Dangerous meetings of "Drying" and "Rafale F-3R" in the "torn sky" of Europe. What promises a new "surprise" from "Dassault"?
FRENCH FACTOR IN MILITARIZATION OF EASTERN EUROPE. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE AIR AIR DEFENSE OF THE CSTO WESTERN FRONTIERS
Immediately after the unanimous approval by the US Senate of the next package of anti-Russian sanctions 15 June 2017, the official Paris represented by the speaker of the French Foreign Ministry sharply criticized this decision because of its fundamental differences with the interests of the leading Western European countries. This is not surprising, since the new list of restrictions deals a significant economic blow exclusively to the energy security of the European Union. In particular, such “strategically important French companies in the energy sector as Engine, which is far from the last place in the Nord Stream 2 project, as well as Total, which owns the 20% stake enterprises producing liquefied natural gas Yamal LNG and 50% of the Kharyaginsky oil field in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.
Despite the discontented rhetoric of Paris, the French Armed Forces command, reintroduced into the military structures of the North Atlantic Alliance in April 2009, is successfully participating in the active militarization of the Baltic countries bordering Russia. So, back in August 2016, the French Air Force command deployed a link from 4 Mirage-2000-5 multi-role fighters to the Lithuanian air base in Siauliai to patrol the airspace over the Baltic Sea, as well as along the Lithuanian-Belarusian air border. Moreover, on March 29, 2017, 4 French AMX-56 Leclerc MBTs arrived at military facilities in Estonia, which are the most network-centric tanks Western European development with a tank information management system ICONE TIS and control system Savan-20, 13 infantry fighting vehicles VBCI, as well as dozens of armored vehicles VAB and VBL. All these “bells and whistles” clearly indicate that regardless of the reason for the escalation of the military conflict between Russia and NATO in the East European theater of operations, the French Armed Forces, especially the Air Force, will be “tightly” drawn into it.
The French multi-role fighters of the Mirage 2000C / -5 family have long been involved in various NATO air operations near Russian airspace. This photograph taken on May 12, 2011 shows the moment the Mirage 2000C fighter escorted the Russian radio-reconnaissance aircraft Il-20M Lysukha over the Baltic Sea. This fighter with code "103-KE" and tail number "101" belongs to the fighter squadron EC 1/12 "Cambresis" of the French Air Force, part of which was transferred to the Lithuanian air base Siauliai on April 28, 2011. Already on May 30, these same fighters performed the “interception” of the AWACS A-50 aircraft and the escorting Su-27 (photo below). It is noteworthy that during the rapprochement of the Mirage with aviation The Russian Air Force, on the suspension nodes of the first one could see only the Magic-2 short-range air combat missiles and large PTBs. Despite the high maneuverability of this missile (maximum overload of up to 45 units and flight with large angles of attack), the maximum radius of action does not exceed 3 km at low altitude and 8-10 km in the stratosphere. Now they are already patrolling with the MICA-EM Air Defense Forces, which is the main indicator of the complicated military-political situation.
It is worth noting that in recent years, Russia has taken a series of countermeasures in response aimed at parrying the increasing strength of the “fist” of the Allied Forces of NATO in Eastern Europe. In particular, the maximum possible emphasis was placed on strengthening the air defense forces of the Republic of Belarus, which is the second strategic line of defense of the CSTO, along with the Kaliningrad region, in the western air route. For example, within the framework of the Union State and the CSTO, Russia over the past few years has donated to the Air Force and Air Defense Forces of Belarus 2 the C-400 "Triumph" anti-aircraft missile division, as well as the X-NUMX division of the early C-4 SAM systems.
If you look at the map and assess the length of the borders of Belarus with NATO member countries, it becomes clear that, given the divisions of the C-12PT / PS and C-300В, as well as the 300 divisions of the Buk air defense missile system, that number is sufficient for Belarus to create two full-fledged missile defense boundaries on the western approaches to the CSTO. And most importantly, reliable air defense and anti-missile defense can now be provided not only for medium-altitude and high-altitude sections of the air border of the Republic of Belarus, but also for low-altitude, because it is known that to create a solid radar field between C-4 / 300 divisions (taking into account the use of universal towers 400B40М and radio horizon phenomena), the latter must be located at a distance of 6 — 55 km from each other, therefore, to create one western frontier for low-altitude air defense, as applied to Belarus, the 65 of the C-10 divisions is sufficient.
To overlap the “dead zones” of the “Three Hundreds / Fourswells”, described by 5 - by the CPs 3-kilometer radii from the 5P85С and 5P85Т2 launchers, the Belarusian air defense units have at least 12 4-Cryls at their disposal at least 95 XChNUMX 2 launchers. the number of at least the sophisticated T38 “Stilet” air defense missile systems developed by the Belarusian Tetrahedr research and production association. The immense importance of maintaining the high combat potential of the air force and air defense of Belarus is easily explained by the "space" update speeds of the Polish air force with the advanced AGM-158A / B JASSM / -ER tactical long-range cruise missiles. This precision weapon with an EPR near 0,05 - 0,1m2 and an altitude of about 20 - 50 m, if launched over Poland or Lithuania, can reach almost any strategically important object of Russia within Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh. JASSM-ER is a product much more subtle and insidious than Tomahawks.
The last news about the modernization of the Air Force of Belarus became the details of the contract for the acquisition of a squadron of 12 Russian Su-30CM totaling $ 600 million, which will be adopted by the year 2021. Despite the fact that the “preferential” cost of each car will be about 50 million dollars for Minsk, to minimize the burden on the Belarusian economy, favorable credit conditions and a slowdown in the delivery rate of fighters will be applied. Assessing the current state of the fighter aircraft fleet of the Belarusian Air Force, it becomes clear that this contract should have been concluded as early as 2013, 2014, when the saturation of the Baltic air bases in the Mirage, Typhoon and F-16C Block 52 + was minimal. Now, it will be very difficult to make a “breakthrough” in the balance of power, especially when only one squadron from 12 aircraft is ordered. And this is on the strategically important western air route, where the enemy has a tenfold advantage! But here the problem is not so significant, because when the slightest signs of an approaching escalation appear in the airspace of the Republic of Belarus, several fighter squadrons of the Russian air forces will instantly appear, represented by Su-35С, Su-27СМ and MiG-35 fighters, which are significantly ahead of F-16C Block 52 + and "Typhoons", which are in service with the Air Force of Poland and Germany.
Much more trouble in this case can create an actively developing modernization program for French multi-purpose fighter generation "4 ++" "Rafale". Currently, the French Air Force has approximately 110 operational Rafale F2 / 3. Starting from the 2013 year, some of these machines received onboard radars from the active PARA RBE2 AESA instead of the radars of the previous generation of passive PFAR RBE2 PESA. The energy parameters of the new version with AFAR are approximately 65% higher than those of the PFAR radar. If "Rafa F2 / 3» c radar RBE2 PESA detects a target such as the Su-30SM at a distance of up to 120 km and MiG-29SMT - up to 90 km, without having a significant advantage in the distant air battle even before the Su-27SM, the "Rafa" With the new RBE2 AESA radars, they can detect them at a distance of 140 — 190, which completely changes the situation. If we compare this version of “Rafale” with the Su-30CM, then we get the following picture: Radar Н011М “Bars” has the same energy potential from the French RBE2 AESA, but at the expense of approximately 7-10 times smaller EPR of Rafal (1 versus 12 m2 ), the French pilot will find the “Drying” much earlier (at a distance of 200 km), while the crew of our fighter will find the “Frenchman” at a distance of 140 — 150 km.
Today, this deficiency of the Su-30CM before Raphael will not significantly affect the outcome of the hypothetical air duel, since the main armament of air superiority among the Raphales remains URVV medium-range MICA-IR / EM. These air-to-air missiles are equipped with an advanced active radar homing head (ARGSN) AD4A operating in the Ku-band centimeter waves (similar to ARGSN used in Aster-15 / 30 interceptor missiles), have a gas-jet traction vector control system, allowing to maneuver with overloads more than 50 units; but they also have a very noticeable drawback - the range of destruction of air targets to the forward hemisphere reaches only 60 - 65 km (less than the first modification of the P-77). Against the background of a small range of MICA missiles, our Su-30CMs are already equipped with more modern RVV-SD (“Product 170-1”), whose range reaches 110 km. Thus, the Rafale modification in the combat units is not saved by either a powerful on-board radar or a sufficiently small radar signature of the glider.
The situation will be even more unpleasant for the French pilots if Su-30СМ or Su-35С are in the role of rivals, equipped with containers of individual and group defense of the Khibiny-M / U electronic warfare systems. The Proran passive radio electronic intelligence station assigned to the complexes will accurately determine the frequency range of the RBE265 AESA radar, after which the L-2 emitting modules will begin jamming, which in 265-2 will reduce the range of the Rafalewa radar radar times. But on “Rafale” modifications F3 / 2 “Dassault Aviation” does not plan to stop.
So, 20 June 2017, military-technical news resource defense-aerospace.com with reference to the French Ministry of Defense reported on the achievement of operational readiness by the multi-purpose fighter "Rafale F3-R" by the year 2018; In the same year, the adoption of vehicles for the French Air Force combat units should begin. The F3-R modification provides for the integration of an additional avionics hardware package that adapts the fighter to the use of the TALIOS optico-electronic sighting system operating in the television and infrared sighting channels. The container is placed on an additional suspension assembly under the air duct of the right air intake. The high-quality optical zoom system of a television channel, together with the digital zoom, allows for a total increase in 60 — 70X (the viewing angle is 0,77x0,58 °). With contributing atmospheric conditions, the TALIOS container TV channel allows you to identify the type of tank at a distance of 40-50 km and the corvette / frigate - up to 70 km.
The TALIOS optoelectronic reconnaissance and target designation container, developed by Thales, is one of the best container design modules in comparison with such analogs as Nortrop's Litening G4, Lokhidov AN / AAQ-33 Sniper ATP, and Turkish "AselPOD" from the company "Aselsan". Unfortunately, due to the multi-level sanctions and partial dependence on the western element base, the projects of multichannel optical-electronic containers for targeting T-220E and Sapsan-E (for fighter jets of the 4 + / ++ generation MiG-29СМТ, MiG-29М and Su-35С and Su-30СМ) were completely “frozen” for an indefinite period, which negatively affected the strike capabilities of tactical aviation in terms of low individual information illumination of pilots. The only vehicle, the combat qualities of which were not affected by the lack of suspension means of target designation, is Su-34. On all serial "tactics", an integrated OLPC of target designation "Platan", located between the air intakes, is installed. Now it remains to hope only that the series will launch a promising container OLPK 101 KS-N (photo below), intended for the 5 generation fighters of the T-50 PAK FA
The infrared channel has a total zoom (optical + digital) of the order of 45 — 50X, which is very good for thermal imaging sights. The TALIOS infrared matrix operates in the middle wavelength range with a length of 3-5 μm, which is excellent for detecting not only “hot” ground objects, but also for objects whose temperature differs from the environment only on 3 - 5ºС. For example, with a high degree of probability, barely warm sections of the engine-transmission sections of the enemy’s armored vehicles, which arrived at the location a few hours ago, will also be detected, and the spent artillery units, whose weapons are still warm from the powder gases, will be easily detected. Able "TALIOS" to work in the "air-to-air", and therefore can perfectly complement the capabilities of the optical-electronic OSF complex, the sensor of which is located in front of the cockpit lantern. Combining the use of TALIOS and OSF passive opto-electronic sensors will turn the Rafale F3-R into an even more formidable tactical combat vehicle that does not reveal its position until the last moment due to the off RBE2 AESA radar and a rather small ESR compared to Su-30CM or Su-27M. The only drawback of optics is only a significant dependence on the meteorological situation.
The most important detail of the Rafale multi-purpose fighter aircraft of the F3-R modification is the possibility of using MBDA Meteor long-range missiles with an integral rocket-ramjet engine. As we have already figured out in the course of previous work, the URVV data have the ability to accelerate to the maximum speed of 4800 km / h in the final leg of the flight, which only Chinese PL-12D, PL-21, and experimental PL-15 with a calculated range are capable of 250 — 300 km. So, if you “twist” AIM-120D at a distance of 150 — 160 km from the carrier, it will be relatively easy due to the loss of speed up to 2000 km / h, especially if a “catch-up” trajectory is imposed with maneuvering, then you can get rid of the “direct-flow” ECD at the same time "Meteor" at a distance of 140 km from the launch point is unlikely to succeed. At the moment, our fighter fleet, deployed at air bases in the European part of Russia, can counter Meteora with exclusively suspended electronic countermeasures of the Khibiny-M / U family, standard dipole reflectors, as well as ultra-long-range air combat missiles R-37 / RVV -BD
Many can immediately focus on the presence of RVV-BD and try to convince readers that these missiles on the Su-35C and MiG-31BM suspensions are enough to gain complete superiority over the small-caliber Rafale with his Meteors, but Let's hurry upset: RVV-BD, with all its 280 kilometers of range, is intended mainly for interception of low-maneuverable supersonic and hypersonic ballistic objects, as well as airborne combat aircraft and tactical aircraft with heavy rocket-bomb "equipment" at a distance of more than 150 km (max th overload of targets hit by P-37 / RVV-DB is 7-8G). Moreover, this interceptor missile with a huge midsection has a huge ballistic braking coefficient. Consequently, it will be extremely difficult to bring down such a “swift” goal as “Rafale” with the help of P-37. The upgraded Rafale F3-R will have a huge advantage in terms of air superiority over the Su-30CM, Su-35 and MiG-35 until such time as domestic high-voltage production with the integrated rocket-ramjet RVV-AE-PD engine (“Product-180PD”), and we can only dream about it - there is no information about the development of the project since 2013.
Guided long-range air combat missile with a solid-propellant rocket-ramjet engine RVV-AE-PD
As for the likelihood of close air combat between our fighters and the Rafale F3-R, here the usual picture remains. The Rafal glider is built using a tailless aerodynamic design and equipped with a mobile forward horizontal tail that increases the angular pitch reversal speed to 27-30 degrees / s, which is slightly better than the MiG-29СМТ and Su-27СМ (22 and 23 degrees / s, respectively), not equipped with a thrust vector deflection system. These machines will be able to win the “dog dump” from the “Frenchman” thanks to the possibility of carrying out the “Cobra Pugachev” and the high flying-technical qualities of the P-73 melee missiles, as well as the experience of the pilots. It is rather difficult to conduct a long-term “energy” close air combat with “Rafale”, since its thrust-to-weight ratio with a normal take-off weight reaches 1,1 kgf / kg, and this allows you to constantly maintain a high speed for maneuvering. Moreover, like all “tailless” (remember Mirage-2000C / -5) aerobatics, Rafale has a simply astounding roll angular speed, which is 1,5 times higher than that of the Su-27 and MiG-29 families , which makes it possible to much "frolic" to transfer the car to the necessary direction of the combat reversal.
The 4 ++ Su-30CM and Su-35С multifunctional super-maneuverable fighters of the generation equipped with the thrust vector deflection system can easily “twist” the “Rafale F3-R” in close combat. In particular, Su-35С even without the use of OBE has a high maneuvering energy and angular turning speed in comparison with various modifications of the Su-27 and Su-30, due to the use of more powerful TRDDF AL-16Ф41С 1 kg with total 29000 kg, due to thrust-to-weight ratio established at 1,15 kgf / kg. But as you remember, in air confrontations of the XXI century, reaching fights within visual visibility will be extremely rare: distant "duel" will usually reach its apogee up to the limits of visual visibility, and, thanks to our delay with the RVV-AE-PD project, "Rafale F3-R ”already in 2018 year will receive serious privileges in possible air clashes over the Baltic, as well as Central and Eastern Europe.
Information sources:
http://forum.militaryparitet.com/viewtopic.php?id=17390
http://forum.militaryparitet.com/viewtopic.php?id=17371
https://lenta.ru/news/2017/06/20/byelorussian/
http://rbase.new-factoria.ru/missile/wobb/r37/r37.shtml
http://www.airwar.ru/weapon/avv/magic.html
http://bmpd.livejournal.com/10759.html
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