The history of creating one of the country's first high-precision weapons systems

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The rout of the Iraqi forces in January 1991 was achieved by the Allies mainly due to their use of the latest designs. weapons, and above all high precision (WTO). It was also concluded that, in terms of its combat capabilities and effectiveness, it could be compared to nuclear. That is why in many countries new types of WTO are being intensively developed, and the old systems are being modernized and brought to the appropriate level.

Similar work, of course, being carried out in our country. Today we are opening the veil of secrecy over one of the interesting developments.

Background in brief is as follows. All of our tactical and operational-tactical missiles, which are still in service with the Ground Forces, are of the so-called "inertial" type. That is, the goal is induced on the basis of the laws of mechanics. The first such missiles had nearly kilometer errors, and this was considered normal. In the future, inertial systems were refined, which made it possible to reduce the deviation from the target for subsequent generations of rockets to tens of meters. However, this is the limit of "inertial". Has come, kick says, "crisis of the genre." And the accuracy, however, was required to increase. But with what, how?

The answer to this question was to be given to the staff of the Central Research Institute of Automation and Hydraulics (TsNIIAG), which initially focused on the development of control systems. Including in for various types of weapons. The work on creating the homing missile system, as it was later named, was headed by the head of the department of the institute Zinovy ​​Moiseevich Persits. Back in the fifties, he was awarded the Lenin Prize as one of the founders of the country's first anti-tank guided projectile "Bumblebee". He and his colleagues had other successful developments. This time it was necessary to get a mechanism that would ensure that the rocket would hit even small targets (bridges, launchers, etc.).

The military men initially reacted without enthusiasm to the ideas of Tsniiagovtsy. Indeed, according to the instructions, instructions, regulations, the appointment of missiles consists primarily in ensuring the delivery of the combat charge to the target area. Therefore, the deviation, measured in meters, does not matter much, the problem will still be solved. However, they promised to allocate, if necessary, several outdated (already at that time) operational tactical missiles P-17 (they are called Scud abroad), for which a deviation of two kilometers is permissible.

The history of creating one of the country's first high-precision weapons systems

Self-propelled launcher P-17 with an upgraded rocket with an optical homing head


They decided to rely on the development of an optical homing head. The idea was this. A picture is taken from a satellite or an airplane. On it, the decoder finds the target and marks it with a certain sign. Then this snapshot becomes the basis for creating a reference, which the “optics” mounted under the transparent fairing of the missile’s warhead would compare with the real terrain and find the target. From 1967 to 1973, laboratory testing went on for a year. One of the main problems was the question: in what form should the standards be fulfilled? Of the several options chosen film with a frame 4x4 mm, which in different scales would be filmed plot area with a view. At the altimeter command, the frames would change, allowing the head to find the target.

However, this way of solving the problem turned out to be unpromising. First, the head itself turned out cumbersome. This design was completely rejected by the military. They believed that the information on board the rocket should come not by putting in "some kind of film" just before the launch, when the rocket is already in a combat position ready to launch and all the work should be completed, but somehow different. It may be transmitted by wire, and even better by radio. Not satisfied with them and the fact that the optical head could be used only during the day, and in clear weather.

So, by 1974, it became clear: we need other solutions to the problem. This was discussed at a meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defense Industry.

By this time, computers and computers began to be introduced more and more actively into science and production. A more sophisticated element base was developed. And newcomers appeared in the Peach department, many of whom have already managed to work on the creation of various information systems. They just offered to do the standards with the help of electronics. We needed an on-board computer, they believed, in whose memory the entire algorithm of actions for launching a missile at a target, its capture, retention and, ultimately, destruction, would have been laid.

It was a very difficult period. As always, they worked on 14 – 16 hours a day. It was not possible to create a digital sensor that could read the coded information about the target from the computer memory. We studied, as they say, in practice. In the development of no one intervened. And in general, very few people knew about them. Therefore, when the first tests of the system passed, and it showed itself well, for many this news came as a surprise. In the meantime, views on ways of waging war in modern conditions were changing. Military scientists gradually came to the conclusion that the use of nuclear weapons, especially in tactical and operational-tactical terms, can be not only ineffective, but also dangerous: in addition to the enemy, the defeat of their troops was not excluded. It required a fundamentally new weapon that would ensure the performance of the task with a normal charge - due to the highest accuracy.

In one of the research institutes of the Moscow Region, a laboratory “Systems of high-precision control of tactical and operational tactical missiles” is being created. At first, it was necessary to figure out what kind of developments the “defense industry” already has, and above all - the Tsiyagi people.

The calendar was 1975 year. By this time, Persits’s team had prototypes of a future system that was miniature and completely reliable, that is, it met the initial requirements. In principle, the problem with the standards was solved. Now they were laid in the memory of a computer in the form of electronic images of the terrain, made in different scales. At the time of the flight of the warhead at the command of the altimeter, these images were in turn called up from memory, and the digital sensor took readings from each of them.

After a series of successful experiments, the system was decided to "put on the plane."

... At the range under the "belly" of the Su-17 aircraft clung to the mock rocket with a homing head.

The pilot led the aircraft along the proposed flight path of the rocket. The work of the head was recorded by a movie camera, which “surveyed” the area with one “eye” with it, i.e., through a common lens.

And here is the first "debriefing". All, with bated breath, look at the screen. The first frames. 10000 height meters. In the haze barely guessed the outlines of the earth. The “head” moves smoothly from side to side, as if searching for something. Suddenly it stops and, no matter how the aircraft maneuvers, it constantly keeps the same place in the center of the frame. Finally, when the carrier aircraft dropped to four kilometers in height, everyone clearly saw the target. Yes, electronics understood the man and did everything she could. That day was a holiday ...

“Aircraft” success, considered by many, is a clear evidence of the viability of the system. But Persits knew that only successful missile launches could convince customers. The first of these took place on 29 September 1979. The P-17 rocket, launched at a 300-kilometer range at the Kapustin Yar test site, fell a few meters away from the center of the target.

And then there was a decree of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers on this program. Funds were allocated, dozens of enterprises were involved in the work. Now, tsyneiagovtsam no longer had to manually hand the necessary details. They were responsible for the development of the entire management system, the preparation and processing of data, and the entry of information into the on-board computer.


Specialists TSNIIAG with their offspring - the head of the rocket with an optical homing head


Representatives of the Ministry of Defense acted in a uniform rhythm with the developers. Thousands of people worked on the task. In constructive terms, the P-17 rocket itself has changed somewhat. Now the head part has become detachable, rudders, a stabilization system, etc. have been installed on it. In TsNIIAG, special data entry machines were created, with the help of which it was encoded, and then transferred via cable to the onboard computer's memory. Naturally, not everything went smoothly, there were failures. It is backwards: much had to be done for the first time. Especially the situation has become complicated after several unsuccessful missile launches.

It was in 1984. September 24 - start failed. October 31 is the same: the head did not recognize the target.
Tests stopped.

What started here! Meeting after meeting, separation after separation ... At one of the meetings in the Military Industrial Commission there was even the question of returning work to the research and development level. The decisive factor was the opinion of the then head of the Main Directorate of the Colonel-General, Colonel-General Y. Andrianov, and other military specialists who applied for continuation of work in the previous regime.

The search for "interference" took almost a year. Dozens of new algorithms were tested, all the mechanisms were dismantled and assembled, but - my head was spinning - the failure was never found ...

In the eighty-fifth left for re-testing. The rocket launch was scheduled for the morning. In the evening, the experts once again drove the program on the computer. Before leaving, they decided to inspect the transparent fairings, which had been brought up the day before and soon should have been placed on the head parts of the missiles. Then something happened that now has become a legend. One of the designers looked into the fairing and ... The light from the lamp hanging from the side, refraining in an incomprehensible way, did not allow to distinguish objects through the glass.

The blame was ... the thinnest layer of dust on the inner surface of the fairing.

In the morning, the "clear" rocket finally fell into the calculated location. Just where she was directed.

Development work ended successfully in 1989. But the research of scientists is still ongoing, so it’s too early to sum up the final results. It is difficult to say how the fate of this development will develop in the future, another thing is clear: it allowed to study the principles of creating high-precision weapons systems, to see their strengths and weaknesses, and in passing - to make a lot of discoveries and inventions that are already being introduced both in the military and in civil production.


The scheme of combat use of operational-tactical missiles with optical homing head


An optical reconnaissance satellite (1) or a reconnaissance ramolet (2) takes a snapshot of the intended stationary target location (3), after which the image is transmitted to the control unit (4) to identify the target; then the image of the terrain is digitized with the designation of the target location (5), after which it is inserted into the onboard computer of the head part of the tactical missile (6); The launcher (7) launches, after the active part of the flight, the head of the rocket is separated (8) and flies along a ballistic trajectory, then, according to the inertial system and altimeter, an optical homing head is switched on, which scans the area with a digital standard (9) is aimed at the target with the help of aerodynamic control surfaces and hits it.
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  1. +1
    10 November 2012 11: 37
    P-17 WTO “Aerofon” (8K14-1Ф) - with a detachable warhead and optical homing head on the final section of the trajectory, developer of TsNIIAG, tests in 1979-1989, NATO code - SS-1e “Scud D”. The complex was put into trial operation under the name 9K72-1 in 1990.
    source - http://www.russianarms.ru/forum/index.php/topic,1585.0.html
  2. +1
    10 November 2012 14: 37
    And 100 percent that the full-scale tests were carried out in Afghanistan (here are the enti modifications of the Skadov (4 pieces) and were at Najibula’s, acting in conjunction with the An-24
  3. +1
    12 November 2012 00: 27
    The greatest scientific and production potential was created in the period before the beginning of the 90s! The effect of "inertia" even today allows working on new projects. True, only the "old generation" is working today by inertia. The era of American grants will finally destroy the Russian military industry.

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