Elusive Destroyers and Their Enemies
We will talk about the well-known confrontation between missiles and anti-missiles, and this was inspired by none other than the representative of the command of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, who is well known to us for his, shall we say, ambiguous statements.
This time, something short-circuited somewhere from the usual accusations and overcame Ignat unexpectedly gave out a very surprising thing: it turns out that some Russian missiles cannot be intercepted, even with the help of even if not the most modern, but rather advanced NATO anti-aircraft missile systems.
Well, there is the usual classic: who is cooler, a missile or an anti-missile.
And here we will consider two lists. The first is to evaluate the capabilities of foreign and Ukrainian air defense systems in terms of the ability to intercept high-speed and maneuverable targets, the second is data on some missiles used by the Russian army in the NMD.
Let's start with air defense systems and immediately remove MANPADS from the huge list of what was dragged into Ukraine from all over the world. They are good for working at close range on airplanes and helicopters, UAVs, but alas, on missiles. We also remove cannon artillery, it is clear why.
In addition, we dismiss the air defense systems created on the basis of missiles for MANPADS: FV4333 Stormer, M1097 Avenger. We send the old Soviet S-125s, Osa-AKM and Strela-10, which simply cannot work against such targets, and non-Soviet MIM-23 Hawks there.
So, we still have a bunch of air defense systems under consideration, in which we are interested in two parameters: the range of work and the speed of the target that the complex can hit. We translate the speed into more familiar km / h.
1. "Tor-M". The very first modification of this complex, the range is 12 km, the target flight speed is up to 2500 km/h.
2. S-300. Here the spread is huge, it all depends on the modification of the air defense system and the missiles used, but on average, for 5V55K and 5V55R missiles (there is nowhere to take more modern ones), the data is as follows: range up to 75 km, target speed up to 4 680 km / h.
3. "Crotale" (France). Range up to 15 km, target speed up to 3 km/h. A very good old man got the Ukrainians.
4. MIM-104 "Patriot" PAC-2 (USA). Range up to 100 km, for ballistic targets up to 25 km. Target speed up to 5 km/h.
5. "Buk-M1". Range up to 25 km, target speed up to 2 km/h.
6. IRIS-T SLM (Germany). Range up to 40 km, target speed up to 4 km/h.
7. NASAMS-2 (Norway/USA). Range up to 20 km (AMRAAM ER missile - 40 km), target speed up to 3 km/h.
8. Skyguard-Aspide (Switzerland/Italy). Range up to 20 km, target speed up to 4 km/h. It is worth making a reservation right away, the Italians frankly overestimate the performance characteristics, the Aspide rocket lost all the competitions of the American AIM-300 AMRAAM.
The set, of course, is not small, moreover, there are frankly worthy complexes, the question, of course, is their number and the direct hands of the operators.
However, we will not draw any conclusions yet and look at what these complexes should intercept. Which, as they say, became a stumbling block on the way of the air defense systems of NATO countries to an unconditional and final victory in the sky over Ukraine.
1. X-22 "Storm" and X-32
Here it is necessary to consider together and separately at the same time, and here's why: X-32 is a direct continuation of the X-22 theme and is assembled in the same case, but the filling is different. Outwardly, it is almost impossible to distinguish missiles.
X-22 "Storm".
A monster weighing 5,6-5,7 tons, flying at speeds up to 5 km / h, works from a height of 700 km, that is, from a zone practically inaccessible to air defense systems. Having reached an altitude of 25-22 km, the rocket begins a dive and so approaches the target. It is clear that the speeds at which the final segment of the trajectory occurs do not imply interception.
The rocket has a very big minus: the guidance system. In general, the X-22 is an anti-ship missile, that is, it works on a high-contrast target, which is a ship at sea. The use of a seeker with a passive inertial reference system, a dual-mode autopilot and a radar guidance system in the final segment over areas gives simply fantastic deviations from the target.
But intercepting a missile diving at speeds over 5M is very difficult.
X-32
This nightmare, flying 800-1000 km at speeds up to 5 km/h, was developed for a very long time, from the 400s of the last century until it was put into service in 80. As a result, a new engine was installed in the X-2016 hull, the weight of the warhead was reduced, fuel tanks were increased in return, but most importantly, a new guidance system. It is radar-inertial with radio command correction and reference to the terrain from a radio altimeter. Instead of an autopilot, an automatic control system was installed.
That is, until the moment the RGSN is turned on (this is 200-300 km from the target), the missile goes through the INS, with adjustments through external channels. Next, herself. The accuracy is much higher than that of the X-22.
The carriers of this horror are big guys like Tu-22M, Tu-95 and Tu-160.
2. X-31PM
This is an anti-radar (X-31P) or anti-ship (X-31A) missile, which, depending on the target, can be equipped with either an active RGSN (option A) or a passive (option P) seeker.
This rocket is not like the previous ones, weighs ten times less, flies only 160-250 km at a speed of 3 km/h. But this missile can be suspended by anyone, from the MiG-600 to the Su-29. And to figure out where this pleasure will come from is not as easy as the same X-34, the launch of which from a heavy bomber can be tracked if you closely monitor the carrier. But the X-23 can be launched by anyone, which makes it problematic to detect.
The rocket is vile not only in speed and small size, but also in the ability to fly at low altitudes (from 10 m) with enveloping the terrain and then diving at the target. And to convey to the target an argument weighing 110 kg of the warhead.
3. P-800 "Onyx"
This anti-ship missile also showed itself very well in terms of attacks on ground targets. What is shipboard, what aviation (shorter by 2 meters due to the lack of a launch stage) options are practically not intercepted by air defense systems.
"Onyx" flies for 300 km, along a combined trajectory, "Onyx-M" for 800 km. Flight speed at altitudes up to 3 km/h, near the surface 200 km/h.
Like any normal anti-ship missile, Onyx climbs to a height of up to 14 m on the march and goes there according to the data of the inertial reference system and radio altimeter. The final section is about 000 km, the rocket descends to a height of 50-10 meters and uses an all-weather monopulse active-passive radar, which, moreover, very calmly looks at possible effects on it from electronic warfare.
4. X-47M2 "Dagger"
Airborne aeroballistic missile. It is used from aircraft, in fact - Iskander, which starts from an aircraft. The rocket rises to 20 km, and from there, maneuvering, descends on the target.
Range up to 2000 km, speed at the end of the trajectory up to 14 km/h, warhead weight 000 kg plus kinetic energy. ANN guidance with the possibility of correction from the GLONASS system, AWACS aircraft, the optical seeker is switched on at the finish line.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on the successful interception of the Kinzhal, according to one of the operators of the Patriot air defense system, who allegedly carried out the interception, the speed of the intercepted on May 4, 2023 at the terminal section of the Kinzhal trajectory was 3 km/h, which is significantly lower than stated by representatives of the Russian Federation minimum 700 km/h.
Considering that absolutely no evidence of this event, except for the fairings from the Kh-555 missiles, was presented, there is not much to comment on here. "Patriot" is a very good air defense system, but evidence is needed a little more weighty than unsubstantiated words.
In total, even without taking into account the “Daggers”, which, it must be said, are used infrequently, we can say that the Russian army has more means of confident destruction at its disposal than the Ukrainian countermeasures.
Moreover, even taking figures as a basis like this, one cannot be sure of the result. The same MIM-104 "Patriot" looks very confident in theory and cannot do anything with the same "Onyx" (it's not me, it's Ignat says). Why? Because despite the fact that the Onyx, although it flies at a speed that makes it possible for the Patriot to capture and hit the target, it flies at such a height, and even maneuvering, which greatly complicates the very possibility of its interception.
So the numbers are half the battle, and the second is just everything together. And together, even a very advanced air defense system is not able to intercept a missile flying at high speed and at low altitude. Or vice versa, ballistic missiles flying at a high dive angle down at hypersonic speeds (and all ballistic missiles are more or less hypersonic in the final segment) are also too tough for computers and air defense radars.
And here it is worth paying attention to the fact that, in addition to the Kh-47, all missiles from our hit parade are products of the Soviet defense industry. We can say that older ones, like the Kh-22 and P-800, nevertheless, do not have effective opposition from the enemy. This says a lot. At the same time, of course, it’s just wonderful that our fathers and grandfathers developed such a wonderful weapon, on the other hand, sooner or later the enemy will step forward and be able to neutralize such an advantage.
This unpleasant moment should be pushed as far as possible, first of all, due to new developments. Moreover, the direction is already clear: either hypersonic missiles, cruise or aeroballistic, or supersonic, but super-maneuverable.
The practice of CBO has clearly shown in which direction to move, it remains only to start moving.
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