What is the new adversary of Iskander and VKS capable of? “Iron Wolf” sharpens a tooth on the “Kaliningrad Enclave” and Belarus
In the current pre-escalation situation in the Eastern European and Baltic theaters of war, to the limit “hammered” by the units of the Ground Forces of the United States and NATO (including destructive and assault squadrons, as well as armored brigades), the operational-strategic militarization pattern, seen at the end, is clearly visible. s of the twentieth century. This is emphasized both by numerous military experts and historians, as well as by ordinary observers, commentators and bloggers in social networking communities and on well-known information and analytical resources. It is noteworthy that such analogies can be made not only regarding the chronological similarity of the list of actions of the German troops immediately before the start of World War II with the current preparation of the United NATO forces for escalation, but also for some pro-fascist organizations and groups that have not changed their names and continued further anti-Russian military activities, but not on the side of the Wehrmacht, but in favor of the North Atlantic alliance in the new century.
One of these units can be called the mechanized infantry brigade "Iron Wolf" ("Gelezinis Vilkas"), which is part of the Land Forces of Lithuania. It is well known that originally this name comes from the oldest monument of Lithuanian literature - “Gediminas Letters” mentioned in the poem “Pan Tadeusz” by Adam Mickiewicz, but this name also has a much more significant (second) root of origin - the Lithuanian fascist movement “Iron Wolf ”Created in 1927 by Augustinas Woldemaras, which during the Second World War was not the last power and sabotage and reconnaissance tool of the Wehrmacht in the Baltic theater of operations. Also a similar name to 1940-x. Wore 3 th Dragoon regiment of the Lithuanian army. The Iron Wolf Mechanized Infantry Brigade, formed in 1990, is a completely different military unit, equipped and trained to NATO standards. Structurally, the brigade consists of an 4 infantry battalion, an 1 artillery battalion, and a logistics battalion stationed in four districts of Lithuania.
As you know, today this unit takes an active part in supporting the punitive operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the Donbass theater of operations. So, in April of this year, military instructors of the Prince Vaidotas logistics battalion of the Iron Wolf Group, went to the “Square” to train related Ukrainian formations about the important aspects of logistical support during the resumption of the active phase of the confrontation. Up to August, servicemen-descendants of the Hitler army used to train the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Training Center of the peacekeeping forces at the Yavoriv training ground in the Lviv region. And this is not the whole list of Lithuanian aid for the Ukrainian junta in carrying out the genocide of the civilian population and the military personnel of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics. For example, in the period from 2015 to 2016, Vilnius transferred to Kiev more than 150 tons of retired 5,45-mm cartridges of various types for AK-74 modifications. Meanwhile, direct support for the inadequate and slave Poroshenko regime is not the main operational-tactical type of Lithuanian activity in the conditional conditional European theater of operations. Recently, the “Iron Wolf” brigade has become a key NATO unit in the Baltic ON, which is undergoing comprehensive training for the coming confrontation with the Russian Armed Forces at the borders of the Western Military District, as well as with the Belarussian Armed Forces.
A completely logical question arises: why is the Iron Wolf brigade positioned by the NATO command as a front line? After all, there is a volunteer unit “Zemessardze” (“Zemessardze”), which is part of the Latvian Armed Forces structure and is represented by 10 infantry, 1 artillery and 1 anti-aircraft battalions. The thing is that it is the south-western part of the Lithuanian-Polish border that forms the most critical and vulnerable NATO operational-strategic frontier, called the Suwalki corridor. In the event of a large-scale military conflict between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance, this 100-kilometer sector of the Lithuanian-Polish border must be broken by the divisions of the Airborne Forces and the Ground Forces of Russia, as well as the Byelorussian military forces in the first place. Otherwise, we have all the chances to lose the Kaliningrad region extremely quickly. And you should not expect that the C-300PM1 and C-400 Triumph anti-aircraft brigades (concealed by Cristals-C1 and Torahs-M2) can save the situation, since the Polish Armed Forces are taking a number of serious steps to counter the defensive potential of the Kaliningrad enclave.
In particular, this is achieved by transferring to the southern border of the Kaliningrad region an impressive number of artillery units armed with modern barreled and rocket artillery. For example, 31 August 2017, the 11 th Mazury Artillery Regiment of the Polish Ground Forces received the Regina divisional fire set, represented by the 24 155-mm Krab self-propelled artillery. SAU "Crab" is a combined licensed modification of the British SAU AS-90 and the South Korean K9 "Thunder". The combat module (turret and 155-mm rifled gun L31) was borrowed from the British AS-90, and the chassis - from the South Korean K9. Consequently, the firing range of standard high-explosive and active-projectile projectiles (24700 and 30000, respectively) makes it easy to fire on border settlements in the southern part of Kaliningrad, and the use of M982 Block 1A2 “Excalibur” syntherophphrym –prosyphrophrophology –Cursyrchrophrophology –courthome –yearsyrophrophrophology Team EcNurXur ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((ı ı (ı (ı X X (ı (ı (ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı ı позволяет позволяет Следовательно Следовательно Следовательно Следовательно Следовательно km) will give the Polish gunners the opportunity to “reach out” to such cities as Volodino, Chernyakhovsk, Znamensk and Gusev. It is quite possible to intercept the latter with the help of the Pantyr-С45, but only in limited quantities, and, as you know, the 60-th Mazury artillery regiment also includes divisions of the 1-mm wheeled self-propelled artillery "Dana" and the MLRS "Grad".
SAU "Krab" Polish Army
Amid such endemic militarized approaches to Kaliningrad region maximum emphasis should be placed on the transfer of the enclave advanced precision shock complexes of long-range ATRA "Hermes" (in an amount 4 - 7 batteries with more than 96 - 168 multipurpose two-stage PTUR) capable of destroying tens active and temporarily “sleeping” firing positions of the enemy both at close and long distances. So far, we can only dream of a large-scale upgrade of our troops by the “Hermes”, all hope is only on the Iskander OTRK, which can simultaneously project the echeloned attack by the unobtrusive P500 (9М728) operational cruise missiles and the 9XNYXNYXNNXXNXXNNXX-NMHN tactical ballistic missiles to the enemy in an instant.
The formation of the “Suvalk corridor” will become a paramount task for the armed forces of Russia and Belarus, because control over this strategically important “isthmus” will make it possible: to limit the combat capabilities of the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian armies to the utmost; “Close in the boiler” all NATO mechanized units deployed in these states in recent years and operating on a rotational basis; as well as to ensure uninterrupted supplies to the Kaliningrad region of all the necessary weapons, fuel and lubricants, repair equipment, etc. for the successful defense of our western enclave. Meanwhile, to implement this scenario, our and the Belarusian Armed Forces will need to seriously "sweat", as the Baltic states are already rapidly turning into powerful fortifications stuffed with US, British, French, German and Spanish troops, which together with the mechanized brigade described above " Iron Wolf regularly work out numerous tactical interaction techniques in the Baltic sector of the European theater of war.
So, starting in June 2016 of the year, as part of the large-scale international maneuvers of NATO’s military operations in the Baltic sector of the European theater “Saber Strike-2016”, additional large-scale exercises “Iron Wolf-2016” were introduced, together with a group of thousands of units The US, Danish, Polish, German, French, and Luxembourg forces, simultaneously at the Sylvestras укаukauskas and Gaižiūnai test ranges, honed their skills in creating defensive lines from offensive actions of a conditional enemy equipped me network centric linking. The degree of importance of those teachings testify and list Attracted by the NATO military equipment of the participating countries, among which were: MBT «Leopard-2A4 / 5», M1A2, German large-ACS PzH 2000, attack aircraft A-10C and even strategic bombers-missile B -52H "Stratofortress". The following Iron Wolf 2017 exercise was held in June 2017 as part of the NATO 5,3-thousand contingent. And finally, the latest teachings called “Iron Wolf-2” are held from 18 to 31 in October of 2017, but with the participation of much smaller contingent. Their peculiarity is the development of network-centric interaction directly at the level of the commanders of the headquarters, as well as of individual units and military personnel. Remarkably, the organizer and leading element of these exercises is the command of the US Ground Forces Europe.
All these actions point to only one thing: for the defense of the Suvalki Corridor, the NATO Allied Command (including the US Air Force) is ready to use almost all types of non-nuclear tactical and strategic weapons. To inflict the maximum possible damage to the advancing "bones" of the NE of Russia and the Republic of Belarus, the NATO Allied Forces plan to combine the attacks of high-precision barreled and rocket artillery (self-propelled guns "Krab" and HIMARS) with the work of strategic, tactical and army aviation. The AH-64D Apache Longbow and F-16C / D Block 52+ helicopters of the Polish Air Force deployed in Latvia, which are actively armed with long-range tactical missiles JASSM-ER, will play a significant role here.
A very positive strategic moment for us is that the number of C-300PS and C-400 divisions deployed in the northwestern part of Belarus and the Kaliningrad region allows us to reduce to zero even the most massive missile and air attack of the Allied Air Forces of NATO; Numerous ground-based electronic warfare systems complete the picture, delivering jamming in the U-band decimeter to GPS satellite guidance modules installed on long-range cruise missiles, as well as to active radar homing heads in the X- / Ka-bands of centimeter / millimeter waves. At the same time, it is known that effectively suppressing “wandering” firing positions of mobile artillery weapons in the territory, for example, Lithuania, it will be necessary to have high-quality work of attack helicopters (Ka-52 and Mi-28Н) and strike tactical aviation (Su-30M and Su 34); This is where the safety issue of the above machines comes up during the hunt for "complex" ground targets.
The thing is that the air defense capabilities of the Lithuanian and Polish armed forces do not stand still. In particular, 26 of October 2017 of the year in Vilnius, between the Ministry of National Defense of Lithuania and the Norwegian company Norwgiab Kongsberg companies, was signed the 110 millionth contract for the purchase of two NASAMS 2 medium-range missile batteries to be adopted Lithuanian army to 2021 year (currently Lithuanian air defense / missile defense has extremely low capabilities both in the fight against aerodynamic targets and in the interception of tactical missiles and TFR, because only the Swedish portable air defense systems RBS-70 are in service, and Polish “Grom-2” air defense missile systems with a range of up to 7 and 5,5 km, respectively). These systems do not represent such a serious threat to the tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which cannot be said of NASAMS 2.
Developed in 1994, the NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) air defense system is still quite advanced Western European short and medium-range air defense systems. Its main advantage was the use of AIM-120A air-to-air missiles adapted to launch from ground-to-surface launchers, equipped with an active radar homing head, which greatly improved the performance of the complex in repelling a massive enemy missile strike. In particular, when approaching a “fighter” target (with 3 xNUMX EPR) at a distance of 2 - 20 km ARGSN AIM-25C rocket “captures” it, it goes into the “let-forget” mode, while the operators placed at automated workplaces at the command and control center (PBU), they can quickly move on to direction finding and interception of a new “portion” of targets. Thus, even with a very limited target channel of the AN / TPQ-120 / AN / MPQ-64F64 multi-function radar on an 1 target, the number of simultaneously hit air targets can reach 3 - 8 and more (provided that only one MRLS is available); and all this thanks to the use of active radar homing.
The main "firing" elements of the NASAMS / -2 anti-aircraft missile system are an inclined launcher and a multifunctional radar centimeter range AN / TPQ-64. The latter is able to accompany the enemy's air objects on the 60 aisle and “capture” the 3 autotracking. Logically, the NASAMS 2 battery has the ability to simultaneously monitor 420 air targets with the actual “capture” of 24 objects. In practice, the use of missiles with ARGSN AIM-120C allows you to simultaneously fire several dozen targets for 5 - 15 second period. In the ammunition of the latest versions of the air defense missile system, guided melee air combat missiles of the AIM-9M / X “Sidewinder” family will also be introduced.
In the case, if one or several enemy aircraft succeeds in successfully applying dipole reflectors and disrupting the “capture” by the AMRAAM homing head, the correction and target designation radio channel can be used for the missile defense system on the trajectory. In this case, the complex’s combat work terminal will make an automatic request to the last known coordinates of the target via the radio communication link AN / TPQ-64 - RRDL-NII, and then adjust the AMRAAMa flight to “re-capture” the target. If enemy air attacks use electronic countermeasure complexes that impede the stable operation of the AN / TPQ-64 MRLS, a target self-propelled optical-electronic sighting system NTAS (“Norwegian Tracking Adjunct System”) operating in television and television can be used for targeting and “re-capturing” infrared channels of sight. At the same time, NTAS will be ineffective in difficult meteorological conditions (fog, snow, etc.). Consequently, to counteract the NASAMS-2 complexes, which entered service with the Lithuanian army, the active use of EW facilities (operating in the X-band from 8 to 10 GHz), combined with an unfavorable meteorological situation, is ideal.
It should be noted that the modernized version of the NASAMS 2 air defense system, which has significant differences from the early modification, will go into service with the Lithuanian Army. This concerns both the size of the battery and the technical capabilities of the new interceptor missiles. One battery of the advanced complex will be represented no longer by 3 platoons with 9x6 slanted launchers on the 54 AMRAAM anti-aircraft missiles, but 4 platoons with 12 similar launchers on the 72 of the AIM-120 family. The computational capabilities of a high-performance fire control system housed in a PBU allow the implementation of the highest rate of firing of the battery level in 5 SUR in 1 a second. With a massive enemy missile strike, all the ammunition can be used up in just 15 seconds. These abilities are also realized due to the active radar principle of targeting anti-aircraft missiles.
NASAMS 2 can also be ranked as the most advanced air defense / missile defense system of the ground forces, which is explained by the presence of a large number of multifunctional radar fire control systems: one battery contains up to 8 AN / MPQ-64 F2 “Sentinel 3D” (or AN / TPQ -64); This ensures excellent survivability of the complex in the event of an anti-radar strike from the enemy. There immediately recall domestic army air defense systems of medium-range "Buk-M1" and long-range C-300V "Antey", where each battery, besides the basic radar targeting / guidance 9S18M1 "Dome-M1" 9S32 and 9S19M2 "ginger" 6 radar has target illumination placed on self-propelled 9А310М1 (“Buk-М1”) self-propelled guns and 6 radars on masts placed on 4 PU 9А83 and 2 PU 9XXUMX PU (82300) on the masts (on the 300 and 30 PU and 6NNXX) This leads to the superiority of the latter over the C-1P / PM SAM system, where it is enough to destroy the RPN 9Н32Е to disable one division. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that disabling our radar Kupol-М1, Ginger and 300С2 systems Buk-МXNUMX and С-XNUMXВ will face difficulties in finding means of air attack of the enemy (reaction time will increase) after all, the guidance radars placed on the launcher are not intended for a quick and effective view of large sectors of aerospace. The radar "Sentinel" perfectly perform all the survey and fire functions. So the loss of two or three battery "Sentinel" will not deprive "NASAMS XNUMX" the ability to further intercept enemy targets.
The NASAMS 2 anti-aircraft missile system has a flexible and easily updated modular architecture for control and firing elements. In particular, if the first modification of the complex was equipped with AIM-120A guided missiles with a range of 20 - 25 km (during a ground launch, the range decreases 3 - 4 times due to the high troposphere density), then NASAMS 2 can be integrated more than modern options with increased range, for example, - AIM-120C-7, or AIM-120D, allowing to achieve a range of 40 - 55 km. To do this, it is enough to update the software of the PBU. In this performance, the combat potential of the Norwegian air defense missile system is significantly ahead of the capabilities of the Buk-М1 complex and roughly corresponds to the Buk-М1-2 version (in terms of the range and speed of the target being hit). In terms of fire performance, Buk-M1-2 continues to yield to the Norwegian product.
As for the maximum speed of the target, for the technological realities of the twenty-first century, this is rather the weak side of NASAMS 2. This indicator is 3600 km / h, which, against the background of the appearance of promising hypersonic elements of high-precision weapons, diving at a target with a speed in 4-4,5, is, to put it mildly, not enough. Moreover, NASAMS 2 will not be able to intercept even such an object as our X-XNUMHUSHK anti-radar missile, which, when launched from a short distance, has an approach speed in 58 - 3800 km / h. Another significant “Achilles' heel” of the Norwegian complex purchased by Lithuania is the lower boundary of the target destruction zone, which is as much as 4000 meters. In the conditions of the modern low-altitude area of the theater of operations, where attack and reconnaissance UAVs, as well as tactical cruise missiles can bend around the terrain at altitudes from 30 to 15 m, this parameter can literally bury "NASAMS 25" on the battlefield (even the aging C-2PM300 ADMS is capable of shooting down enemy EFVs at an altitude of 1 meters).
The next two points in the list of deficiencies can be considered a small radio horizon (25 km), due to the low location of the AN / MPQ-64 F2 MRLS antenna post, as well as the low elevation scanning area from 0 - 55 °. The small radio horizon will not allow the NASAMS 2 battery to independently realize the full range potential of the latest AMRAAMO version (AIM-120C-7 / D); this will require over-the-horizon targeting from third-party sources of radar information (E-3C airborne aircraft, tactical fighters of NATO air forces, etc.). It is quite possible that this problem has already been solved by integrating the Giraffe AMB-3D surveillance radar complex into the Norwegian air defense system, the antenna post of which is located on the 17-meter mast installed above the kung with an operator cabin (a kind of lightweight version of our 40ВХNUMXМ tower for RPN 6H30E).
The second point will be much more difficult to correct: the low angle of elevation of the electron beam (55 degrees) of the AN / MPQ-64 F2 radars, in addition to the critically low detection height in 12000 m, does not only allow the complex to hit enemy aircraft on its own (without external target designation) at altitudes in 15 - 17 km, but also creates a "dead zone" funnel sector 70 degrees. Without overlapping with additional batteries of SAM and observation radars, the NASAMS 2 battery simply does not “see” WTO elements approaching from the depths of the stratosphere.
Attached to the NASAMS / -2 air defense system a dual-band optical-electronic sighting system NTAS
Vilnius prepared a "surprise" and another feature of "NASAMS 2" concerning the speed of deployment in theaters. Despite the placement of Sentinel multifunctional radars and PBUs on a trailed wheel chassis and a truck, respectively, platforms with inclined modular launchers for AMRAAM missiles are not intended for firing from a traveling position and are usually removed from off-road trucks Sisu E13TP, but then installed on hydraulically lifted supports in the ground.
This procedure takes almost 15 minutes. And, as you know, in an area of high-intensity military conflict, every minute can be decisive (our “Three Hundreds” are brought into combat position in 5 minutes). As you can see, the characteristics of the NASAMS 2 air defense system acquired by the Ministry of National Defense of Lithuania are extremely contrasting, and if necessary, it will not be difficult for the Russian Aerospace Forces to find a worthy “scrap” for it, but there are also aspects of it that, under certain circumstances, can lead to a lot of troubles, because the complex can operate in a passive mode with disabled radar tools according to external data and NTAS OLS data. Here, intelligence operators will have to figure it out drones and electronic and optical reconnaissance aircraft Tu-214R.
Information sources:
https://ria.ru/world/20160606/1443450909.html
http://ru.sputniknews.lt/politics/20170623/3289345/zakanchivayutsya-ucheniya-zheleznyj-volk-2017.html
http://baltnews.lv/news/20170420/1019526560.html
http://bastion-karpenko.ru/nasams/
https://www.rubaltic.ru/news/18102017-ucheniya-nato-zheleznyy-volk2-startovali-v-litve/
http://forums.airbase.ru/2004/04/t25668--kompleks-s-300v.html
http://rbase.new-factoria.ru/missile/wobb/bukm1/bukm1.shtml
http://rbase.new-factoria.ru/missile/wobb/nasams/nasams.shtml
Information