"Dagger" of mercy
Rumors about the Iskander on the plane, in general, were circulating, albeit vague. Although they say that photos of the MiG-31 with suspended models were leaked on the Web, they were able to be cut right away. "Potential partners" from overseas knew something about the product, and even probably knew something, but either they did not attach importance to the information, or the information was not enough for analysis, or was considered a "misconception". in the well-known fundamental document "Nuclear Policy Review-2018" among the nuclear threats there are also "Status-6" and "Sarmat", and even the Su-57, and various Korean and Chinese crafts, but nothing like a hypersonic guided missile (GZUR) "Dagger" is not.
The fact that this missile was created on the basis of one of the ballistic missiles (more precisely, quasi-ballistic maneuvering missiles) of the official Iskander-M operational-tactical complex is immediately clear. Because if you see an animal about the size of a cat and looking like a cat, then this is one of the breeds of cats. So it is with the "Dagger" - its dimensions and shapes almost exactly coincide with one of the Iskander missile variants - about 7.7 m in length, although the weight, which is officially declared, is greater than that of the ground version - 5 tons at 800 kg warhead versus 3.8 tons at 480kg warhead. However, who said that these data are correct? So far, it is clear that the dimensions are the same, which means that the weight is also similar. Is that the "Dagger" (more precisely, the missile of the "Dagger" complex) has a conical shank, which is separated shortly after the rocket is detached, before starting the engine.
This frame shows the departure of this very shank.
The declared range is of the order of 2000 km at a speed of about 10M and maneuvering along the course and altitude (whatever the "Dagger" is not able to do - "Iskander" can, after all), the possibility of hitting ground and sea targets with conventional or special warheads. This increase in range in comparison with the officially 500 km range of the Iskander-M quasi-ballistic missile can be explained by several reasons. This is a start from an air carrier, which takes place in thin layers of the atmosphere, and not from the ground, and even a solid increment both in height (and the MiG-31 can climb over 20 km) and in speed, especially if the carrier is again a MiG -31 - it has a maximum speed of 3000 km / h. Also, the range can also increase due to changes in the composition of solid fuel. Well, due to the fact that an aeroballistic missile does not need to fit officially into the framework of the still valid INF Treaty ("for now" because the actions of both superpowers may lead to the fact that it may become history in the coming years), and designers can use reserves hidden in the structure.
"Dagger" on suspension
He's the same, but in the air
The carrier of the "Dagger" at the moment is a heavy high-speed air defense interceptor MiG-31BM or BSM, and these modifications from the very beginning, it turns out, were "sharpened" for this formidable weapon. In the future, the Su-57, the Su-34 / 34M, the Su-35S, and, perhaps, the Tu-22M3M can also become the carrier. Although the "Dagger" was tested from older versions of the MiG-31, converted for it. The tests were carried out at the GLITs on Akhtuba, as expected. So, in the first video in Putin's Address, the missile was carried by the Akhtuba MiG-31 board, with the tail number "592" - a remarkable machine. It was from the very first series and was the first to be equipped with an air refueling system, and it was tested on it for this type of aircraft. Even was the first over the North Pole, and not even over one - and over the geographical and over the geomagnetic. She worked on many other programs, and is still alive and working on "Dagger". It was announced that the system is on experimental combat duty in the Southern Military District. But there is no MiG-31 in the district in the linear units yet. But the chest opens simply. In a more complete video from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, where the rocket is much more fully demonstrated, and the launch is shown, the carrier is the MiG-31BM machines and the Akhtuba GLITs, and the airfield, this is clearly visible, also Akhtuba. That is, for the time being, the experimental-combat operation of the complex is being carried out at the GLITs, in the future, as expected, it will be transferred for development, military tests and development of tactics for application to the Lipetsk Aviation Center, more precisely, to its branch in Savasleika, where the same MiG-31BM, well and then to the linear air units. As reported in the same video, since the beginning of the year, the crews have completed more than 250 flights and are fully prepared to solve tasks as intended in any weather and time of day. And in any given area - like the Eastern Mediterranean, you have to understand.
Moreover, confusion arose with the "Dagger" - they began to confuse it with other products. So, the new Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces, Colonel-General Surovikin called the "Dagger" the index X-47M2 (or simply the X-47, and the interviewers accidentally attributed the "M2" other weight and dimensions of the product. It is very likely that it was about another product, presumably known as "product 75", developed jointly by the head enterprise Tactical Missile Armament Corporation JSC in Korolev and the Raduga State Design Bureau in Dubna. This GZUR is an anti-ship missile also capable of hitting ground targets, with a speed of either 6 or more than 8M, about 6m long, weighing more than 1.5 tons and a range of about 1500km when launched along a high-altitude profile. Information about her began to leak into the media even before the disclosure of information about the "Dagger". Perhaps the index X-47 refers to her. This GZUR is equipped with a ramjet engine and is equipped with a combined active-passive radar homing head, presumably - the development of the seeker of the Kh-35U "Uran-U" anti-ship missile system. It was reported that this missile in the area of 2020. will be produced at a rate of "up to 50 items per year" (like "Dagger"), obviously, it is also being tested now. But this hypersonic UR / KR / RCC is not our last. There is also an operational anti-ship missile system "Zircon-S", created for ships and submarines of the Navy, and, obviously, coastal SCRC. And a deep modernization of the old X-22M anti-ship missiles, in fact, a new missile in a similar body, the X-32, which has already been adopted by the Tu-22M3 / M3M bombers. It can also be considered "nearly hypersonic". Why do we need such a "zoo" of hypersonic missiles? Obviously, because their purpose and capabilities are, nevertheless, different. The aeroballistic "Dagger" can perform maneuvers, but it is obvious that the winged "Zircon" and the Kh-47 (conventionally) can do it better or have the ability to fly along a low-altitude trajectory, which "Iskander's brother" is deprived of. Well, the possibilities of various enterprises to saturate their arsenals with much-needed products, in fact, leveling any naval, for example, the enemy's advantage, to say the least, are also limited. And several cooperatives will hand over more products in total per year. In addition, the "Dagger" is produced on the basis of the "Iskander" - well-developed in production and produced in a wide series. 2 brigade sets are handed over a year, this is at least 60-70, or even 100 missiles, given that there are 12 APUs in a brigade of 2 missiles each, and we also need a supply for arsenals and for combat training. In addition, ground-based Iskanders will not be produced for a long time - they will equip missile brigades in all armies and army corps, and that's all for now. The capacities will be freed up - so they will be occupied by the "Dagger".
Flying sensation
The announcement by the President of the Kyrgyz Republic with a nuclear engine and unlimited range is undoubtedly the main surprise. At first, many could not even understand how such a product could be created at all, but then old projects quickly came to mind. For example, the Soviet projects of the 50s of cruise and ballistic intercontinental missiles with nuclear rocket engines. As a result, the space nuclear rocket engine RD-0410 was born from these projects in the 80s. It was tested, albeit not for a full cycle of work, and now its "heirs" have also been developed. In the United States, there was the SLAM project - a giant CD of unlimited range with 14-26 thermonuclear warheads with a capacity of 1Mt. The range of this development by Vought was planned at an altitude of 300m as much as 21.3 thousand km, and at an altitude of 10700m - 182 thousand. km! At speeds of 3.5-4.2M, depending on the flight profile. Of course, such parameters were unattainable with the then technology level, and the project was closed by 1964. Including because ICBMs and SLBMs made it possible to achieve the same goals, but much faster and more reliably at that time, and were sufficiently developed. At that time, the Americans already had Titan-1, Titan-2, Minuteman-1 ICBMs, and Polaris A1, A2 and A3 SLBMs were deployed. However, the prototypes of NRE were tested, with the maximum achieved result in the form of a total power of 513 MW and a thrust of 160 kN, but not more than 5 minutes - and then, there was only one such test.
But in Russia, they created a CD of quite normal dimensions, judging by the aerodynamics, subsonic or transonic. It has a cylindrical long compartment at the bottom of the main body, apparently with a reactor installation. The principle is a subsonic direct-flow air-jet, and the working fluid, of course, is air. That is, a nuclear ramjet engine (YAPVRD). This air enters the engine, is compressed by its diffuser, then a nuclear fuel assembly of unknown design heats it up, it expands and is thrown out through the nozzle. It is not difficult to draw such an engine, but to implement it is just the opposite. The turbojet principle is also possible, just instead of the combustion chamber - "atomic heating pad".
You can try to guess the product developer. There are assumptions that it is the Novator OKB - the developer of the now well-known KR 3M14 "Caliber" (more precisely, several modifications of the "Caliber"), and the PKR 3M54, and the ground-based KR of the "Iskander-M" complex - 9M728 and 9M729. The fact is that the rocket also looks similar to other "innovative" products, and the 9M730 index was recently disclosed in their open documentation. It is not known what it is, perhaps this is a prototype of a flying nuclear "oven" for incoming air, launched, at the moment, from a ground launcher.
Those who write that the new CD in the process of testing creates a strong radioactive trace are wrong. Of course, there will be a slight activation of the air. But given the "purge" speed and the air dwell time in the engine, the air activation will be very small. Also, neutrons from the core from atmospheric nitrogen-14 will produce radioactive carbon-14 with a half-life of 5730 years. It gives beta decay, that is, it is quite safe, and turns into stable nitrogen-14. Even when it enters the human body, it creates a fairly small dose of internal radiation in comparison with many other isotopes, such as potassium-40. And this very carbon-14 in the stratosphere and the upper troposphere is already unmeasured - it is formed as a result of the absorption of thermal neutrons by nitrogen nuclei, which arise from the interaction of cosmic rays with the planet's atmosphere. This radioactive carbon is also produced by thermal power plants, especially coal-fired ones (this refers to the question of "environmentally friendly" electric vehicles that need to be charged from a network powered by a thermal power plant). That is, the active track of our CD with nuclear power plants will be almost imperceptible in the atmosphere and almost no damage to the atmosphere and ecology. Unless, of course, we do not consider that the nuclear reactor will be destroyed when it hits the target, so this CD is unlikely to have any other warhead, except for the thermonuclear options. But this is the case if the fuel assemblies are hermetically sealed, and if not quite, which is possible in experimental installations, then some small traces of other isotopes are possible. Probably, the recent lamentations in the Western press about an imaginary accident in Russia and alleged ruthenium emissions are connected precisely with the fact that then a prototype of the system was being tested and the "partners" suspected something, evaluating information about the arrival of Rosatom aircraft to northern airfields, along with the planes command and measuring complex.
What is such a system for? After all, we already have the most long-range missile launchers in the world, such as the non-nuclear X-101 and the nuclear X-102, with ranges reportedly from 4500 to 5500 km. They can be fired from bombers practically from our territory. So why do we need rockets of unlimited range? Firstly, such missiles may not break through the air defense, they will simply bypass all and any air defense pockets, given its weakness both in Western Europe and in the United States - there simply will not be continuous zones there. Secondly, they are capable of patrolling for a long time, including tens of hours before the opening of hostilities, they can take positions in sparsely populated and open air defense areas, and from there reach targets, having received a signal from a satellite (it is clear that this is just an assumption). Of course, speaking of "unlimited range", no one means flights for weeks, but you can probably count on several tens of hours. Also untenable is the reproach that, they say, since the new CD is subsonic, then it is immediately vulnerable to air defense. Yes, indeed, CDs in conventional equipment for modern layered integrated air defense, and in combination with electronic warfare means, are not as dangerous a threat as they were 30 years ago. But even in the Russian Federation, such dense air defense is far from everywhere, and our potential adversaries have even more so, not to mention a different level of the systems themselves. But CD with special warheads is much more dangerous, tk. just one mistake costs immeasurably more.
In addition, such a weapon system can be a good bargaining chip in possible negotiations. But this is if our overseas counterparts are generally able to return to an adequate state and seriously negotiate something there. In what there are doubts, it is not yet clear that the American leadership, despite a number of clicks on the nose, like the hypersonic race started by the United States itself with a bang, is able to move away from cheap methods in politics, similar to those of small-criminals, rasping "lads" in leather Turkish jackets and sweatpants from the early 90s. They lack, you know, an adequate assessment of reality.
