The critical operational and strategic situation for the West in Syria, as well as a sharp change in the foreign policy vector of Bulgaria and Moldova, where, with the change of leaders of the countries, the position on key strategic issues for NATO has changed, became a powerful shock for the "anti-Russian axis", which will not be easy to eliminate during a few more years. In the case of Syria, we are seeing the defeat of the coalition concept of supporting the opposition forces of the Syrian Arab Republic. The partial unofficial support of IS by Western, Arabian and Qatari capital and weapons also does not give significant results: the Syrian Armed Forces, with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces, continue to confidently "replay" all the moves of the West in the Middle East theater of operations. Finally, control over the situation for NATO began to be lost after the 279th separate shipborne fighter aviation regiment (279th OKIAP), based on the Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser, was deployed in an air operation on November 15, 2016.
The situation in Bulgaria and Moldova appears before the eyes of the "Western hegemon" in an equally dramatic form. So in Bulgaria, after the victory in the presidential elections of the pro-Russian Rumen Radev, an ace pilot familiar with the MiG-29A and F-15C, on the forums and not only there were very little-valued arguments about the probable withdrawal from the North Atlantic alliance, but at the level of the Ministry of Defense there was signed a contract for the purchase of 10 RD-33 turbojet engines to restore a full fleet of 16 existing MiG-29s. It is obvious that the plan to take the Southern Military District of Russia into the strategic "grip" of NATO is failing. A similar situation is expected with Moldova, where Igor Dodon, who came to power, has already announced that he will make every effort to restore normal relations with the Russian Federation. The West finds itself in a very difficult situation, which is already pushing it towards military-political expansion in the remaining, more or less controlled operational areas.
We are talking about the Baltic States, where the US Armed Forces and some Western European NATO member states have been creating a powerful shock-defensive "fist" for more than 2 years, represented by armored brigades, infantry units in the amount of several thousand military personnel, as well as squadrons of tactical aviation with a deliberate strike configuration of missile weapons. Ukraine, which has turned into an enclave of private military companies from the United States, France and Great Britain, is not lagging behind, as well as a full-fledged training ground where experimental Ukrainian military formations test modern American and European weapons: from 12.7-mm Barrett M82A3 sniper rifles to counter-battery artillery radars. intelligence AN / TPQ-36.
After realizing the imminent rise to power in the United States of the very controversial and partly unpredictable Donald Trump, who bluntly declared the counterproductiveness of the North Atlantic Alliance in the 21st century, such conservatively anti-Russian participants as Great Britain and Denmark began to move sharply. Yes, they did not just "move", but began to concretely militarize the Baltic countries directly at our borders. As we said in the last article, the arrival of Trump will not fundamentally change American military policy (the Masonic lobby is too strong among the Republicans), but such statements by the new president really confuse all the maps of the Old World in terms of an established anti-Russian position.
In the spring of 2017, a powerful military grouping of the British Armed Forces is expected to arrive in Estonia, which will include: several dozen main battle tanks "Challenger-2", the same number of BMP MCW-80 "Warrior", several reconnaissance and strike UAVs MQ-9 "Reaper", as well as a reinforced infantry battalion of 800 British troops, and this is not counting the Danish and French units, which will also be transferred to this Baltic country. Despite the significant concentration of NATO forces near the borders of the Leningrad and Pskov regions, in the event of a conflict, they simply cannot achieve the desired result here, since they will be quickly wiped off the face of the earth by the fire of the BF naval artillery, the Smerch multiple launch rocket systems, as well as “Iskander”and Belarusian“Polonaises”, focused on key operational areas in the Baltic States and northeastern Europe. The heavy “Challengers” and the non-floating “Vorriors” will be destroyed even before the approach to the southern bypass routes of Narva and the Pskov-Peipsi Lake. "Reapers" will also be quickly shot down by the S-300/400 air defense system, and therefore London may not even dream of any containment, and even on our lands. But this is not the whole list of weapons that the British will "take" with them to Estonia.
According to Military Parity, citing Western sources, the British Armed Forces command plans to send MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) high-precision multiple launch rocket systems to Estonia, which in itself is a serious challenge both for the actions of the armored units of the Russian army in the Baltic States, as well as and for the operation of the Baltic Fleet in the main section of the sea, as well as directly in the Gulf of Finland. Why is this MLRS so dangerous?
A HIGH POTENTIAL OF MLRS IN A LAND THERE IS POSSIBLE, BUT ONLY UNDER THE CONDITION OF WEAK ANTICIPAL DEFENSE AND NO AFM ACTIVE DEFENSE MEANS
Developed by Boeing Aerospace and Vought in 1980, MLRS MLRS very quickly occupied a solid niche in the ground forces of US-friendly European, Middle Eastern and Asian states. The main operators of the rather advanced system at that time, in addition to the States themselves, were: Germany (150 combat vehicles - M270 launchers), Israel (88 BM), and finally, the object of our today's review - Great Britain, which purchased 63 BM. The exact figures regarding the current number of launchers in service with the British army vary greatly, most likely from 35 to 39 units. The rest appears to be mothballed. All BM MLRS were and are in service with the 39th Royal Artillery Regiment of the British Army. It is very clear that the MLRS / GMLRS MLRS will not serve London for the defense of the island West European state, and therefore 15 and 25 launchers can be allocated from the 39th regiment to arm the aggressively-minded Eastern European regimes.
The standard equipment of the BM M270A1 is represented by a launcher of 2 six-gear transport and launch modules (with 12 guides for NURS M26 and M26A1 / A2). The latest version of the M26A2 unguided missile has a range of about 45 km and a flight speed of up to 4M. The caliber of the projectiles is 227 mm, and therefore we can talk about their RCS within 0.05 m2: in practice, they can be intercepted even with the S-300PM1 air defense system, for which the minimum target scattering surface is limited to 0.02 m2. Until the destruction of the British MLRS launchers near our border, the issue of repelling the M26A1 / A2 strike will be partially resolved by the forces of the 500th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment of the Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov, which is armed with 4 S-300PM1 air defense missile systems. This regiment is the most efficient anti-missile unit of the Russian Aerospace Forces on the front line of the western air direction (not counting the Kaliningrad Chetyrekhsotok). In the strategy of the British command, there is undoubtedly a point of firing with MLRS at our armored vehicles and strategic objects in the bordering Leningrad and Pskov regions. Some of the unguided missiles, of course, will break through the "300th" air defense "umbrella", and in this case, most of the armored vehicles of the ground forces should be equipped with a KAZ capable of effectively repelling the impact of the M77 / 85 HEAT fragmentation warheads, of which there are as many as 518 in the head of the M26A2 missile units. Given the low armor penetration of the M77 / 85 fragmentation-cumulative warheads (from 40 to 70mm), the survivability of our T-72B, T-80BV and T-90SM can be dramatically increased due to the installation of modern DZ complexes of the "Relic" type, which overlap much more closely all MBT projections, including the upper one, from being hit by cumulative shells.
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the composition of the 6th Czestochowa Tank Brigade, which controls the western ON, can no longer be called advanced. In service are MBT T-80BV, equipped with DZ "Contact-1", which only partially covers the upper projection of the VLD tanks, as well as the upper armor plate of the tower (especially in the center and aft part): this is clearly seen in the photographs published in the review, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of a brigade with a great history. It is logical that there are no active defense complexes here either. Against 6216 cumulative "blanks" (with each MLRS BM) on such vulnerable machines you will not trample. It remains only to wait for the update of the 6th tank brigade with the modernized MBT T-80UE1 ("Object 219AS1"), as well as the promising T-14 "Armata". As it became known on November 14, 2016, already in 2017, the T-80BV tanks, upgraded to the T-80UE1 level, will begin to actively enter service with the Russian Army, which will be improved by specialists from Omsktransmash JSC and St. Petersburg SKBM JSC. Almost all vehicles should receive KAZ kits. Up to 3 thousand "jet" tanks can be "deactivated" and modernized.
The M26 unguided rockets are not the main striking force of the MLRS in the new century. In the late 1990s. the first developments on corrected projectiles with an increased range appeared, the control on the trajectory of which was realized with the help of compact aerodynamic rudders. Already in 2006, a belt unit of gas-dynamic impulse rudders was shown, which gave the experimental URS higher maneuverability when approaching a target changing its location.
With the assistance of British, French, German and Italian specialists, Lockheed Martin has achieved tremendous success in the development of the long-range guided missile M30 GMLRS (Guided MLRS). The product has been in development for over 15 years, and in the summer of 2005 it was ordered by the UK Ministry of Defense under a 55 millionth contract. The new generation shells entered service with the 39th Royal Artillery Regiment and became the most powerful and accurate ground component of the British army. These missiles have a range of 70 km and are equipped with a similar cumulative fragmentation warhead designed to defeat manpower, lightly armored vehicles (armored personnel carriers, BMP, BMD), as well as MBT in the upper projection. The presence of a control unit with drives for aerodynamic rudders, as well as a radio command correction module led to the need to reduce the dimensions of the cluster warhead: the number of KOBE was reduced from 518 to 404 units. But this reduction was offset by the minimum KVO, as well as the range, which exceeded 70 km.
The danger of deploying the M30 GMLRS in Estonia is as follows. Considering that the test launches conducted by the Lokhidovites on November 5, 2009, showed a result of 92 km, the GMLRS battery deployed in the depths of Estonian territory will be able to conduct aimed fire at surface warships of the Baltic Fleet across the entire width of the Gulf of Finland. Only 8 M270A1 launchers can launch up to 96 M30 projectiles corrected in flight in 1 minute towards a group surface target, which is 38784 HEAT-fragmentation warheads! It is necessary to intercept the M30 several kilometers before our KUG, until the deadly cassettes with four tens of thousands of BEs, flying up at a speed of about 3600 km / h, did not manage to open. And taking into account the number of the Redoubt ship-borne air defense systems in service with the BF, ready to repel, it will not be possible to destroy a third of the attacking M30s. After all, the corvettes of the project 20380 "Soobrazitelny" are carried on board the "Reduta", which are controlled by the radar "Furke-2", which is much more limited in terms of firing, in contrast to the 4-sided multichannel radar "Poliment" installed on frigates of the "Admiral Gorshkov" class …
It should also be taken into account that recharging the M269 launch-charging module (PZM), programming missiles and targeting launchers by azimuth and elevation coordinates takes only 5 minutes, after which the GMLRS battery can again unleash tons of "Steel Rain" on ships or other objects of the enemy. This is what the Iraqi military called the "stuffing" of the M26 rockets. The M30 GMLRS guided projectiles are not at all capable of sending frigates and corvettes of the Baltic Fleet to the bottom, but Steel Rain can completely disable their entire radar architecture, damaging the canvases of surveillance and multifunctional radars, which will lead to the loss of combat service capability. IBM can be simply "paralyzed". And this is not a fantasy at all, but an objective reality, predicted on the basis of the known combat qualities of the MLRS GMLRS. How to prevent such a development of events?
The first information about the appearance of the British GMLRS on Estonian territory should become the starting point from which it is necessary to begin total surveillance of the neighboring state. In optical and electronic reconnaissance, such machines as Altius-M and Tu-214R should be involved. The location of the GMLRS launcher must be regularly recorded in order to promptly issue target designations for Caliber cruise missiles and tactical aviation in the event of an escalation of the conflict. Such targets belong to the priority missile-hazardous facilities, which are primarily subject to destruction.
THE MLRS / GMLRS SOFTWARE TAKES EVERYTHING INTO EVERYTHING, FROM GUIDED PROGRAMS TO HIGH ACCURACY ELEMENTS. CROSSING A BOMB WITH A REACTIVE FLOOR SYSTEM
Around the same time as the design of the M30 GMLRS URS, the program was in full swing for the development of another type of long-range guided projectile - the XM30 GUMLRS (Guided Unitary MLRS). This product is designed on the basis of a similar M30 engine part, but with a unitary (monoblock) high-explosive penetrating warhead weighing 89 kg. At a distance of over 75 km, this projectile is capable of striking underground strongholds, runways, large bridges, underground infrastructure of strategic facilities and other structures. This projectile has sufficient accuracy to destroy surface ships of the corvette class, and therefore can be attributed to high-speed anti-ship missiles, the method of its control is similar to that installed on the earlier M30 GMLRS. An important feature of the MLRS MLRS family is the unification of six-type TPKs not only with heavy tracked launchers M270A1, but also with wheeled M142 HIMARS. The latter give additional flexibility to the airlift by the sides of military transport aircraft, as well as twice the speed of movement of the launcher on highways and off-road.
And, finally, about one of the most radical methods of modernizing MLRS of the MLRS / GMLRS family. In the spring of 2015, in the news section of the Boeing Corporation website, a brief description of a completely innovative program was published that broke all existing stereotypes regarding the use of high-precision aircraft weapons and medium and long-range multiple launch rocket systems. The publication presented the concept of an advanced multiple launch rocket system, the design of which is a hybrid of the MLRS launch and missile parts and the GBU-39B SDB small-size "narrow" bomb as a detachable warhead. Joint work on the program is being carried out by Boeing and the Swedish Saab AB. The first full-scale tests of the GLSDB were carried out in February 2015. The first modification of the MLRS MLRS-M26 unguided missile was used as a launch stage.
The newspaper "DefenseNews", citing representatives of the development companies, reported that the GLSDB based on the M26 will have a range of up to 150 km. This will be achieved thanks to the SDB entering the stratospheric cruising section at a speed of about 3.5M (at an altitude of up to 30 km), the transition to horizontal inertial flight with the wing folded and a slow descent, and then wing opening and supersonic dive at the target. To increase the range from 150 to 220 km, it will be necessary to use an accelerating first stage from the NURS M30 or XM30, which will inform the combat stage with the GBU-39B greater speed and height of the compartment. The demo sketch images of the GLSDB launch show that the warhead with the bomb is hidden under a thick thermal protective cowl-fairing, since the bomb skin and the wing module "sleeve" are absolutely not designed for flight in dense layers of the atmosphere at a speed of 4000 km / h, which occurs at the acceleration section of the trajectory (aerodynamic and temperature loads are too high).
It is noteworthy that not only the folding wing helps the bomb to achieve several times greater range, but also the mass of only 129 - 132 kg together with the fairing, the previous warheads weighed up to 154 kg. The GBU-39B SDB-I Winged Guided Bomb is a much more flexible strike tool than the M30 / XM30 projectiles; gliding from heights of 20-25 km at a speed of about 1, 3-1, 4M, the bomb can be re-aimed at a completely different target, which during the marching stage of the flight could become much more priority. It can even be re-targeted at a ground object that was left behind: a large wing, as well as developed aerodynamic rudders, will deploy it to any possible trajectory. With conventional guided missiles, such a result cannot be achieved, since compact nose corrective aerodynamic rudders are not designed to energetically control a heavy product, but can only adjust it.
The threat posed by the GLSDB MLRS is equivalent to that of the British ALARM anti-radar missiles. And the most vulnerable to these air attack weapons are numerous military air defense assets. The GBU-39B SDB-I bomb, like the ALARM rocket, can reach a large angle relative to the target at an altitude of 12-15 km, while it continues to be outside the high-altitude line of intercepting such air defense systems as Tor-M1 / 2. Finding itself directly over the target, GBU-39B begins a steep dive at angles of more than 70 degrees, and a container with a parachute opens up at the ALARM rocket and it descends to the target in loitering mode, during which the passive RGSN searches for a radio-emitting source (air defense system radar). After locating and capturing the target, the parachute is disconnected and ALARM, turning on the second stage booster engine, rushes to the target.
The approach to the target at large angles greatly complicates the interception of a gliding UAB or ALARM, since many radars have limited scanning of the airspace in the elevation plane. So, for example, if SDB-I reaches a target defended by the Tor-M2 complex at an angle of more than 64 degrees, a confident interception will be impossible: the upper range of elevation scanning for the Thor starts at 32 and ends at 64 degrees. The target simply turns out to be outside the angular sector of the air defense system radar. A similar threat remains for the S-300PS / PM1 long-range air defense system (RPN 30N6E also has an elevation limit of 64 degrees), but they are doing better, since it is possible to intercept SDB-I even in the stratospheric flight segment at a range of 35 - 45 km. The most protected, from the air attacking from above, the means of military air defense is considered to be the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and artillery complex. According to known information, the field of view of the target tracking radar ranges from -5 to +85 degrees, and the 10ES1-E optical-electronic sighting system - up to 82 degrees: even the most "cool" attacking elements of high-precision weapons can be destroyed.
To date, the promising GLSDB MLRS has not yet been put into service with the US Army and its European allies, but the main stages of working out the flight modes and behavior of the GBU-39B bomb at high supersonic speeds have already been passed, and therefore, in the near future, statements about the acquisition of the initial combat system by the system may follow. readiness. Taking into account the operating altitude and flight speed of the GLSDB (GBU-39B) combat stage on the cruising phase of the flight, the American-Swedish hybrid novelty can be classified as a high-speed supersonic aerospace attack; of course, 1500 km / h does not reach hypersound, but it is definitely on the list of tactical tools of the BGU concept. This is precisely what causes an increased interest in the evolution of an advanced system with a 33-year history on the part of the military departments and specialists of the countries directly involved in the world military-strategic upheavals.
