The first quarter of 2017 has already managed to be marked by rather sharp military-political events in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which give us the right to make very skeptical forecasts regarding the future stabilization of relations between the two main geopolitical "poles" of the world. Against the backdrop of continued official connivance and unofficial military support from Washington, as well as open assistance from European NATO member states, Kiev continues to escalate the escalation situation along the entire front line of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, preparing for an attempt at a general offensive on the southern Telman and Novo-Azov ON … According to some information from the media and radicals of the "Independent", the illegally elected President of Ukraine Poroshenko, as well as his entourage, are already "sitting on dollar suitcases" and are ready to leave the dysfunctional state immediately after the entry into force of the criminal order to launch an offensive on the territory of the independent republics. Since at the moment there are no fundamental changes in the Donbass theater of operations, we will postpone this topic until urgent "reports" are received from the military personnel and the defense department of the LPR.
Today we will turn to the consideration of the operational-strategic situation in the Asia-Pacific region, from where the news came about the preparation for the final phase of testing of a promising XASM-3 supersonic anti-ship missile for the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. According to Chinese news agencies, the Japanese Air Force ("Koku Jetai") planned to conduct live fires with XASM-3 anti-ship missiles in the previous year, but due to technical problems, they were delayed. The decommissioned and "marked" anti-submarine destroyer-helicopter carrier DDH-143 "Shirane" has long been prepared as a target. The displacement of this warship can reach 7500 tons, and its choice as a target speaks of a very significant warhead power of the new anti-ship missile, which can be comparable or even surpass the "equipment" of the Kh-31AD anti-ship missile. The upcoming event is of great relevance against the backdrop of growing tensions around the Kuril Islands and the Diaoyu (Senkaku) archipelago. Later, the Japanese Patent and Technology Agency ATLA denied information about the imminent completion of the tests; apparently to avoid unnecessary hype. But the fact of accelerating development and the start of firing suggests that by the 20th year the product will be at the level of initial combat readiness.
As for the Diaoyu archipelago, since the summer of 2012, the military-political situation here with enviable regularity ranges from tense to pre-escalation. China, whose ancient navigators discovered the Diaoyu archipelago, claims this small island chain on quite understandable grounds. In turn, the command of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces is actively deploying SSM-2 BKRCK on the islands of Ishigaki, Tarama and Mikojiyama in order to prevent attempts to approach Senkaku by the Chinese naval strike groups, creating a defensive line in accordance with the A2AD concept (restriction and denial of access and maneuver) … Since the beginning of 2017, the situation in the Kuril Islands region has also been destabilized. Receiving solid military-technical support from the United States (assistance in the serial production of the Aegis shipborne control system, the sale of 5th generation F-35A fighters and other multi-billion dollar programs), the overly embarrassed official Tokyo protested to Moscow in connection with the deployment of the BKRCK in the South Kuriles. Ball ", ZRAK" Pantsir-S1 ", as well as in connection with the transfer to the islands of the S-400" Triumph "air defense missile systems and an additional SV division in addition to the already deployed 18th machine-gun and artillery division. In the understanding of the Shinzo Abe administration, Japan secures the right to possession of the islands of Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Habomai, and any attempt to militarize them by our troops is considered in the light of an aggressive step.
For Russia, control over the aforementioned islands is not only a matter of the military-political principle, but also the most important operational-strategic guarantee for preventing the entry into the Sea of Okhotsk of American multipurpose nuclear submarines of the Virginia and Los Angeles classes, as well as the Ohio SSBN … If this part of the Kuril Islands belonged to Japan, the 70-km water section represented by the Kunashir Strait, as well as the Catherine and Frize Straits, through which the nuclear submarine component of the US Navy would easily penetrate into the Sea of Okhotsk, would get out of the control of the Russian Pacific Fleet. It is simply unacceptable to give in on this issue.
It is well known that today, as an operational-tactical tool for countering the fleets of Russia and China in the East China, Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, Tokyo uses numerous batteries of coastal anti-ship missile systems SSM-1 (Type-88) and SSM-2 (Type-12), deployed on the islands of the Ryukyu archipelago (including the Sakishima and Senkaku chains), as well as on the entire northern coast of the island of Hokkaido, next to which is the southern chain of the Kuril Islands. The anti-ship missiles of these coastal complexes are analogous to the American "Harpoons" and have a subsonic speed in the range of 950-1050 km / h. This already greatly facilitates the task of intercepting them by the Chinese multi-channel shipborne air defense systems of the HHQ-9 type, as well as the Russian S-400 and Pantsir-S1 deployed in the Kuril Islands. Also, in the Japanese SSM-1/2 anti-ship missiles, the constructive reduction of the radar signature is practically not embodied (the EPR can reach 0.3 m2), which will allow operators of our and Chinese AWACS KJ-2000 and A-50U aircraft to detect them at a distance of 180-200 km, and then immediately issue target designation to the links and squadrons of multipurpose fighters J-10A, J-11, Su-35S and Su-30SM for further interception. All these facts irrefutably pointed to the representatives of the Japanese defense departments of the rapid obsolescence of subsonic anti-ship missiles as a whole class of missile weapons, which was the basis of the fleet and air force of the Land of the Rising Sun. Indeed, even tiny neighboring Taiwan managed to adopt 2-fly anti-ship missiles of the Hsiung Feng-III family several years earlier and is preparing to equip coastal anti-ship batteries with more advanced 3-fly anti-ship missiles "Yuzo".
Tokyo did not like this situation at all, and joint efforts of Mitsubisi Heavy Industries with the Technical Research Institute of Japan accelerated the development program of the advanced XASM-3 Dummy anti-ship missile, the first sketches of which were ready back in 2002. Initially, the developers planned to get a hypersonic product with a ramjet engine capable of reaching speeds of 4 - 4.5M, but taking into account the little experience of Japanese specialists in the design of such aircraft, as well as the emphasis on low-altitude flight profile, the design speed was set at 3 - 3. 5M, which is also an excellent result. The XASM-3 will have significantly higher ABM breakthrough capabilities than the X-41 Mosquito missile.
The new Japanese anti-ship missile has received a number of design features that distinguish it favorably from our Kh-31AD, Kh-41 Mosquito and Chinese YJ-12A. Firstly, these are only 2 air intakes and air ducts located in the lower part of the rocket body with a 90-degree camber (our and Chinese missiles have 4 ramjet air ducts located in an X-shape), which significantly reduces the effective scattering surface of the XASM-3 when it is irradiated by radar systems of AWACS aircraft and tactical aviation from the upper hemisphere. Secondly, the rocket is not equipped with a front wing block, which usually increases the radar signature in any irradiation angle. Thirdly, the tail aerodynamic rudders of the Japanese product have a much larger area than the rudders of YJ-12A missiles, which indicates the ability to implement anti-aircraft maneuvers with overloads of more than 25 - 35 units. As a result, it is easy to determine that it will be quite problematic to intercept the Japanese XASM-3 anti-aircraft missiles with Chinese anti-aircraft missiles of the HHQ-9 type or our 5В55РМ (КЗРК "Fort") equipped with the "Varyag" missile systems, since these missiles must have an overload of 65 units., and the real G-limit barely reaches 35 units. Moreover, it will be quite difficult to detect it both by shipborne radar detectors and multifunctional radars, since the angular design of the air ducts and the inclined edges of the air intakes, represented by radio-absorbing coatings, do their job: the RCS is reduced to 0.02-0.03 m2.
With an approach speed of 3100 - 3300 km / h, the XASM-3 ultra-small radar signature can be decisive in the outcome of an anti-ship strike carried out by Japanese F-2A / B multipurpose fighters or P-1 anti-submarine aircraft. Consider the radar architecture of the Pacific Fleet's flagship, the 1164 Varyag missile cruiser. For the illumination of air targets, the 5V55RM missile interceptors of the "Fort" complex are responsible for the illumination and guidance radar with the 3P41 "Volna" phased array. The detection range of a target with an RCS of 3 m2 is about 80 km for it, therefore, an approaching "swarm" of 4-8 XASM-3 missiles will be detected at a distance of 20 km and "captured" at 16-18 km (further energy capabilities will not allow 3P41 and radio horizon). As a result, Fort has about 10 seconds to intercept all targets, because XASM-3 missiles approach at a speed of about 900 m / s, and at a distance of 5 km from the ship a “dead zone” begins for Fort. Some of the missiles (3-5 units), possibly, will be intercepted, I somehow do not want to talk about the rest.
And this we did not take into account the possibility of using an electronic warfare station in the on-board radio-electronic equipment of the Japanese anti-ship missile system! The surface component of the Pacific Fleet also has practically nothing to form a strong close-range anti-missile "umbrella" from the XASM-3 "Dummy" to the surface component of the Pacific Fleet. Dagger "(700 m / s) and" Osa-MA "(500 m / s), which are not designed to intercept such high-speed and maneuverable air attack weapons as the new Japanese missiles. In fact, it may turn out that by the time the Japanese Air Force adopts XASM-3 missiles (in 2-3 years), only one Varyag will be able to repel their strike, which will put the defense capability of the entire Pacific Fleet into question. Even if the heavy nuclear missile cruiser pr. 1144 "Admiral Lazarev" with the S-300F "Fort" complex on board, which has undergone modernization, will again enter the Pacific Fleet, the fleet's low anti-missile potential will remain.
In the near future, at the facilities of the Instrument-Making Design Bureau, serial production of the Pantsir-M (Mace) ship anti-aircraft missile and artillery systems will be launched. Initially, the combat modules of the complex will be installed on the heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser of the project 1143.5 "Admiral Kuznetsov", replacing the outdated "Daggers", then other classes of surface warships of the Northern Fleet will be equipped with "Shells". The Northern Fleet will be the first to receive these complexes, since it is located in the most missile-hazardous north-western strategic direction, from where one can expect the most powerful MRAUs from the naval and aircraft carrier strike groups of the united NATO naval forces, and therefore it is possible to expect the re-equipment of the ships of the Pacific Fleet with "Armor" only after 2020 … By this time, the arsenals of the Japanese Air Force will have more than 150-200 XASM-3 anti-ship missiles.
This complex is considered a real "guru" in the construction of close-range anti-missile defense of the order of the KUG, and in terms of combat effectiveness more than 2.5 times surpasses the ZRAK "Kortik". The maximum speed of the targets hit reaches 3960 km / h, which allows the Pantsiru-M to operate according to the Japanese XASM-3, in contrast to other shipborne short-range air defense systems. The use of a dual-range optoelectronic sighting module (in addition to the Ka-band guidance radar) of high resolution AOP (10ES1-E), equipped with a medium-wave infrared sight, allows you to detect an approaching supersonic anti-ship missile at a distance of about 7-12 km (depending on the EPR), and the short reaction time is 4-5 s. will give the opportunity to start shelling enemy air assets almost 2 times faster than the "Fort". Moreover, the "Pantsir-M" dead zone is 25 times smaller than that of the "Fort" and is only 200 m for 2x30-mm automatic cannons AO-18KD, which increases the area of fire impact by about 1.25-1.3 times on the enemy's air attack means. The range of the complex against a target of the "fighter" type reaches 20 km when using two-stage bicaliber missiles 57E6.
For the Japanese anti-ship missiles XASM-3, the Pantsir has many technological "surprises", in particular: the ability to work on high-speed targets diving at an angle of 80-82 ° (in case the "Dummy" uses the "slide" maneuver), high fire productivity - up to 10 air targets per minute, as well as a target channel of 4 units.
A significant increase in the anti-missile qualities of the Pacific Fleet ships in the fight against the supersonic Japanese anti-ship missiles XASM-3 may follow after the adoption of Project 20380 corvettes equipped with the Redut air defense missile system with 9M96E / E2 missiles. These anti-aircraft missiles will easily perform the task of intercepting a maneuvering 3-fly anti-ship missile, since they are equipped with a "belt" of transverse gas dynamic engines (DPU), which allow maneuvering with an overload of up to 65G. Meanwhile, despite the promises of the Pacific Fleet command to adopt the Sovershenny and Gromkiy corvettes by 2016, made back in the spring of 2015, these warships never appeared in the Asia-Pacific region, while the facilities of the American shipyards Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding launch a new Arley Burke-class URO destroyer almost every 4-5 months. The protracted process of renewal of the Pacific Fleet's naval personnel appears today in approximately this light.
Chinese naval strike groups look much more secure against the background of the promising Japanese XASM-3 anti-ship missiles than our only Varyag, since their air defense is formed by modern Type 052C Lanzhou and Type 052D Kunming destroyers. First, there are much more of them in service: 6 Lanzhou-class EVs and 4 Kunming-class EVs. Secondly, they are equipped with a high-performance combat information and control system of the H / ZBJ-1 type (analogue of the Aegis BIUS), which provides the HHQ-9 anti-aircraft missile system with a high rate of fire (about 1 s), and also makes it possible to control the flight simultaneously 12-18 missiles of the HQ-9 type. This already greatly increases the chances of a successful interception of such a complex object as the XASM-3 "Dummy" anti-ship missile system. Thirdly, the HHQ-9 complex of the Kunming-class destroyers, in addition to the HQ-9 long-range missiles, are armed with DK-10A medium-range anti-aircraft missiles (analogs of the American RIM-162 ESSM, - Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile). The DK-10A is a deeply modernized hybrid of the Chinese PL-12 air-to-air missile and the Russian R-77 URVV (RVV-AE). Since the DK-10A launches from sea level, a powerful dual-mode solid-propellant rocket engine is used to maintain proper energy after the propellant burns out, due to which the rocket length is slightly increased. To maintain normal bearing qualities in the rocket, sufficiently developed trapezoidal wings of low elongation are used, located close to the center of mass of the product. The range of the Chinese SAM DK-10A reaches 35-50 km, the speed is 4M. To maintain the high flight performance and maneuverability of the rocket with an increased length, larger tail aerodynamic rudders of double sweep along the leading edge were used.
The main advantage of this Chinese missile defense system is the use of an active radar homing head (ARGSN) with a slotted antenna array of the 9B1348E type. It allows you to capture targets of the XASM-3 type at a distance of 4-6 km. The active homing of the DK-10A anti-aircraft missiles makes it possible to most effectively use the resources of the ship's BIUS H / ZBJ-1 and the Type 346 multifunctional radar, since the radio correction channels are used only until the target is captured by the ARGSN missiles, and then the "let it go" principle is applied. Recall that target illumination for anti-aircraft missiles with semi-active RGSN HQ-9 should be carried out immediately before the target is hit, and illumination is performed by a separate 1-channel continuous radiation radar located on the bow superstructure. This greatly reduces the combat capabilities of the ship's air defense system. Anti-aircraft guided missiles DK-10A allow you to simultaneously intercept more than 16 air attack weapons without any "alternate guidance" used for the HQ-9 missiles.
The DK-10A missiles, like their western counterparts RIM-162 ESSM, are housed in specialized quadruple transport and launch modules, which are installed in the cells of the universal launchers of Chinese Type 052D EMs, which increases the ammunition capacity by exactly 4 times in comparison with the arsenal of larger HQs. -nine. These launch modules will also be received by the next generation destroyer Type 055. And even under such circumstances, the Chinese KUG will not be fully insured against the "breakthrough" of their own missile defense by Japanese 3-fly anti-ship missiles of the XASM-3 type. The appearance of such weapons in the hands of Tokyo seriously shifts the technological needs of the Russian and Chinese fleets towards strengthening the combat potential of close missile defense, which is now far from being at the best level.
