One of the most important elements in maintaining the combat stability of modern shipborne and aircraft carrier strike groups, without a doubt, are promising shipborne anti-aircraft missile and anti-aircraft missile-artillery self-defense systems of short and medium range, designed to cover both individual NKs and orders in general. from massive "star" strikes by enemy anti-ship and anti-radar missiles. The list of the main requirements for this anti-aircraft / anti-missile weapon in the 21st century includes: compactness of interceptor missiles, their high maneuverability, as well as guidance systems that allow implementing the "fire-and-forget" principle and not overload the computing power of a multifunctional guidance radar and combat information and control system (we are talking about equipping missiles with infrared and active radar homing heads). Thanks to this, there is a rapid release of the target channels of the radar, as well as the channels of simultaneously guided missile interceptors, which significantly increases the fire performance of the ship or ground air defense system.
As we have already noted more than once in numerous previous works, the US Navy in this direction is still lagging behind the developed fleets of Western European states, as well as the Russian Navy. So that no one else has any questions regarding the current capabilities of the Aegis - ESSM bundle in countering the massive use of small-sized high-speed anti-ship and anti-radar missiles of the enemy, we recall that at the moment the ammunition load of the Mk 41 universal launchers of the Arleigh Burke class destroyers and missile cruisers "Ticonderoga" is represented by anti-aircraft missiles RIM-162 "Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile" modification Block 1, equipped with semi-active radar seeker. These interceptors need constant illumination from the AN / SPG-62 CW radar; the latter on board the "Arley Burke" only 3, and therefore the number of simultaneously hit targets - 3 units, while the correction channels for missiles - 18 (the number of simultaneously launched to intercept missiles). At the same time, the approach of several dozen air force distributed among echelons to the "Aegis" -ship at once will "overload" the target channels, and the target will be hit.
The RIM-174 ERAM (SM-6) ultra-long-range anti-aircraft guided missiles (SM-6), which use the modernized active radar homing head from air combat missiles AIM-120C AMRAAM with an increased area of the slotted antenna array, help the American KUG to partially exclude such a scenario. Here, the simultaneous defeat of 18 VCs can be realized, since the SM-6 does not depend on 3-4 SPG-62 illumination channels and uses the data received from the main AN / SPY-1A / D (V) radar. Nevertheless, the use of a limited arsenal of SM-6 to destroy attacking anti-aircraft missiles, anti-aircraft missile systems and other elements of high-precision weapons is an extremely expensive and inexpedient pleasure, capable of depriving a warship of an anti-aircraft arsenal in a matter of minutes, and therefore American sailors will have to wait another two to three years to acquire initial combat readiness with improved RIM-162 Block II ESSM missiles (this will happen no earlier than 2019). And the maneuverability of the SM-6 leaves much to be desired: the presence of only aerodynamic rudders does not allow intercepting vigorously maneuvering with overloads of more than 12-20 units. anti-ship missiles, while the RIM-162 have an OVT gas-jet system, which brings the missile's available overloads to 50-55G during the burnout of the engine's solid propellant charge.
The shipborne anti-aircraft missile systems of the RAM and SeaRAM modifications are also incapable of providing full cover against modern air threats. The complexes, represented by multi-charge modular inclined launchers Mk 49 (equipped with the 21st transport and launch cell for large displacement NK), as well as more compact Mk 15 Mod 31 CIWS (made in a "package" of 11 TPK with integrated optical-electronic and radar posts for ships of small displacement) have in ammunition the short-range anti-aircraft missiles RIM-116A / B costing in the range of 350 - 450 thousand dollars per unit. Despite the fact that the latter are equipped with fairly effective and anti-jamming infrared-ultraviolet 2-band POST-RMP homing heads from FIM-92B anti-aircraft missiles of the Stinger complex, the probability of intercepting supersonic anti-aircraft missiles performing anti-aircraft maneuvers remains extremely low, since the Mk 36 solid-fuel engine Mod 11 (from the AIM-9M air combat missiles) is not able to maintain a high supersonic flight speed at the level of 2, 3-2, 5M for a long time, especially at ultra-low altitudes, where the effect of aerodynamic braking reaches its limit values. In particular, if at the time of operation of the solid-propellant charge of the main engine, the speed of the RIM-116A / B family missiles reaches 2520 km / h, then immediately after its burnout it begins to rapidly decrease to 1.5-1.2M, when it becomes impossible to intercept even maneuvering subsonic anti-ship missiles.
For example, anti-aircraft guided missiles of the RIM-116 Block I modification are capable of destroying targets maneuvering with overloads of 10-12G at a distance of no more than 5-6 km, while missiles of the "Block II" variant with a 1.3 times longer engine - at a distance of 7 -9 km. As for air attack weapons operating with a G-limit of 15 or more units, "SeaRAM" is not capable of hitting them at all due to the lack of advanced controls (gas-dynamic engines of transverse control and / or a gas-jet or interceptor thrust vector deflection system). Moreover, the RIM-116A / B anti-aircraft interceptor missiles are not able to effectively resist high-precision missile weapons equipped with passive homing means, as well as those approaching with a spent fuel charge. This category of targets includes corrected, guided aerial bombs, as well as anti-radar missiles. All of the above weapons have almost zero infrared signature (they are not able to "capture" IR seeker POST-RMP), and also does not emit electromagnetic waves, which are the main source of target designation for specialized paired passive radar sensors placed in front of the IKGSN RIM-116B fairing.
Nevertheless, these self-defense anti-aircraft missile systems are far from the most advanced anti-missile weapons for covering the close borders of western naval and aircraft carrier strike groups. According to the TASS agency, citing the British edition of The Daily Telegraph, on December 21, 2017, the Sea Ceptor, an advanced medium-range anti-aircraft missile system installed on the Duke-class HMS Agryll (F231) frigate, was successfully tested. During the double launch of the CAMM anti-missile missiles, 2 air targets were destroyed. Recall that at the beginning of this summer, throw tests of the SAM data were carried out, after which, in September, the British Navy, together with specialists from the British division of the MBDA corporation ("Matra BAE Dynamics Alenia"), conducted field tests of the complex to intercept a single air target …An extremely valuable information reserve was obtained regarding the flight technical features of the promising CAMM interceptor missiles and the operation of a two-way radio channel for data exchange between the missile and the ship's radar, or other means of targeting. This groundwork will make it possible to even more clearly optimize the software algorithms of the inertial navigation system and the CAMM missile homing heads for use over the water surface of sea / ocean theaters of war.
What features can the CAMM anti-aircraft missile boast of in comparison with our 9M330-2 / 9M338 short-range interceptors of the Kinzhal / M-Tor complexes? First, it has excellent network centricity in the marine theater of the 21st century. This missile was designed according to a modular scheme within the framework of the unified FLAADS (Future Low-Altitude Air Defense System) program in parallel with the CAMM (L) surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile, as well as the CAMM (A) air-to-air missile for "Dog dump" and medium-range air combat, and therefore can be programmatically adapted to receive target designation from third-party sources (AWACS E-3D aircraft, stealth F-35B fighters, etc.). In our anti-aircraft missiles 9М330-2 and promising 9М338 (Р3В), this quality is not realized even at the hardware level, especially since radio command control, which strictly depends on the radio control channel on the carrier, does not allow it. In turn, the radio command control reveals another well-known drawback of the M-Torov and Daggers - the limited target channeling of the complexes, where one module / antenna post of the 9A331MK-1 or K-12-1 MRLS can provide simultaneous fire work no more than on four air targets.
The British Sea Ceptor anti-aircraft missile system is devoid of this problem, since the CAMM anti-aircraft missiles are equipped with active radar homing heads, which make it possible to simultaneously fire up to several dozen air targets (depending on the throughput of the ship's UHF radar and the computational qualities of the BIUS "filling") … The Umkhonto-R short / medium-range anti-aircraft missiles used by the Umkhonto complex from the South African defense company Denel Dynamics have similar parameters. In comparison with the three-band homing head of the RIM-116B missile defense system (IR / UV and passive radar), the ARGSN CAMM missiles do not impose restrictions on the interception of "cold" air targets with an inoperative engine approaching a defended object. Also, the probability of destroying a target by the kinetic method (direct hit) increases several dozen times, which opens up certain "horizons" in the fight against ballistic objects.
Secondly, the CAMM anti-aircraft missiles have a maximum flight speed of 3,700 km / h, which makes it possible to overtake such complex and high-speed anti-ship missiles as the 3M-45 Granit and even the 3M55 Onyx from close range; moreover, such a speed will make it possible to prolong the process of ballistic deceleration of the missile, which increases the effective range against any type of target, even after the fuel is burned out. For the maneuvering characteristics of CAMM missiles, tail aerodynamic rudders are responsible, and possibly (not confirmed) and tail gas-dynamic rudders. As you know, the latter are intended for declining missiles in the direction of the target immediately after the exit of the CAMM from the TPK of the vertical launcher, but they can also be used at the time of active turning on the target in addition to the aerodynamic planes.
From all this, it follows that the CAMM SAM interceptors, which have a ridiculous mass of 99 kg and hull elements based on high-strength composite materials and alloys, are capable of handling overloads of 60-70 units, like their South African "relatives" Umkhonto-R ". As a result, the British CAMM missiles are able to withstand even the most nimble supersonic anti-ship missiles of the 3M55 Onyx, 3M54E Caliber-NK and X-41 Mosquito types. As for the range, the standard version of the CAMM rocket (length 3200 mm and body diameter - 166 mm) can work on targets at a distance of up to 30 km, long-range (CAMM-ER, developed with the support of the Italian division of MBDA) - 45-50 km … These missiles can be used both from standard VPU GWS26 Mod.1 for "Sea Wolf" missiles, and from UVPU Mk 41 using quadruple trusses (4-fold increase in ammunition). With such parameters, the Sea Ceptor air defense systems turn the British Navy ships into a rather serious headache both for individual attack submarines - "aircraft carrier killers" and for the KUG as a whole for a very long period of time, before the fleet switches to the Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missiles.
