The focus of military-political tension is narrowing more and more every day on the strategically important Black Sea region, over which the United States and the entire North Atlantic alliance are trying to maintain control by any means. This region has become one of the main ones on the agenda of the recent Warsaw summit of NATO, and is also regularly discussed as a priority positioning area for militarization at numerous "rallies" of the heads of the military departments of the European member states of the alliance. And the West is investing in this direction just billions of dollars.
One of the latest news is the official commissioning of the American anti-missile complex of the regional missile defense "Aegis Ashore" near the Romanian city of Deveselu (in the southern part of the country). As the main argument for the deployment of Ashora in Southeast Europe, the NATO command has always used the threat from the latest modifications of Iranian medium-range ballistic missiles of the Sajil-2 type (range is 2500-3000 km), which in the event of a regional military conflict can reach American air bases in Romania, Italy, Germany and Poland. But the real goal of creating an advanced element of a missile defense position area in Romania hides much deeper and more far-reaching plans of a military-technical nature directed directly against Russia.
THE IJIS ASHORA UPDATE TURNS THE PURE ANTI-MISSION COMPLEX INTO A MULTI-PURPOSE RANGE OFFENSIVE-DEFENSIVE TOOL OF GEOPOLITICAL PRESSURE
The range of the RIM-161A and RIM-161B (SM-3 Block I / IA) air defense missile interceptors currently used in the sea and land modifications of the Aegis is about 700 km, and the interception height is 500 km, which insignificantly affects the strategic effectiveness of Russian ICBMs. deployed in the central regions of the state, since over Eastern Europe the trajectories of most types of our ICBMs are capable of exceeding the interception ceiling of the "Standards". But in the next few years, RIM-161D (SM-3 Block II) and more advanced SM-3 Block IIA / B, their range may approach 1200-1500 km, and target engagement altitude - up to 1000 km, which will already pose a threat to the effectiveness of our Strategic Missile Forces when the missile trajectories run over Europe. This was briefly stated by Vladimir Putin on June 17, 2016 at a press conference at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. But ultra-long-range anti-missiles are still "flowers", since various programs for the modernization of SM-2/3 missiles, implemented by Raytheon, provide for the development of ultra-long-range missiles to combat all types of over-the-horizon aerodynamic targets and even surface stationary and moving targets.
The basis is the RIM-174 SM-6 ERAM missile, which has a range of 240 km and a maximum interception height of up to 35 km. The ability to combat aviation and low-altitude cruise missiles is provided by an active radar seeker from an AIM-120C air-to-air missile. Similar to the RIM-161A / B / D anti-missile missiles, the RIM-174 has a decent modernization potential, which makes it possible to increase the range to 350 - 450 km by upgrading the engine of the sustainer combat stage. Moving along a semi-ballistic trajectory with a ceiling of 35 kilometers or more (the upper layers of the stratosphere), the upgraded RIM-174 ERAM will very quickly reach the target due to a low deceleration coefficient, which is ideal for quickly intercepting distant air objects and hitting sea targets. These missiles are unified with standard UVPU Mk 41 shipborne and ground-based. From the Romanian Ashora, the zone of their reach will cover almost the entire western part of the airspace over the Black Sea, which will undoubtedly complicate the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces over the Black Sea, while the Mk 41 may later “migrate” closer to the Black Sea coast, which will create a threat to the air vessels over the Crimean territory, and in this case it is necessary to act proactively, i.e. already today.
In August 2016, the Russian Ministry of Defense embarks on the final stage of the formation of an unprecedented anti-aircraft and anti-missile "umbrella" in the airspace over the Republic of Crimea. According to a statement made by the deputy commander of the 18th air defense missile regiment of the 31st air defense division, Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Oleinikov, an anti-aircraft missile regiment of the S-400 Triumph complexes will be deployed near Feodosia in August. The regiment will include at least 2 divisions of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, which will complement the S-300PS / PM1 systems already in the Crimean group of VKS.
The "400s" will form insurmountable air lines over the Crimea in several operational directions at once. So, from the Ukrainian direction, protection will be provided against the Tochka-U and Elbrus OTRKs, which are still in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since the concentration and increase in the number of heavy weapons and MLRS of Ukrainian and mercenary formations on the Crimean-Ukrainian border indicates preparation for an attempt military aggression supported by NATO. Also, SAM 9M96E2, 48N6E3 / DM, and in the future, long-range 40N6 will be able to intercept anti-aircraft missiles of the 5V55R type, which the Ukrainian calculations of the S-300PS plan to use against our aviation operating over the central and northern parts of the peninsula. The minimum RCS of targets hit by the Triumph is about 0.01 m2, which makes it possible to work on many types of other anti-aircraft missiles and even MLRS rockets. And therefore, the complex will also be able to withstand the advanced ultra-long-range missiles of the Standard-3 and Standard-6 families launched from the American Ticonderoga-class missile cruisers, the Arleigh Burke destroyers and the Aegis Ashore ground complexes.
The basing of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile regiment, for operational and tactical reasons, was chosen very competently. Feodosia is located at an altitude of 50 m above sea level. And the 92N6E multifunctional radar on the 40V6M universal mobile tower rises another 20 m, which raises the 92N6E firing antenna post up to 70 m above sea level. Owing to this, the radio horizon S-400 is 45-48 km along the JASSM-ER and BGM-109A / C / D Tomahawk flying at an altitude of 20-30 m above the wave crest. And when using 9M96E2 missiles with ARGSN and external target designation - up to 70 - 80 km. The complex will be able to provide air defense for the KUG of the Black Sea Fleet, allowing it to effectively maneuver at a distance of up to 70 km from the southern coast of Crimea. But again, I will note - only when using AWACS aircraft and other airborne target designation means.
Now about the capabilities of air defense from enemy tactical aviation. The existing arsenal of 48N6E3 missiles (range over 250 km) at the S-400 will completely cover the airspace of the Crimea, part of the Black Sea, the entire Azov Sea (up to Mariupol), as well as the southern regions of Ukraine. Even if Kiev decides to use ground attack aircraft on the border with Crimea, the remaining Ukrainian Air Force Su-24, Su-25, MiG-29 and Su-27 will be destroyed over the Nikolaev, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, and after a possible adaptation of 40N6E - over Dnipropetrovsk region. A no-fly zone can be introduced over all the southern regions of Ukraine, which will be supported by super-maneuverable multipurpose fighters Su-30SM, which are in service with the 43rd Naval Assault Aviation Regiment (AvB Novofedorovka, near the city of Saki), as well as Su -27SM and Su-30M2 of the 38th IAP in Belbek.
The S-400 regiment will form the backbone of the Crimean air defense on the southern and northern air forces, and on the western and southwestern air forces its quality of fighting low-altitude and medium-altitude targets will be slightly lower, since part of the air space in front of Feodosia is blocked by the Crimean mountains. In these areas, 9M96E will be more expedient than semi-active guided missiles. However, the 12th S-300PM1 anti-aircraft missile regiment, located in Sevastopol, copes well with the air defense tasks of these areas.
The Black Sea region is today very unstable from both geopolitical and military-strategic points of view. This is perfectly illustrated by the events that took place from July 15 to July 16 during the attempted military coup in Turkey, especially since this attempt is not the first in Turkish history and not the last. Considering that the country is in NATO, the consequences after the change of power can be completely unpredictable, depending on the personal financial interests of the new elite and the monetary “piece” that Washington can offer to the new Ottoman elite in exchange for the transfer of promising types of high-tech tactical weapons closer to the Russian borders. In direct proportion to this development of events, the level of missile hazard of the southern (Turkish) ON for the Crimean group of the Aerospace Forces will sharply increase several times at once. And in such a complex operational-strategic situation, for early information awareness of the PBU of the anti-aircraft missile regiments of the "Three hundredth" and "Four hundredth", not only AWACS aircraft of the A-50U type may be needed, but also the most powerful multi-frequency radio engineering complexes of meter, decimeter and centimeter ranges of work of the "Sky-M" type.
The multipurpose mobile RLK 55Zh6M "Sky-M" can be considered the only mobile radar system with the capabilities of a tactical missile attack warning station (SPRN). The most complex product of the Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute of Radio Engineering is represented by 3 high-potential radar modules - antenna posts with AFAR: RLM-M (meter range), RLM-D (decimeter range) and RLM-S (centimeter range); they provide the detection of any types of aerodynamic and ballistic targets, as well as their tracking along the aisle ("tie-ups") at speeds up to 5000 m / s. The centimeter module, apparently, has the hardware ability to capture targets for precise auto-tracking, and therefore, illumination for missiles with radio command, semi-active and active methods of radar guidance, which makes 55Zh6M a multipurpose complex capable of expanding the capabilities of anti-aircraft missile batteries.
When the simulated theater of war is replete with hypersonic precision weapons and electronic warfare, the operation of the S-300/400 anti-aircraft missile systems must be backed up by multipurpose Sky-M radars. The photo shows the meter (RLM-M) and decimeter (RLM-D) antenna modules of the complex, which also have the ability to conduct passive RER at distances of up to 500 km
Modules of different ranges increase the noise immunity of the complex, as well as the long-range capabilities due to the lower energy loss of longer and lower-frequency m- / dm-waves in space. Targets with an RCS of more than 2 m2 can be detected at a distance of up to 1800 km and altitudes up to 1200 km. Turkish OTBR "Yildirim-III" SRBM (range 900 km) will be spotted on the MFIs of the "Sky-M" operators immediately after launch from the central regions of Turkey. The complex is much more advanced than such products as "Sky-U" or "Protivnik-G", in addition to better noise immunity and permission to work with small-sized stealth objects, the new complex also has a sector view of the aerospace, reaching 80 degrees. angle of elevation and 90 degrees in azimuth, which surpasses such masterpieces of radio electronics as the 9S19M2 "Ginger" program review radar of the S-300V / VM complex. The number of targets tracked by means of "Sky-M" is 200 units (aerodynamic) and 20 (ballistic).
The integration of Neba-M into the aerospace defense system of such a strategically important region as the Republic of Crimea, as soon as possible, without the need to wait for the construction of such facilities as Voronezh-DM, will provide air defense calculations with early and detailed information about the air situation in within one and a half thousand kilometers from the peninsula, giving enough time to develop a technique for intercepting enemy air forces.
