Dave Majumdar, a very clever editor of the American military-political magazine "The National Interest", published a very entertaining predictive article on the website of the publication entitled "How Russia and China can hit the Achilles heel" of the American Air Force. In it, Majumdar briefly went through the capabilities of ultra-long-range interception of air targets with missiles of the R-37M, KS-172 type, as well as the Chinese PL-15. As for the "product 610M" (R-37M), the author of the article noted the possibility of its integration into weapons control systems not only of the upgraded MiG-31BM, but also of promising super-maneuverable 5th generation T-50 PAK-FA fighters, which, relying on their small radar signature, will be able to cruise supersonic to approach at a distance of 200-250 km to the American advanced airborne electronic reconnaissance and AWACS E-2D "Advanced Hawkeye", E-3C "Sentry", RC-135V / W "Rivet Joint" and E -8C "J-STARS" and inflict decapitating strikes, neutralizing these control units of the US Air Force. Majumdar predicts a similar model for the use of Chinese PL-15s from the J-20 for the next few years.
Of course, such a position in relation to the characteristics of our and Chinese tactical aviation, and even on the part of a representative of the Western media, cannot but arouse pride in the level of the native defense industry, based on simple patriotic feelings. But is everything so simple here? A lot of questions arise regarding the unhindered long-range interception of such objects in the airspace, where almost 90% of enemy fighter aircraft are equipped with on-board radars with active phased array systems, high-performance on-board computers and promising highly maneuverable interceptor missiles.
During the Vietnam War, the Arab-Israeli wars and other conflicts of the late 20th century, the destruction of AGM-45 Shrike anti-radar missiles and other missile weapons using anti-aircraft guided missiles and air-to-air missiles was a fantasy novel. Parabolic antenna arrays of illumination and guidance radars RSN-75 (SAM S-75) and 1S31 (SAM "Kub"), as well as the first versions of the element base of combat control points of these complexes did not allow tracking, let alone capture targets with an effective reflecting surface of less than 0, 2 m2, while the RCS of anti-radar missiles barely reached 0.15 m2. Also, the same "Shriki" in terms of speed characteristics significantly exceeded the maximum speed limits of the target to be hit for the S-75 and "Cubes". Operators had to simply turn the antenna surface of the guidance station upward or to the sides to divert the rocket to the side by shifting the radiation pattern, and then turn off the radiation, which was far from always possible.
In the 80s and 90s, the situation began to change dramatically: promising anti-aircraft missile systems of the S-300PS / PMU-1/2 type, as well as the S-300V and Buk-M1, began to enter the armament of the air defense forces of various states. Their radar facilities first began to include multifunctional radars with AFAR, allowing them to see targets with an EPR of 0.02-0.05 m2, and the missiles received semi-active RGSNs with the ability to target "through a missile", which made it possible to intercept even subtle maneuvering targets on distance up to 30-50 km. Guided aerial bombs, cruise, anti-radar and anti-ship missiles began to be included in the standard list of targets for the above complexes. Along with the air defense systems, fighter aircraft began to receive the PFAR / AFAR technology. The minimum RCS of the target for the Su-35S with the N035 Irbis-E onboard radar began to correspond to 0.01 m2 (or even less), which opened up the ability to combat all types of high-precision missile and bomb weapons with speeds up to 5500 km / h. including medium and long-range air-to-air missiles. It is not difficult to guess that the western fighter aircraft fleet received similar qualities.
By 2010, the design departments of the leading American aerospace giants began work on projects of various air-launched interceptor missiles to destroy air-to-air missiles, other tactical missiles, as well as guided and unguided aerial bombs at a distance of up to 30-40 km from the aircraft -carrier. The most successful of these has been a Lockheed Martin project called CUDA. It was based on a "stripped down" and deeply modernized version of the most common western AIM-120C AMRAAM. CUDA received a length of 1.85 m, and in addition to aerodynamic controls - a bow gas-dynamic "belt" with hundreds of nozzles of miniature impulse transverse control engines (DPU). This control unit was designed to give the anti-missile an overload of more than 65 units. at the final stage of the flight, which made it possible to destroy the target by the method of kinetic destruction of combat equipment or the body of an attacking missile of the enemy with a direct hit (in the west, this principle was called "hit-to-kill"). The initial speed of the CUDA missile is about 3000 km / h, and the highest accuracy of the DPU at the time of interception is ensured by the use of a high-precision active radar homing head operating in the millimeter Ka-band.
The small weight and overall dimensions of this anti-missile allow any NATO tactical fighter to take on the suspension twice as much arsenal as the AIM-120C, MICA or Meteor missiles. For example, in one squadron of 12 F-15E "Strike Eagle" there may be 2 machines, on the suspensions of which there will be only CUDA missiles in the amount of 32 to 40 units. They will defend the strike squadron from enemy air combat missiles, the remaining 10 tactical Strike Eagle fighters can carry out the tasks of gaining air superiority or delivering missile and bomb strikes against numerous ground targets. Today, work on giving missiles of the CUDA project (new name SACM-T) initial operational readiness has been delegated to the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Raytheon corporation. At the moment, the SACM-T is at the level of test launches, during which the software for controlling the gas-dynamic system and integration into the avionics of modern American fighters of the 4 ++ and 5 generations is being carried out, and therefore, before it goes into service with the Strike Eagle "," Lightning-II "or" Super Hornets "will pass at least 5 more years. At the same time, the AIM-120C-7 and AIM-120D medium and long-range guided missiles already in service with the US Air Force are already quite capable of intercepting other missiles of this class. "Hit-to-kill" in this case, of course, will not be implemented, but still.
In order to find out the possibility of intercepting our R-37M missiles by American missile systems, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with all the design, tactical and technical parameters of our missile. Like most types of ultra-long-range guided air combat missiles (AIM-54C and R-37M) or SAM (48N6E2, 9M82), the "Product 610M" (RVV-BD) has impressive weight and dimensions: its length is 4.06 m, the diameter of the body is 38 cm, the span of the tail aerodynamic rudders is 72 cm and the launch weight is about 510 kg. A dual-mode solid-propellant rocket engine accelerates the R-37M to 6350 km / h (6M), which causes aerodynamic heating of the radio-transparent fairing to about 900-1200 ° C. Such a warm-contrast stratospheric target can be detected by modern optical-electronic sighting systems such as AN / AAQ-37 DAS (installed F-35A) at a distance of more than 100-150 km. Target designation from 6 sensors of this complex can be instantly transmitted to the onboard INS of the AIM-120D missiles, after which it can be intercepted. Moreover, at an even greater distance, DAS can detect the moment and place of launching the R-37M from the Su-35S or T-50 PAK-FA by the huge high-temperature torch of the rocket turbojet engine that starts the first operation mode. Because of this, the approximate location of even that inconspicuous fighter that launched the R-37M with the onboard radar turned off on target designation of external means or on the radar radiation of enemy fighters can be easily revealed.
The latter feature once again makes one think about the need to continue the projects of long-range URVB with a "colder" marching ramjet power plant of the RVV-AE-PD type. Here, the starting accelerator has several times less thrust and operating time, and is intended only to accelerate the rocket to a speed of 1, 7 - 2M, which is necessary for launching a ramjet engine. It is almost impossible to detect the launch of such a rocket already at 70-100 km. The western analogue of the R-77PD is the MBDA Meteor long-range air combat missile with a range of 130-150 km.
The radar signature of the RVV-BD missile also leaves much to be desired. An active radar seeker 9B-1103M-350 "Washer" is hidden under the composite 380-mm radio-transparent fairing of the product. The diameter of its slotted antenna array (SHAR) is 350 mm, and therefore the calculated RCS of the rocket, taking into account the module with computing, navigation and communication equipment and some elements of the body and wings, can reach 0.1 m2. Finding it with modern airborne radar with AFAR is absolutely no problem. The AN / APG-79 radar (carrier-based fighter F / A-18E / F) can track the P-37M at a distance of 65 km, but the AN / APG-81 and AN / APG-77 radars (Raptor and Lightning) at a distance of 60 and 100 km, respectively. The radar signature of the RVV-BD roughly corresponds to modern PRLR. Immediately after the detection of the approaching P-37M, AIM-120D will be launched in its direction, carrying a directional fragmentation warhead on board. According to the non-contact radar fuse, detonation of combat equipment will occur, and thousands of small fragments at a total speed of more than 3000 m / s will cause damage to the R-37M, which does not allow further controlled flight towards the target. Even if at the time of the approach of the AIM-120D our missile will perform a combat turn, the first, having 1.5 times the available overloads, will be able to overtake the RVV-BD. There are 2 ways to significantly reduce the radar range of an air-to-air missile.
The first method consists in keeping the slope of the antenna array of the seeker at an angle of up to 60-70 degrees relative to the intercepted target until it can be captured (up to a 20-30-kilometer approach). In this case, the RCS of the R-37M will be only 0.04 - 0.05 m2 and it will be possible to capture it only from the minimum distances (about 30 km): there will be too little time to intercept, given the enormous convergence speed of 4 - 4.5M.
The second method is standard: from the launching side of the R-37M airborne electronic warfare systems, active noise and imitation interference will be delivered that can reduce the detection range by another 30-50%. But this is all just theory, while the practice of combating anti-radar missiles of this size confirms the reality where most tactical missiles are easily intercepted using modern anti-aircraft guided missiles and other air-to-air missiles. For your information, if you take the Patriot PAC-3 air defense system battery or the SM-2/3 shipborne anti-missile defense system, which perform combat duty both by their own means, using the AN / MPQ-53 and AN / SPY-1D multifunctional radars, so and targeting aircraft of the AWACS system, under favorable conditions, interceptor missiles RIM-161A, RIM-174 ERAM and ERINT also pose a great threat to such an “expressive” target as the R-37M missile, which indicates the need to take into account the presence or absence naval or ground air defense systems when planning a combat interception using the MiG-31BM or T-50 PAK-FA.
There is no doubt that the RVV-BD missile poses a huge danger to the tactical and strategic aviation of the NATO command echelon, but publications like the work of Dave Majumdar convey information to observers that does not fully correspond to the military-technical reality of the new century. The use of the large-sized and noticeable in all ranges R-37M should start only in a conducive combat situation, where it is already known in advance that there are no specialized optoelectronic and radar surveillance and targeting equipment of the enemy. The future belongs to the further development of more compact, multifunctional and inconspicuous air combat instruments with a minimal reflective surface and thermal signature, to which the remarkable project of the URVB K-77PD can be safely attributed.
