SAM "Buk": what Ukraine lacks so much
Today, in reports from Ukraine, without exaggeration, we hear this name more often than any other related to air defense. Moreover, on both sides of the front.
The Buk anti-aircraft missile system, work on which began exactly 50 years ago, is still successfully fulfilling the tasks assigned to it. And it is, without exaggeration, one of the most effective means of air defense of our army. And Ukrainian too, so it is not surprising that the hunt for the Buk is on both sides.
Of course, during all this time, the Buk did not stand still. And from the air defense system that was put into service in 1980, what is today in service with the Russian army, namely the Buk-M3, put into service in 2016, are very different from each other.
36 years is still quite a lot. The fact that in these years five fundamental modifications that increase the capabilities of the complex “fit in” indicates that the work was carried out very, very hard.
Today we will not consider all modifications of the Buk, but only those that take part in the special operation on the territory of Ukraine. These are the Buk-M1 of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the air defense systems of the Russian army, that is, the Buk-M2 and Buk-M3.
In principle, so much has already been said about these complexes that almost everything will be a repetition to a certain extent. However, it is quite a reasonable question: why after 50 years (almost 50 years) the complex has not only not become obsolete and retired, but, on the contrary, its relevance is still great.
In general, it is worth noting that the air defense system, if it is a decent complex, is a very long-playing thing. The same American Hawk has gone through so many wars and is still a competitor to our S-125 in countries with a limited military budget.
So the main thing here is timely upgrades and modifications.
Actually, with the "Buk" came out the same story.
Back in 1980, a slightly different Buk, which is in operation today, was put into service. More precisely, such a "Buk" is at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (which does not make it less dangerous). But in fact, this is an air defense system of the last century.
It is clear that today, on our part, Buk of previous generations are also participating in the special operation, and even (possibly) Buk M1-2, a certain number of vehicles are still in service. But even the Buk M2 has as much a clearer advantage over the Buk M1 as the T-90 tank will be better tank T-54.
Different technological generations, different hardware base.
It is clear that we cannot compare the Buk M3 100% with the rest, simply because many performance characteristics have the corresponding necks. However, what is there is enough for a calm understanding of the issue.
"Buk-M3" is "Buk" in name only. Actually a new car. The evolution of the same command post from 9S470 to 9S510M is an eternity. From 18 channels to 36. That is, KP M-3 can "lead" up to 36 targets.
The Buk-M3 division (an air defense brigade has 2-4 divisions in its structure), as well as divisions armed with older models, consists of a command post, a surveillance radar and three anti-aircraft missile batteries. The battery, in turn, consists of two self-propelled firing systems (SDA) and one launcher-loader.
But everything in the division is different from the divisions with Buk M-1 and M-2.
New command post 9S510M. New radar 9S18M3. The detection range of air targets with an EPR of 1 square meter increased from 120 km (at the Buk M-1 radar) to 160 km, and the transition to a new element base significantly (according to the developers) increased the noise immunity of the radar.
So, we see further, we see more, we operate faster.
Further changes in the SOU. A few words about the M1: it all started with the 9S18 Dome radar, a very slow radar with a very small field of view, from 30 to 40 degrees. And in the all-round view mode, the time rate of the view reached 18 seconds, which is actually an eternity. Plus, with its own M1 radar, it can track only one target, pointing two out of four missiles at it.
Extremely inefficient without a command post and a base radar battery. How can one not remember the Malaysian Boeing once again ...
The new SOU 9A317M is much better. The radar is modern, with a phased antenna array, a viewing angle of 90 degrees in azimuth and 70 degrees in elevation. And to conduct independently "M3" can up to 6 targets.
In addition, the new smaller 9M317M2 missiles made it possible to increase the number of launchers from 4 to 6. And the 9A316M launcher contains 12 more missiles (instead of 8 for its predecessor ROM). That is, a pair of SOU and PU is capable of launching 18 missiles in combat mode. It is clear that the launcher does not have its own radar, therefore the guidance and control of missiles is carried out by the SDA and the command post.
We see that a modern Buk M3 battalion has an ammunition load of 72 missiles. A similar division on the Buk M1 - 48 missiles. And at the same time, the M3 division can fire at 36 targets, not 18.
In addition, new missiles do not require radar tracking throughout the entire flight path. The active homing head of the 9M317M2 missile makes it possible to capture a target at a distance of about 35 km and self-correct the flight. At distances from 70 to 35 km, until the moment of confident capture of the target, the missile will go according to the commands emanating from the command post and radar.
In fact, there was a certain division into “before” and “after”. After the Buk-M3, the advantage of the new complex and the new 9M317M and 9M317MA missiles became obvious. "Old" missiles from modifications M1 and M2 new "Buk" can not use.
Well, the main difference between Buk-M3 and Buk-M2. The speed of targets for which the air defense system can effectively work out. For the Buk-M2, the maximum target speed is 1100 m/s, which makes it possible to hit ballistic missiles with a launch range of up to 200-250 km, and the Buk-M3 can intercept targets flying at speeds up to 3000 m/s, which corresponds to ballistic missiles with a launch range of up to 1000-1100 km.
As they say, feel the difference.
Of course, here the word “finally” is not entirely ethical, we could easily do without such a check. However, the planes and UAVs shot down in Ukraine confirm the high reputation of the Buk air defense system.
However, the Buk-M2E quite successfully showed its capabilities in repelling cruise missile attacks in Syria. And, despite the "high" level of training of the Syrian air defense, a sufficiently large number of missiles did not reach their goals.
Reports from Ukraine also include reports that Russian anti-aircraft gunners regularly shoot down a few aircraft and Drones APU. Naturally, not only Buks are operating, but this complex makes a significant contribution to the protection of airspace from Ukrainian aircraft.
At the same time, the Ukrainian side does not indulge its citizens with more or less confirmed victories, despite the fact that it had a fairly decent amount of Buk-M1 at its disposal. It turns out that "Fedot, but not the one?".
Exactly. The 9M38M1 rocket was very good for its time, but by now it is still radically outdated. The criticism of the Buk-M1, which was expressed by many Russian military experts, was justified, but for Ukraine it was fatal.
In fact, all components of the complex were Russian-designed and manufactured in Russia. OKB "Innovator" named after Lyulyev, part of the Almaz-Antey concern, the developer of these systems, went further and further in their work. The Ukrainian side was deprived of the opportunity to improve its air defense systems, since it did not have access to technical documentation, its specialists and material and technical base.
Well, everything was not very good with money in Ukraine.
As a result, a very sad situation has developed.
Therefore, the old Buk-1Ms of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were forced to try to oppose something to the Russian Su-30s and Su-34s, while the Ukrainian MiG-29s and Su-27s did not feel very well under the guns of the Buk-M2 and M3 ".
Hence the not-so-happy reports. Of course, if you just indiscriminately lie in the style of Dr. Goebbels, then yes, the losses of the Russian Aerospace Forces are simply stunning. One "Ghost of Kyiv" was worth something. But if we talk about losses seriously, then everything is sad for the Ukrainians.
The old Buk missiles and no less old S-300PS cannot intercept the more advanced Caliber and Iskanders (especially the latter), and because of this they are simply destroyed. Next comes the move aviation, which performs its tasks, being completely unconstrained by air defense actions, with the possible exception of low altitudes, where it is possible to get hit by a Stinger.
At the same time, the more modern air defense systems of Russia (and not only the Buks) quite calmly cope with all the attacks that the Ukrainian military is trying to carry out.
And today we can say that the “invincible and invulnerable” Turkish “Bayraktar” is, in principle, from the same airfield with the “Ghost of Kyiv”. It goes very well, especially since the device turned out to be stupid and often flies, even after it falls under the radiation of the radar antenna.
We will talk about the collapse of the Bayraktar legend in the next article, but today we can say with confidence that this is really a legend.
Tell me, what about the last skirmish between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Karabakh? And everything is simple there. There were no Buks. None. Moreover, both sides confirm this. And what the air defense of Karabakh had at its disposal was, in the worst case, the ancient "Wasp", "Circle" and "Cube", it is not known in what condition.
Who hit then? "Tor-M2KM" of the Armed Forces of Armenia. And if the Armenian side introduced Buk-M2E into Karabakh, then I'm afraid Azerbaijan would not get off with one downed plane.
If you look at everything as a whole, then the picture is as follows: the Russian army has a solid and modern anti-aircraft missile system "Buk-M2 / M3", capable of solving the problem of protecting units and subunits both on the march and in the front line, moreover , do this over the entire range of heights.
However, the presence in the air defense of the Russian army of a large number of frankly outdated Buk-M1 systems, which in modern conditions, as shown by the Ukrainian side, cannot effectively protect their troops, they cannot protect themselves should be considered a minus in the situation. And something needs to be done about it. And what - only one thing: the re-equipment of all brigades that are armed with obsolete air defense systems for more modern equipment.
This is the case, by the way, when greed and economy are not appropriate.
If you look globally, then the development of air defense systems in Russia is moving in the right direction. In general, when development does not stand still, it's great. And when it is standing, then on the example of Ukrainian soldiers, in the sky you see only other people's planes, which does not bring anything good.
The Buk anti-aircraft missile system, work on which began exactly 50 years ago, is still successfully fulfilling the tasks assigned to it. And it is, without exaggeration, one of the most effective means of air defense of our army. And Ukrainian too, so it is not surprising that the hunt for the Buk is on both sides.
Of course, during all this time, the Buk did not stand still. And from the air defense system that was put into service in 1980, what is today in service with the Russian army, namely the Buk-M3, put into service in 2016, are very different from each other.
36 years is still quite a lot. The fact that in these years five fundamental modifications that increase the capabilities of the complex “fit in” indicates that the work was carried out very, very hard.
"Buk" in the armies
Today we will not consider all modifications of the Buk, but only those that take part in the special operation on the territory of Ukraine. These are the Buk-M1 of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the air defense systems of the Russian army, that is, the Buk-M2 and Buk-M3.
In principle, so much has already been said about these complexes that almost everything will be a repetition to a certain extent. However, it is quite a reasonable question: why after 50 years (almost 50 years) the complex has not only not become obsolete and retired, but, on the contrary, its relevance is still great.
In general, it is worth noting that the air defense system, if it is a decent complex, is a very long-playing thing. The same American Hawk has gone through so many wars and is still a competitor to our S-125 in countries with a limited military budget.
So the main thing here is timely upgrades and modifications.
Actually, with the "Buk" came out the same story.
Back in 1980, a slightly different Buk, which is in operation today, was put into service. More precisely, such a "Buk" is at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (which does not make it less dangerous). But in fact, this is an air defense system of the last century.
It is clear that today, on our part, Buk of previous generations are also participating in the special operation, and even (possibly) Buk M1-2, a certain number of vehicles are still in service. But even the Buk M2 has as much a clearer advantage over the Buk M1 as the T-90 tank will be better tank T-54.
Different technological generations, different hardware base.
It is clear that we cannot compare the Buk M3 100% with the rest, simply because many performance characteristics have the corresponding necks. However, what is there is enough for a calm understanding of the issue.
"Buk-M3" is "Buk" in name only. Actually a new car. The evolution of the same command post from 9S470 to 9S510M is an eternity. From 18 channels to 36. That is, KP M-3 can "lead" up to 36 targets.
The Buk-M3 division (an air defense brigade has 2-4 divisions in its structure), as well as divisions armed with older models, consists of a command post, a surveillance radar and three anti-aircraft missile batteries. The battery, in turn, consists of two self-propelled firing systems (SDA) and one launcher-loader.
But everything in the division is different from the divisions with Buk M-1 and M-2.
New command post 9S510M. New radar 9S18M3. The detection range of air targets with an EPR of 1 square meter increased from 120 km (at the Buk M-1 radar) to 160 km, and the transition to a new element base significantly (according to the developers) increased the noise immunity of the radar.
So, we see further, we see more, we operate faster.
Further changes in the SOU. A few words about the M1: it all started with the 9S18 Dome radar, a very slow radar with a very small field of view, from 30 to 40 degrees. And in the all-round view mode, the time rate of the view reached 18 seconds, which is actually an eternity. Plus, with its own M1 radar, it can track only one target, pointing two out of four missiles at it.
Extremely inefficient without a command post and a base radar battery. How can one not remember the Malaysian Boeing once again ...
The new SOU 9A317M is much better. The radar is modern, with a phased antenna array, a viewing angle of 90 degrees in azimuth and 70 degrees in elevation. And to conduct independently "M3" can up to 6 targets.
In addition, the new smaller 9M317M2 missiles made it possible to increase the number of launchers from 4 to 6. And the 9A316M launcher contains 12 more missiles (instead of 8 for its predecessor ROM). That is, a pair of SOU and PU is capable of launching 18 missiles in combat mode. It is clear that the launcher does not have its own radar, therefore the guidance and control of missiles is carried out by the SDA and the command post.
We see that a modern Buk M3 battalion has an ammunition load of 72 missiles. A similar division on the Buk M1 - 48 missiles. And at the same time, the M3 division can fire at 36 targets, not 18.
In addition, new missiles do not require radar tracking throughout the entire flight path. The active homing head of the 9M317M2 missile makes it possible to capture a target at a distance of about 35 km and self-correct the flight. At distances from 70 to 35 km, until the moment of confident capture of the target, the missile will go according to the commands emanating from the command post and radar.
In fact, there was a certain division into “before” and “after”. After the Buk-M3, the advantage of the new complex and the new 9M317M and 9M317MA missiles became obvious. "Old" missiles from modifications M1 and M2 new "Buk" can not use.
Well, the main difference between Buk-M3 and Buk-M2. The speed of targets for which the air defense system can effectively work out. For the Buk-M2, the maximum target speed is 1100 m/s, which makes it possible to hit ballistic missiles with a launch range of up to 200-250 km, and the Buk-M3 can intercept targets flying at speeds up to 3000 m/s, which corresponds to ballistic missiles with a launch range of up to 1000-1100 km.
As they say, feel the difference.
And here is the practice
Of course, here the word “finally” is not entirely ethical, we could easily do without such a check. However, the planes and UAVs shot down in Ukraine confirm the high reputation of the Buk air defense system.
However, the Buk-M2E quite successfully showed its capabilities in repelling cruise missile attacks in Syria. And, despite the "high" level of training of the Syrian air defense, a sufficiently large number of missiles did not reach their goals.
Reports from Ukraine also include reports that Russian anti-aircraft gunners regularly shoot down a few aircraft and Drones APU. Naturally, not only Buks are operating, but this complex makes a significant contribution to the protection of airspace from Ukrainian aircraft.
At the same time, the Ukrainian side does not indulge its citizens with more or less confirmed victories, despite the fact that it had a fairly decent amount of Buk-M1 at its disposal. It turns out that "Fedot, but not the one?".
Exactly. The 9M38M1 rocket was very good for its time, but by now it is still radically outdated. The criticism of the Buk-M1, which was expressed by many Russian military experts, was justified, but for Ukraine it was fatal.
In fact, all components of the complex were Russian-designed and manufactured in Russia. OKB "Innovator" named after Lyulyev, part of the Almaz-Antey concern, the developer of these systems, went further and further in their work. The Ukrainian side was deprived of the opportunity to improve its air defense systems, since it did not have access to technical documentation, its specialists and material and technical base.
Well, everything was not very good with money in Ukraine.
As a result, a very sad situation has developed.
Therefore, the old Buk-1Ms of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were forced to try to oppose something to the Russian Su-30s and Su-34s, while the Ukrainian MiG-29s and Su-27s did not feel very well under the guns of the Buk-M2 and M3 ".
Hence the not-so-happy reports. Of course, if you just indiscriminately lie in the style of Dr. Goebbels, then yes, the losses of the Russian Aerospace Forces are simply stunning. One "Ghost of Kyiv" was worth something. But if we talk about losses seriously, then everything is sad for the Ukrainians.
The old Buk missiles and no less old S-300PS cannot intercept the more advanced Caliber and Iskanders (especially the latter), and because of this they are simply destroyed. Next comes the move aviation, which performs its tasks, being completely unconstrained by air defense actions, with the possible exception of low altitudes, where it is possible to get hit by a Stinger.
At the same time, the more modern air defense systems of Russia (and not only the Buks) quite calmly cope with all the attacks that the Ukrainian military is trying to carry out.
And today we can say that the “invincible and invulnerable” Turkish “Bayraktar” is, in principle, from the same airfield with the “Ghost of Kyiv”. It goes very well, especially since the device turned out to be stupid and often flies, even after it falls under the radiation of the radar antenna.
We will talk about the collapse of the Bayraktar legend in the next article, but today we can say with confidence that this is really a legend.
Tell me, what about the last skirmish between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Karabakh? And everything is simple there. There were no Buks. None. Moreover, both sides confirm this. And what the air defense of Karabakh had at its disposal was, in the worst case, the ancient "Wasp", "Circle" and "Cube", it is not known in what condition.
Who hit then? "Tor-M2KM" of the Armed Forces of Armenia. And if the Armenian side introduced Buk-M2E into Karabakh, then I'm afraid Azerbaijan would not get off with one downed plane.
***
If you look at everything as a whole, then the picture is as follows: the Russian army has a solid and modern anti-aircraft missile system "Buk-M2 / M3", capable of solving the problem of protecting units and subunits both on the march and in the front line, moreover , do this over the entire range of heights.
However, the presence in the air defense of the Russian army of a large number of frankly outdated Buk-M1 systems, which in modern conditions, as shown by the Ukrainian side, cannot effectively protect their troops, they cannot protect themselves should be considered a minus in the situation. And something needs to be done about it. And what - only one thing: the re-equipment of all brigades that are armed with obsolete air defense systems for more modern equipment.
This is the case, by the way, when greed and economy are not appropriate.
If you look globally, then the development of air defense systems in Russia is moving in the right direction. In general, when development does not stand still, it's great. And when it is standing, then on the example of Ukrainian soldiers, in the sky you see only other people's planes, which does not bring anything good.
Information