The introduction of ESU TK in the artillery of the ground forces

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Currently, the Russian army is implementing a Unified Tactical Control System (UTCS). Common control contours are being created that unite all branches of the armed forces, including artillerySuch modernization should significantly expand the combat capabilities of the army, and the positive consequences of such processes are already being confirmed in practice.

From concept to implementation


The development of ESU TK started in 2001 and was entrusted to the Sozvezdie concern (Voronezh). In 2007, the army began testing a basic set of the new system. During these events, an extensive list of necessary improvements was formed, and later the identified shortcomings were corrected. In the tenths, the ESU TK passed new stages of trial operation, incl. using in large army exercises.



In December 2018, the Ministry of Defense issued the Sozvezdie concern an order for the supply of all the main products from the ESU TK for subsequent implementation in the armed forces. The contract is designed for a period until 2027. The production of the ordered components was planned to begin in 2019, and by the beginning of 2020, the first serial devices and complexes were to enter the army.

The plans of the Ministry of Defense provide for the use of the ESU TZ in all major branches of the armed forces. Thus, re-equipment has already begun missile troops and artillery. The existing equipment can be connected to the new control system both through new devices and by updating command vehicles. Prospective projects initially provide for their use, which is reflected in the technical specifications.


The purpose of the ESU TK project is to create a fundamentally new command and control complex based on the network-centric principle. All subunits and units, forces and means of troops must work in a single information and control network and constantly conduct an active exchange of data on the situation and targets.

Artillery control


ESU TK in the proposed form is an automated control system built on the basis of a variety of components. The system as a whole includes 11 subsystems for different purposes. There are communication subsystems that unite all complexes of this purpose, as well as subsystems for control tanks, artillery, Defense etc.

At the moment, the main way to integrate artillery units into the ESU TZ is the use of modern or modernized command and staff vehicles. They retain the communication and control equipment of the old standards, and also receive devices for interaction with the ESU TK. Thus, the command post is able to receive data from any sources and, on their basis, form combat missions for the subordinate battery / battalion.

Prospective artillery systems will be able to interact with ESU TK without intermediate links. Recently NPK Uralvagonzavod announced the development of new devices for solving this problem. In the Central Research Institute "Burevestnik" (part of the "UVZ") created the so-called. a unified digital set of onboard equipment (OBE), which allows artillery systems to be incorporated directly into new control loops.


OBE can be manufactured in different versions that meet the requirements of specific samples of self-propelled artillery. This achieves the maximum degree of unification. In fact, in the context of communication and control facilities, all ACS are transferred to a single hardware base. The self-propelled gun with the new OBE retains all the previous capabilities for combat work using target designation and control from the command post, and also gets the ability to directly connect to the ESU TZ.

Command posts and OBE can be used with all modern models of Russian artillery. With their help, self-propelled guns "Msta-S" and their newer modifications, multiple launch rocket systems "Tornado-G", etc. are included in ESU TZ. In the promising project "Coalition-SV", such funds are provided initially, in accordance with the customer's specifications.

Testing in practice


In mid-January, the first exercises were held in the Western Military District with the full use of the ESU TK and the complexes included in it. Reportedly, artillerymen on self-propelled guns "Msta-SM2" with a set of modern equipment, reconnaissance aircraft with UAVs and other means, as well as promising communication and control systems were involved in the implementation of training tasks.

During the exercises, with the help of regular reconnaissance equipment, training targets were identified, and data about them were transferred to the gunners in real time. With a minimum delay, the self-propelled guns hit the targets, and the crews drones provided fire adjustments.


To date, the industry has mastered the serial production of all the main components of the ESU TK and supplies them to the troops. This means that exercises with new components and new capabilities will be more and more frequent. It should also be expected that in the foreseeable future, a full-scale test of the network-centric capabilities of the army will take place at large exercises.

Artillery benefits


The inclusion of artillery units in the contours of the ESU TK allows you to obtain a number of important advantages of various kinds. Together, they have a positive effect on the overall combat effectiveness, the availability of various capabilities and flexibility in the use of guns or rockets.

The network-centric principle provides for the connection of all forces and means to the common information and control space. This simplifies and speeds up the transfer of data and commands, for example, from reconnaissance systems to fire weapons. Accordingly, the time required to organize and carry out an attack is reduced, and the processes of adjusting fire are simplified.

At the same time, target designation and adjustment can be performed not only by standard artillery reconnaissance means. In fact, any member of the information and control network can search and indicate the target. This approach further accelerates the preparation and execution of a combat mission.


It should be noted that along with the new command and control facilities, promising and modernized weapons will be sent to the troops. So, it is expected that the 2S35 "Coalition-SV" self-propelled guns will be adopted and delivered, and the 2S19 "Msta-S" line will continue to be updated. Thus, the overall efficiency will grow both due to new control loops and by improving the tactical and technical characteristics.

In the early stages


Unfortunately, at the moment, the artillery of the Russian army cannot fully use all the advantages of the new control systems. The supply of ESU TZ components began recently, and the army has not yet had time to receive a large number of such systems. In addition, the overwhelming majority of available self-propelled guns and MLRS do not have modern equipment and need the assistance of modernized command posts.

But in the future, the situation will change. Rocket forces and artillery will receive the required number of modern and updated command posts, other components of the Unified Control System, new types of weapons and equipment, etc. Thanks to all these measures, artillery will not only retain its status as a key component of the army, but will also expand and increase its capabilities - along with other branches of the armed forces.
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  1. +5
    26 February 2021 18: 14
    If we manage to create an effective system, then, taking into account the colossal concentration of artillery in the RF Army, this will make it possible to resolve virtually any tactical issues in a confrontation with any enemy.
    1. 0
      28 February 2021 12: 55
      Maybe it will ... But there are no such tasks.
  2. +4
    26 February 2021 18: 38
    As for me, it is a very sensible idea, let's look at the embodiment in reality
    1. +8
      27 February 2021 00: 19
      In December 2018, the Ministry of Defense issued the Sozvezdie concern an order for the supply of all the main products from the ESU TK for subsequent implementation in the armed forces.

      Complete nonsense and lies... How many fairy tales can you tell? You also need to be able to lie! The Sozvezdie Concern does not produce the ESU TZ!!! They once produced something and did not release it! The ESU TZ "Sozvezdie-M" is in the trash, on an old element base, inoperative and outdated... And Gerasimov personally accepted this miracle in the state commission... The army armament program has completely failed and the armament period under the presidential program expired in 2020... Moreover, there is not even a concept for creating a modern network-centric system in our army!!!
      Concern "Constellation" produces ACCS, which only counts its troops and keeps track of their location and condition! It is also a useless system and the speech in the article, already the 4th in a row, is about it! First tanks, then self-propelled guns, then "BARNAUL-T", now artillery !!!
      We do not have combat information systems, we do not know where the enemy is, and we do not know how, with the help of technical systems without people on the "front line", to provide target designation in real time, and even more so to destroy the enemy in real time ... A backward army in the modern sense ...
      You can read it yourself:
      http://www.sozvezdie.su/catalog/sistema_upravleniya_asuv_tz/
      1. 0
        27 February 2021 11: 10
        There is only one thing to say here:
      2. 0
        27 February 2021 19: 26
        Quote: VO3A
        We do not have combat information systems, we do not know where the enemy is, and we do not know how, with the help of technical systems without people on the "front line", to provide target designation in real time, and even more so to destroy the enemy in real time ... A backward army in the modern sense ...

        By your own link:
        Reducing the command and control cycle by 3 times
        Reducing the weapon control cycle by 3 times
        Increasing the relevance of data: on the enemy by 5 times
        on own troops 3 times

        This is just a great result. Unless of course it really works.
        IMHO, you have very high expectations, inspired by American fantasy videos about network centrism. Ask yourself why the United States has been in Afghanistan for 20 years, and cannot kill all the Mujahideen? Obviously, they do not have any all-encompassing network-centric real-time system. There are local capabilities that are deployed as needed, such as capturing Bin Laden live. And so that, like in murzilki, like any fighter, anywhere in the world, asks for support, and a projectile arrives automatically at the target, this, as a routine, is not, and will not be in the next fifty years. Watch the videos on YouTube, how the Americans are fighting in the same Afghanistan, there are no miracles at the level of an ordinary soldier, everything is banal, there is a machine gun, there is a MRAP with a machine gun, if it's really hot, they call the Apache. What is there at the command level, I have no idea, but I will not be surprised that the same thing is in our ACCU.
        1. +1
          27 February 2021 21: 56
          you have very high expectations, inspired by American fantasy videos about network centrism


          making a decision for a battle, registering it on an electronic map of the area, during

          no more than 60 min.

          Well, very overstated...With such parameters, this system is not for combat operations in real time, but for documenting and compiling archives of combat operations, it will be very useful!!! Well, in defense, when used, it is a complete failure, but for planning your offensive it will do. You get the difference...
        2. +1
          27 February 2021 22: 13
          Our advanced units will be destroyed, and the troops from the reserve will be able to attack, not even from tactical depth! And those destroyed by him will be able to transmit information, and will they know who destroyed them? This has happened somewhere before! Does this remind you of anything?
          1. 0
            28 February 2021 10: 13
            Pay attention, not 60 minutes, but UP TO 60 minutes.
            As far as I understand, the tactical link in the understanding of ACCS starts from the brigade and below. And this figure, IMHO, refers specifically to the brigade level of management. And at the brigade level, IMHO, in principle, there can be no real-time control. Because the time lag is mandatory, it is impossible to do without it while the person thinks and orders. As I see it, first you need to analyze the situation (real-time data from many lower links), then you need to draw up a plan, then you need to coordinate it with the higher link, then make changes to the plan, and only then bring the plan to the subdivisions and give the command for implementation ... Pay attention - the analysis, drawing up a plan at the brigade level and, accordingly, the analysis and response from the higher-lying link occur in the heads of many people, and this time that we, the Americans, cannot in any way shorten. We can only reduce the collection and systematization of data, transmission time between links, etc. Therefore, up to 60 minutes.
            But at the platoon-squad level, nothing prevents the database from being "clicked" on the tactical interface icon. I see no reason why this has not been implemented in our country, because the individual wireless interface, although unprepossessing, is included in the complete set of the Ratnik.
        3. 0
          31 March 2021 08: 02
          I agree. Just as nothing really works for us, so it does for them. Only after 2003 (the experience of the 3md bd in Iraq) did the states come to the conclusion that it is necessary to have a CMU in each battery.
  3. +1
    26 February 2021 20: 37
    We are late, but better late than never. We had and still have automated systems, but they have long been outdated and not even yesterday.

    With the introduction of more modern systems, both the time and the consumption of projectiles for the destruction of targets are reduced. Time is a decrease in the losses of our troops, a decrease in the consumption of shells increases the effectiveness of fire, based on the ammunition of the same self-propelled guns.

    Well, so far the system has not fully worked during the exercises, but only its elements. It is still far from full implementation, the delivery time in the article clearly speaks about this, plus since the artillery control system is only one of the control elements in general, it is necessary to deploy the entire system, how planned and consistently this is done is still a big question.
    1. +3
      27 February 2021 00: 35
      The words seem to be correct, but there is no thought! The same mess in the heads of the incompetent leaders in our army! How much longer should we wait? We have everything, such a system is necessary and could have been created yesterday! There is no brain in the heads of the leadership! We will stack up the best soldiers for a grain of information about the enemy and, moreover, it is useless! 41 years old, it's good that nuclear weapons save ...
  4. -7
    26 February 2021 20: 44
    The introduction of ESU TK in the artillery of the ground forces

    This is a new, qualitative leap in the organization of our troops, it remains only to bring all this to mind and saturate the troops.
    P.S. as always, there is no negativity towards the authorities in the topic - don't expect many comments))
    1. +4
      26 February 2021 21: 45
      Bringing to mind for thirty years is a waste of energy. For so much time, the equipment will become obsolete before the troops are saturated with it. Even the concept will become outdated.
      1. +5
        27 February 2021 00: 41
        There is nothing to become obsolete! Do you know our concept? Network-centric systems are vulnerable to electronic warfare systems and that is why we do not need them! Academy of Sciences and the military too!!!!
        1. 0
          7 March 2021 23: 41
          Probably, our cavalrymen also talked about radio communication in the early forties - they say, I pressed the key on the enemy's frequency and he has no connection! However, there were nuances. So it is now. With a bathtub, you wouldn't throw out a child ...
    2. 0
      27 February 2021 00: 41
      DIDN'T GUESS!
  5. +5
    26 February 2021 21: 09
    ESU TK - "suitcase without a handle". They have been creating for 20 years, but the end is not visible. And the breakthrough results too. But money / time invested immeasurably.
    1. +7
      27 February 2021 00: 42
      And what can be the results if the leaders are stupid?
      1. 0
        April 29 2021 20: 26
        And even then ... all the smart ones are similar in "Murzilka" comments on any topic at any time without getting up from the couch about .. they give out the mind, then you will not lose because of absence. And the taiga is not weeded out ...!
        1. 0
          April 29 2021 20: 47
          Well, first of all, not on all topics, but on certain ones! Secondly, you need to buy sofas and put them in your apartment, and you need to earn money for it or deserve it, and the means for living must be earned in order to broadcast from it ...
  6. +2
    26 February 2021 21: 47
    From concept to implementation
    one step! But it is easy to say, but to do, check, implement, there are many, many steps and it is not a fact that it will be possible to take them only forward, towards the goal.
    1. +6
      27 February 2021 00: 53
      Well, if you don't know what you want to get and for what ... It's like with ESU TK for 20 years ... The military did not know what they want and changed the requirements constantly and received and receive a "broken trough", as in one very instructive a fairy tale ... Or rather, as in another Russian folk tale: "Go there, I don't know where, bring that, I don't know what! Have you read it?
      1. 0
        27 February 2021 05: 29
        It also happens.
        That's what is more, fantasy, progressiveness of the developer or obstinacy, conservatism of the customer, question ???
  7. +3
    27 February 2021 02: 37
    What is so breakthrough about this system? In my opinion, the Germans used something similar since the beginning of World War II, and quite successfully. A reconnaissance plane, "Rama", or some infantry commander, transmitted data via radio, bombers or artillery worked on troop concentrations. The company commander could actually call in fire. Planes chased lone soldiers, not to mention tanks. We couldn't call in fire support, artillery and aviation were subordinated to army and front headquarters, and even battalion commanders couldn't do it.
    1. +2
      27 February 2021 12: 52
      You didn’t understand anything! The breakthrough is that reconnaissance spotters do not die, pilots and tank crews, and patrols do not take risks, people in trenches do not sit and do not work as targets, there are no front lines ... And most importantly, the positional area is monitored completely in real time with instant target designation and the destruction of the enemy ... And all this without the death of people and immediately, without approvals and clarifications, and meetings ... It is possible to keep the defense and control the territory very successfully! And not like in Syria, Libya, Armenia and the LDNR and on all the borders of Russia! It is now clear ?
      1. +1
        27 February 2021 14: 16
        That's what I'm telling you, the reconnaissance aircraft were very difficult opponents, the losses were minimal. Howitzers hit at 5-10 kilometers, with adjustment they hit pretty well, there were also bombers. That's why I'm saying there's nothing new here. Cyber ​​reconnaissance is cool, of course, but there's nothing new here. Good television equipment will replace a lot.
  8. +1
    27 February 2021 03: 55
    Quote: Azimuth
    With the introduction of more modern systems, both the time and the consumption of projectiles for the destruction of targets are reduced. Time is a decrease in the losses of our troops, a decrease in the consumption of shells increases the effectiveness of fire, based on the ammunition of the same self-propelled guns.

    How is projectile consumption reduced?
    Are self-propelled guns starting to shoot more accurately?
    Who adjusts and gives the command to stop firing due to target defeat? Or is it just a general communication switchboard, and not a control system? The article is full of fluff and no specifics, for example, can this ESU control the fire of the MSTA-S battery (8 units) at 8 different targets simultaneously?
  9. 0
    28 February 2021 19: 44
    Quote: Konnick
    Quote: Azimuth
    With the introduction of more modern systems, both the time and the consumption of projectiles for the destruction of targets are reduced. Time is a decrease in the losses of our troops, a decrease in the consumption of shells increases the effectiveness of fire, based on the ammunition of the same self-propelled guns.

    How is projectile consumption reduced?
    Are self-propelled guns starting to shoot more accurately?
    Who adjusts and gives the command to stop firing due to target defeat? Or is it just a general communication switchboard, and not a control system? The article is full of fluff and no specifics, for example, can this ESU control the fire of the MSTA-S battery (8 units) at 8 different targets simultaneously?

    The consumption of projectiles is reduced due to more accurate target designation and data acquisition by artillery calculations in real time. You will say this has already been implemented, but in this case we are not talking about a linear target reconnaissance system - artillery command - fire crews. We are talking about a deeper analysis, distribution and analysis of information in several echelons, the definition and distribution between weapons, and the definition of priority targets for artillery from the battalion battery to individual artillery units. Hence the decrease in the consumption of shells, and not only.
  10. 0
    28 February 2021 22: 59
    Quote: VO3A
    Well, if you don't know what you want to get and why ...

    Rather, they knew what they wanted to get, but didn't know how to do it. Their wishlist could only be realized through a full-scale transition from channel switching to packet switching technologies. And this is a completely different level of telecommunications.
  11. 0
    April 24 2021 16: 30
    Two problems:
    - military-industrial ties, which did not allow the implementation of the main "single" in the system, each promotes his own home-grown, all sorts of "airborne ace" and other nonsense multiply;
    - the intellectual helplessness of the current Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which cannot formulate what they need.
  12. 0
    28 May 2021 00: 20
    Creating such a system is a daunting task.
    As a concept: it is necessary to come up with algorithms for vertical and horizontal interaction, come up with encryption and access restriction methods.
    The same is technically: enemies will jam and take direction finding sources. And all this should be lightweight, reliable.
    Such a colossus cannot be built and worked out at once. This is a long way of searching and experimenting.
    So good luck to those who do it.