; after that, no reliable information about flight tests and preparation for serial production of RVV-AE-PD has appeared.
From Western Europe, however, news that is very unpleasant for us continues to come. Rocket MBDA "Meteor" is actively integrated into the architecture of avionics not only such machines from the Old World as "Typhoon", "Rafale" and "Gripen", but also into the weapons control system of the American stealth fighters of the 5th generation F-35B "Lightning II ", Which should become the basic deck component of the British aircraft carrier R08 HMS" Queen Elizabeth ". Information about this appeared on various sources on April 26, 2017 with reference to the well-known magazine janes.com and the managing director of the MBDA UK division Dave Armstrong. According to their information, by 2024, the full-fledged software for the F-35B Block IV SKVP will be brought to perfection, which will allow the Meteor to be used from aboard the "chilled" Lightning. But there are some nuances here.
According to D. Armstrong, for the correct placement of "Meteor" on the internal hardpoints of the F-35B Block IV, it is necessary to refine the aerodynamic rudders of the rocket for the geometric features of the inner compartment of the fighter. At the same time, Armstrong openly bluffs, stating that changing the shape and area of the rudders will not affect the effectiveness of the rocket. On the information resource www.navyrecognition.com back in July 2014, photos of the F-35B layout from the Farnborough International Air Show - 2014 exhibition were posted, where behind the open doors of the weapons compartment there were 2 MBDA Meteor air-launched missile systems and 8 compact multipurpose guided missiles SPEAR-3. The "Meteora" clearly shows the very "trimmed" aerodynamic rudders, the "efficiency" of which was said by the head of the British division of the MBDA. The area of each pivot plane is barely half that seen in standard versions of the Meteor, AIM-120C, or MICA-IR / EM missiles. In order to declare in this situation that the rocket will retain the same maneuverability, one must either be incompetent in matters of aerodynamics, or simply mislead the readers, relying on their low technical savvy. The available angular velocity of the Meteor missile can decrease by about 1.5 times, which will not allow effectively intercepting targets with overloads of more than 8 units.
Our RVV-AE-PD has completely different parameters. Lattice rudders are equipped with a specialized folding mechanism. This makes it possible to minimize the dimensions of storage containers, as well as place the rocket in the limited spaces of the internal weapons bays, or external suspended stealth containers for missile and bomb weapons (the rocket can fit into a square space with a side width of 30 cm and a length of 3750 mm). The total working area of all blade-like planes of each R-77PD lattice rudder approximately corresponds to or slightly exceeds the area of a single flat aerodynamic rudder of the conventional Meteor modification, and is approximately 2 times the area of the Meteor rocket rudder adapted for F-35B compartments. This detail already equalizes their performance characteristics. The next point is the lower moment when turning, due to which it became possible to equip with more miniature "steering machines" (drives), as well as the ability to bring the rudder to a 40-degree angle of attack, which neither Meteora nor AMRAAMs will be able to implement due to too much torque on one-piece steering elements.
Due to such technological bells and whistles, RVV-AE-PD is unconditionally ahead of two modifications of MBDA "Meteor" in terms of maneuverable parameters at all ranges of use. An insignificant, in comparison with the "Meteor", disadvantage can be considered only slightly large dimensions of our rocket in the folded state, the reason for which is the presence of not 2, but 4 air intakes of the combined rocket-ramjet engine KRPD-TT with a solid propellant sustainer charge of the gas generator. The KRPD-TT “Product 371” engine with a specific thrust impulse from 500 to 700 (2.5 times more than that of the 48N6E2 anti-aircraft) gives the rocket a pre-hypersonic speed of 4.5-5M, which can be maintained for a long time. This makes it possible to catch up with targets that are unattainable today for such "energy" missile systems as R-27ER. The high efficiency of RVV-AE-PD can be maintained at altitudes up to 30+ km.
As for the guidance systems RVV-AE-PD and MBDA "Meteor", both our and the British air combat missiles have perfect inertial navigation systems, radio correction modules and can be equipped with new types of multi-mode active radar homing heads operating at high frequencies of the centimeter range (J, Ku).
The newest active-passive radar homing head 9B-1103M-200PS can be adapted for use on the RVV-AE-PD. A slotted antenna array with a diameter of 200 mm and a modern digital element base allow the "Agatov" ARGSN to actively capture a HARM-type target at a distance of 5, 5 km, a fighter - 15 km, while the minimum available RCS corresponds to 0.05 m2 … The passive mode makes it possible to take direction finding radio-emitting targets (AWACS / RTR aircraft, fighter with radar on or anti-ship missile with an operating seeker) at a distance of several tens to 200 km. Moreover, 9B-1103-200PS is capable of operating on an object flying at a speed of 5300 km / h. According to the manufacturer and specialized sources (which is confirmed by the ARGSN parameters), almost any elements of high-precision weapons and air attack means (from anti-radar missiles to similar air-to-air missiles Sparrow, AMRAAM and Meteor ").
This seeker provides a "fire-forget" mode of operation and can reach the target both by a continuously incoming radio correction signal from the carrier or third-party radar equipment, and by the method of complex proportional guidance by flying to a proactive meeting point with a target. The latter entails some risks associated with the possible loss of the target in the event that, at a distance of three or more tens of kilometers to the object of interception, the missile is detected by a modern AWACS aircraft or AFAR radar of an AN / APG-79/81/77 fighter, which will notify the victim about the approach of the rocket, after which she will be able to leave from under the scanning zone of the seeker of the approaching RVV-AE-PD. But these are only nuances, which may not exist in the conditions of setting up a REP by both sides.
The MBDA Meteor also has an advanced and high-energy pulse-Doppler active radar seeker, designed on the basis of the AD4A, operating in the higher J-band centimeter wavelengths (12-18 GHz). As a result, it is possible to work on targets similar to the P-77 or even smaller. According to the developers "Dassault Eleqtroniqu" and "GEC-Marconi", AD4A is capable of hitting a target in the most difficult jamming environment against the background of the sea / land surface, including all angles of approach to the target without exception (front and rear hemispheres, etc.). Similar principles of proportional aiming are used with and without radio correction as well as. The diameter of the seeker is 180 mm. Considering that similar homing heads are installed on super-maneuverable missiles-interceptors "Aster-30 Block 1", hitting targets with a direct hit, the MBDA "Meteor" can be considered more or less worthy of anti-missiles, like our RVV-AE-PD. True, the British concept has lower maneuverability, and therefore the effectiveness in the fight against "agile" targets may be questionable even taking into account the presence of a ramjet engine.
The above missiles with ramjet and combined ramjet engines also have other disadvantages associated with simplified detection by means of modern optical-electronic sighting infrared systems installed on tactical fighters of the 4 ++ / 5 generations. These include an infrared system with a distributed aperture of sensors AN / AAQ-37 DAS of the F-35A fighter, the OLS-35 / UEM and SOAR optical-electronic sighting system of the Russian Su-35S and MiG-35 fighters, as well as the Pirate IRST system, OSF and Skyward-G IRST of Typhoon, Rafal and Gripen multirole fighters, respectively. For most of the flight trajectory, the gas generator and the combustion chamber produce a high-temperature jet stream, which can be tracked by the above infrared sensors at a distance of about 100 km (conventional URVV with a short period of solid propellant rocket engine do not have these disadvantages).
And even under such circumstances, the energy advantages of the MBDA "Meteor" and RVV-AE-PD missiles far outweigh some of their disadvantages. Unfortunately, we are forced to admit an unpleasant reality. Despite all the "flaws" associated with the insufficient size of the aerodynamic rudders in the version of the Meteor rocket for the F-35B fighters, the first modification for the 4 ++ generation fighters is an extremely efficient unit, which stands on a step in all the main qualities of long-range combat. above the URVV, which are in service with the fighters of our Aerospace Forces today. In addition to the distribution of "Meteors" among the air forces of European NATO member states, the US Air Force can also show interest in the product, which can adapt it for use from the F-35A / B / C or even the F-22A "Raptor", which is even more alarming.
The situation with our RVV-AE-PD, capable of overnight to fend off all the advantages of "Meteors", is still full of mysteries and uncertainties. According to a number of sources, the updated "direct-flow" rocket R-77PD, which received the index "Product 180-PD" in the 21st century, went through several stages of development, the first of which was completed in 1999. In 2002, the preliminary design was approved, and already in 2007, the design of the KRPD-TT “Product 371” engine was developed. In 2012, research and development work on a promising rocket was completed; also announced plans for its integration into the SUV T-50 PAK FA. After this, clear statements about the further fate of this family of missiles in service with Russian tactical aviation did not follow.
