Asymmetrical counteraction
Why the West was afraid of the new Russian missile system
“When embarking on the development of the Club-K missile system, we proceeded from the understanding that far from all states have the ability to contain fleet such expensive "toys" as corvettes, frigates, destroyers, cruisers and other powerful, well-equipped missile weapons the ships. However, no one has the right to deprive them of the possibility of securing their sovereignty. At the same time, a potential aggressor must realistically understand that he can receive unacceptable damage for himself. ” This is an excerpt from the press release of the Morinformsystem-Agat concern, distributed in response to the uniform hysteria that broke out in the Western media about the new product of the holding.
More precisely, I think, and not say. The Club-K complex should, perhaps, be called the very asymmetric response that the states that dared to enter into a confrontation with Washington can only count on in the modern world. The truly unprecedented budget of the Pentagon, the highest technological level at which modern American weapons are located, simply do not leave any chance for any army in the world to give a decent response to the US military in open battle. The presence of a mobile, hard-to-detect by means of visual reconnaissance of high-precision weapons, capable of causing serious damage to enemy personnel and equipment, can change the tone of communication between opponents. Club-K is a kind of containment weapon for the poor.
From a technical point of view, this project is unusually beautiful and ingeniously simple. It is even surprising that the idea of creating weapons of this kind did not occur to anyone earlier.
The complex consists of three elements: a universal launch module (USM), a combat control module (MOBU) and a power supply and life support module (FAM) located in standard sea 40-foot containers.
Indeed, why do we need huge eight-wheeled tractors, frigates built using stealth technology, if it is possible to limit ourselves to inconspicuous containers, for the time being hidden from prying eyes among hundreds of their own kind in the far corner of a seaport or freight yard of a railway station.
USM consists of a launcher with four transport and launch containers. They should accommodate cruise missiles developed by the Yekaterinburg OKB Novator: anti-ship 3М-54ТE, 3М-54ТЕ1 and intended for destruction of ground targets 3М-14ТE.
3М-54ТЭ and 3М-54ТЭ1 can be used against surface ships of all classes and types, both single and as a group, under conditions of strong electronic and fire resistance. The range of 3М-54Т missiles ranges from 12,5-15 to 220 km, and 3М-54ТЭ1 - to 275 km. The 3М-14ТЭ rocket is designed to destroy troop controls, air defense systems, airfields, military equipment and manpower in concentration areas, naval bases and other important military and civilian infrastructure at a distance of up to 275 km.
Long-range flight of the Club’s rocket systems allows for the effective destruction of surface, underwater and coastal targets at a safe distance from the enemy.
The onboard control system of the 3М-54Т / 3М-54ТXXUMUM rockets is based on an autonomous inertial navigation system. Prelaunch preparation, formation and input of the flight task are carried out by a universal control system. Guidance on the final part of the trajectory - with the help of a noise-free active radar homing head (ARGS-1), which has a maximum range of up to 54 km. Since the combat stage of the 65М-20Т missile is reduced to an altitude of 3 m in the final flight segment with a length of about 54 km, the ARGS-10 can operate with sea waves up to 54 points.
The flight speed of the 3М-54TE rocket on the march segment is 0,6-0,8 M, and on the final segment - up to 3 M, which makes it virtually impossible to intercept it. For 3М-54ТЭ1, the flight throughout the entire trajectory is at subsonic speed, and a special zigzag anti-missile maneuver is performed directly in front of the target to reduce the likelihood of a missile being hit by enemy air defense systems.
The flight speed of the 3M-14TE is also subsonic. After launch, it flies along a predetermined route, built taking into account intelligence data about the target’s position and the enemy’s air defense assets. The missile is capable of overcoming the zones of the developed enemy air defense system, which is ensured by extremely low flight altitudes (20 m above the sea, 50-150 m above the ground) with rounding of the terrain and autonomy of targeting in the silent mode on the main leg. Correction of the flight trajectory on the main line is carried out according to the satellite navigation subsystem and the subsystem of the correction for the terrain. The principle of operation of the latter is based on a comparison of the terrain of a particular area where the rocket is located with reference maps of the terrain along its flight route, previously stored in the memory of the onboard control system. Navigation is carried out along a complex trajectory: the rocket has the ability to bypass strong enemy air defense / missile defense zones or difficult terrain sections by entering the coordinates of the so-called turning points of the route into the flight task. Guidance on the final part of the trajectory is also carried out with the help of a noise-free active radar homing head (ARGS-14E), which effectively highlights subtle small-sized targets against the background of the underlying surface.
The mass of the 3М-54TE rocket warhead is 200 kg, 3М-54ТЭ1 is 400 kg, and 3М-14ТE has the most powerful high-explosive warhead weighing 450 kg.
The combat control module of the Club-K complex provides for the reception of target designation and firing commands, the calculation of initial firing data, pre-launch preparation, the development of a flight mission and the launch of cruise missiles, as well as their daily maintenance and routine checks.
The container execution of the Club-K complex allows achieving a very high level of camouflage and using it from civilian carriers, be it transport ships, railway platforms or car trailers. However, measures for reconnaissance of targets, formation and issuance of a flight task require not only the availability of a well-prepared calculation, but also the means of conducting reconnaissance, communication systems and command and control. In other words, the Club-K is not a MANPADS or a grenade launcher available for use by any illiterate partisans. A missile system of such a level can only be used by regular armies, which means that its delivery is possible only within the framework of the existing procedures of military-technical cooperation, limited to appropriate sanctions.
Meanwhile, Western experts, as well as representatives of the Pentagon, who first discovered the Club-K as part of the Russian exposition at the DSA 2010 international defense systems and services exhibition in 19-22 in April in Malaysia, unanimously said that the launch of this complex could completely change the balance of power on the world chessboard and even transform the rules of warfare. Naturally, the experts are most afraid of the possibility of purchasing this complex by such odious countries as Iran and Venezuela. However, hysteria of analysts is a typical example of double standards, when one particular country, taking advantage of total military-technical superiority, considers itself entitled to “establish democracy” using methods of rocket-bombing attacks virtually anywhere in the world, ignoring the unwillingness of others to perceive very dubious pop values -culture and consumer society.
Although in fairness it should be noted that the hypothetical precedent of the combat use of the Club-K complex can indeed in one degree or another change the rules of warfare. The idea of disguising military platforms for civilian objects is not at all new. For example, during the First World War, the use by Britain of ship-traps (Q-ships) - civilian steamships with disguised artillery weapons intended to destroy German submarines operating on the Atlantic communications, resulted in the latter not complying with the “cruising rules” established at the beginning of the century. These rules required submariners who were about to attack a civilian ship, make a warning shot and wait for the crew and passengers to leave. The result of the rejection of the "cruising rules" was unlimited submarine warfare. On the other hand, totality was a sign of all the "big" wars of the twentieth century. And there are no prerequisites for the situation to change for the better in the new century.
“When embarking on the development of the Club-K missile system, we proceeded from the understanding that far from all states have the ability to contain fleet such expensive "toys" as corvettes, frigates, destroyers, cruisers and other powerful, well-equipped missile weapons the ships. However, no one has the right to deprive them of the possibility of securing their sovereignty. At the same time, a potential aggressor must realistically understand that he can receive unacceptable damage for himself. ” This is an excerpt from the press release of the Morinformsystem-Agat concern, distributed in response to the uniform hysteria that broke out in the Western media about the new product of the holding.
More precisely, I think, and not say. The Club-K complex should, perhaps, be called the very asymmetric response that the states that dared to enter into a confrontation with Washington can only count on in the modern world. The truly unprecedented budget of the Pentagon, the highest technological level at which modern American weapons are located, simply do not leave any chance for any army in the world to give a decent response to the US military in open battle. The presence of a mobile, hard-to-detect by means of visual reconnaissance of high-precision weapons, capable of causing serious damage to enemy personnel and equipment, can change the tone of communication between opponents. Club-K is a kind of containment weapon for the poor.
From a technical point of view, this project is unusually beautiful and ingeniously simple. It is even surprising that the idea of creating weapons of this kind did not occur to anyone earlier.
The complex consists of three elements: a universal launch module (USM), a combat control module (MOBU) and a power supply and life support module (FAM) located in standard sea 40-foot containers.
Indeed, why do we need huge eight-wheeled tractors, frigates built using stealth technology, if it is possible to limit ourselves to inconspicuous containers, for the time being hidden from prying eyes among hundreds of their own kind in the far corner of a seaport or freight yard of a railway station.
USM consists of a launcher with four transport and launch containers. They should accommodate cruise missiles developed by the Yekaterinburg OKB Novator: anti-ship 3М-54ТE, 3М-54ТЕ1 and intended for destruction of ground targets 3М-14ТE.
3М-54ТЭ and 3М-54ТЭ1 can be used against surface ships of all classes and types, both single and as a group, under conditions of strong electronic and fire resistance. The range of 3М-54Т missiles ranges from 12,5-15 to 220 km, and 3М-54ТЭ1 - to 275 km. The 3М-14ТЭ rocket is designed to destroy troop controls, air defense systems, airfields, military equipment and manpower in concentration areas, naval bases and other important military and civilian infrastructure at a distance of up to 275 km.
Long-range flight of the Club’s rocket systems allows for the effective destruction of surface, underwater and coastal targets at a safe distance from the enemy.
The onboard control system of the 3М-54Т / 3М-54ТXXUMUM rockets is based on an autonomous inertial navigation system. Prelaunch preparation, formation and input of the flight task are carried out by a universal control system. Guidance on the final part of the trajectory - with the help of a noise-free active radar homing head (ARGS-1), which has a maximum range of up to 54 km. Since the combat stage of the 65М-20Т missile is reduced to an altitude of 3 m in the final flight segment with a length of about 54 km, the ARGS-10 can operate with sea waves up to 54 points.
The flight speed of the 3М-54TE rocket on the march segment is 0,6-0,8 M, and on the final segment - up to 3 M, which makes it virtually impossible to intercept it. For 3М-54ТЭ1, the flight throughout the entire trajectory is at subsonic speed, and a special zigzag anti-missile maneuver is performed directly in front of the target to reduce the likelihood of a missile being hit by enemy air defense systems.
The flight speed of the 3M-14TE is also subsonic. After launch, it flies along a predetermined route, built taking into account intelligence data about the target’s position and the enemy’s air defense assets. The missile is capable of overcoming the zones of the developed enemy air defense system, which is ensured by extremely low flight altitudes (20 m above the sea, 50-150 m above the ground) with rounding of the terrain and autonomy of targeting in the silent mode on the main leg. Correction of the flight trajectory on the main line is carried out according to the satellite navigation subsystem and the subsystem of the correction for the terrain. The principle of operation of the latter is based on a comparison of the terrain of a particular area where the rocket is located with reference maps of the terrain along its flight route, previously stored in the memory of the onboard control system. Navigation is carried out along a complex trajectory: the rocket has the ability to bypass strong enemy air defense / missile defense zones or difficult terrain sections by entering the coordinates of the so-called turning points of the route into the flight task. Guidance on the final part of the trajectory is also carried out with the help of a noise-free active radar homing head (ARGS-14E), which effectively highlights subtle small-sized targets against the background of the underlying surface.
The mass of the 3М-54TE rocket warhead is 200 kg, 3М-54ТЭ1 is 400 kg, and 3М-14ТE has the most powerful high-explosive warhead weighing 450 kg.
The combat control module of the Club-K complex provides for the reception of target designation and firing commands, the calculation of initial firing data, pre-launch preparation, the development of a flight mission and the launch of cruise missiles, as well as their daily maintenance and routine checks.
The container execution of the Club-K complex allows achieving a very high level of camouflage and using it from civilian carriers, be it transport ships, railway platforms or car trailers. However, measures for reconnaissance of targets, formation and issuance of a flight task require not only the availability of a well-prepared calculation, but also the means of conducting reconnaissance, communication systems and command and control. In other words, the Club-K is not a MANPADS or a grenade launcher available for use by any illiterate partisans. A missile system of such a level can only be used by regular armies, which means that its delivery is possible only within the framework of the existing procedures of military-technical cooperation, limited to appropriate sanctions.
Meanwhile, Western experts, as well as representatives of the Pentagon, who first discovered the Club-K as part of the Russian exposition at the DSA 2010 international defense systems and services exhibition in 19-22 in April in Malaysia, unanimously said that the launch of this complex could completely change the balance of power on the world chessboard and even transform the rules of warfare. Naturally, the experts are most afraid of the possibility of purchasing this complex by such odious countries as Iran and Venezuela. However, hysteria of analysts is a typical example of double standards, when one particular country, taking advantage of total military-technical superiority, considers itself entitled to “establish democracy” using methods of rocket-bombing attacks virtually anywhere in the world, ignoring the unwillingness of others to perceive very dubious pop values -culture and consumer society.
Although in fairness it should be noted that the hypothetical precedent of the combat use of the Club-K complex can indeed in one degree or another change the rules of warfare. The idea of disguising military platforms for civilian objects is not at all new. For example, during the First World War, the use by Britain of ship-traps (Q-ships) - civilian steamships with disguised artillery weapons intended to destroy German submarines operating on the Atlantic communications, resulted in the latter not complying with the “cruising rules” established at the beginning of the century. These rules required submariners who were about to attack a civilian ship, make a warning shot and wait for the crew and passengers to leave. The result of the rejection of the "cruising rules" was unlimited submarine warfare. On the other hand, totality was a sign of all the "big" wars of the twentieth century. And there are no prerequisites for the situation to change for the better in the new century.
Information