A window of opportunity for EW

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Concern "Radio-electronic technologies" Western sanctions are not an obstacle

When it comes to the Russian military-industrial complex (MIC), the majority of readers come up with the old brands that were formed in the Soviet era, aviation MiG and Sukhoi tank Uralvagonzavod, boat "Rubin". But over the past few years, under the wing of the Rostec state corporation, several new large concerns have formed, which so far are not well known to the general public, but have every chance of becoming the face of the Russian defense industry in the XNUMXst century.

A typical example is the Fifth Anniversary of OJSC Concern Radioelectronic Technologies (KRET), which celebrated this February. It is unlikely that even a person who is fond of military technology will be able to immediately name the areas of interest of this new player without a hint on the Internet. But in the foreseeable future, the situation has all the chances to change. The fact is that KRET works in such major niches of the market for military products as the development and production of systems and systems for onboard radio-electronic equipment (avionics), electronic warfare (EW), and state identification.

Blind, stun and immobilize the enemy

Take, for example, electronic warfare equipment. The world market is currently valued at about nine billion dollars a year, it is one of the most progressive and expanding parts of the overall market for arms and military equipment, along with the production of military drones (UAV) and command and control systems. By 2020, the global volume of trade in electronic warfare systems may reach $16 billion. The main reason for this growth is clear - it is impossible to imagine a modern battlefield without them. First of all, the main striking force of modern conflicts, aviation, will not be able to work without acceptable losses. In turn, covering ground and surface objects without suppressing the radar of attack aircraft and AWACS aircraft is also an unsolvable task. There is another factor due to which the demand for electronic warfare systems in the world is steadily growing: they are not subject to the vast majority of international agreements that limit or regulate the supply of military products (MPs). They will not fall within the scope of the new international trade treaty. weapons. Therefore, sales of the world's leading manufacturers are growing in all key markets - in the USA, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, in the Middle and Near East.

A window of opportunity for EWThe sales of Radioelectronic Technologies concern, the Russian leader in this field, are also increasing. The most famous KRET program is a wide-range station of powerful noise interference “Krasukha-4”. It was put into service in 2012, and in April of the following year, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation received the first batch. The main task of the station is to jam the radar of strike aviation. So far, the main consumer of “Krasukha-4” in Russia is the Strategic Missile Forces, covering their mobile missile systems. In the future, the system will go on arms and other types of troops.

The most important direction in the development of EW facilities is countering radio-fuses. Back in Soviet times, the Gradient Scientific Research Institute, now part of KRET, developed jamming stations for the anti-aircraft anti-shipboard anti-aircraft rifle systems SPR-1 and SPR-2. Their modern development was a modernized version of the station "Mercury-BM". Last year KRET delivered ten Mercury-BM complexes to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, having fully completed the state defense order of the year 2013 for the supply of this type of equipment. The cost of the contract - 700 million rubles.

KRET includes the leading Russian enterprise in the field of development of systems, complexes and EW facilities, primarily air-based, JSC Kaluga Radio Engineering Research Institute (KNIRTI). Since its foundation in 1957, the Institute has developed four generations of systems that formed the basis of the EW facilities of the Soviet and Russian Air Forces. At present, together with the Su-34 fighter-bomber, the fourth-generation Khibiny electronic countermeasure complex (REP) has been put into service, designed to protect the aircraft against air defense weapons. It differs from the stations of the previous generation by a multi-level multiprocessor control system using digital signal processing methods. The transmitting devices of the active interference equipment of the REP complex "Khibiny" are built on the basis of active high-power antenna arrays. According to unconfirmed officially reported data, the Khibiny REP complex was baptized in 2008 in August in South Ossetia.

In addition to KNIRTI, the most important developer of EW aviation systems is the Samara FSUE Scientific Research Institute Ekran. The company specializes in multifunctional integrated airborne defense complexes against the destruction of guided missile air defense systems with radar and thermal guidance. From 2013 of the year, the Air Force receives a new development of the Ekran Scientific Research Institute, the electronic warfare systems of the Vitebsk family, which are based on the L-370-3С active jamming station. "Vitebsk" is intended to replace the currently deployed in the armament of the front aviation aviation "Gardenia" and "Sorption", developed in 70 – 80's. According to the Ekran Research Institute, individual elements of Vitebsk are mounted on Ka-52 attack helicopters and Mi-8МТ transport helicopters. Other products of the Samara Scientific Research Institute include an onboard radio active interference station, an optical electronic suppression laser station, an active towed radar trap, and one-time interference transmitters. All these systems are part of the armament of aircraft and helicopters of the Russian Air Force and are exported. For civilian customers (airlines operating aircraft in dangerous areas), the Ekran research institute has developed the on-board defense complex of the President-S aircraft. It includes stations for active radio interference and opto-electronic suppression, warnings of radar and laser irradiation, a rocket attack, a device for ejecting aviation expendables (anti-radar cartridges, infrared radiation, with disposable jammers). It is worth noting that systems of this type now make up the extremely fast-growing niche of the REP market; similar civilian systems are offered by such companies as Rheinmetall, Cassidian, Qinetiq, Thales, and others.

The structure of KRET includes the leading Russian enterprise for the development of electronic warfare systems for equipping the Navy - Taganrog Research Institute of Communications OJSC (TNIIS). The equipment of its development is equipped with all large surface ships of the Russian fleetincluding the Moscow missile cruiser, the Peter the Great heavy nuclear missile cruiser and the Soviet Union Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft cruiser. In addition, the company participated in equipping electronic warfare systems of Talwar-type frigates built for the Indian Navy. Within the framework of the concern, in addition to TNIIS, the serial manufacturer of shipborne electronic warfare systems is OJSC Rostov Plant Pribor.

The products of KRET enterprises go to all types and branches of the Armed Forces: Ground Forces, Aviation, Air Defense, Fleet. It is worth noting that the country's chief specialist in this field also works in the concern. Since April 2012, the decision of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Government of the Russian Federation, Deputy General Director of Concern Radioelectronic Technologies OJSC, Yuri Maevsky, has been appointed Chief Designer for EW Systems and Means.

KRET's unique area of ​​specialization is the development, improvement and production of components of the state identification system. It is a hardware-software complex for the automatic determination of the belonging of objects detected in the air, at sea and land according to the principle of “friend or foe” and the determination of their characteristics (tail number, etc.). The lead developer of state-recognition systems of the Soviet Union, the Scientific Research Institute No. 334, after a series of transformations and renames, is today called NPO Radioelectronics, named after them. V.I. Shimko ”and is included in KRET. For a long time, this association was headed by an outstanding scientist and engineer Ildus Mostyukov. Under his leadership, the unified combined-arms system of state radar identification of the USSR and the Russian Federation “Password”, which is now in service, was created. In addition to Radioelectronics, other key enterprises of the concern responsible for work in this area are OJSC Radiopribor (Kazan, production of airborne equipment for combat aircraft) and OJSC Kazan Electrotechnical Plant (for the Navy). They continue to produce the equipment of the Password system for aviation and naval equipment entering service, as well as for export. A modernized system of state recognition “Guardian” has been developed, but the rearmament of the RF Armed Forces is proceeding slowly due to the relatively high cost of the project.

Development in breadth and depth

In December 2012, the supervisory board of Rostec made a decision to transfer the enterprises of another holding structure of the state corporation, the Aviapriborostroenie concern, to OJSC Concern Radioelectronic Technologies. At the time of the decision to reduce the number of Rostec holdings, KRET was already a vertically integrated structure with an adopted unified concept of corporate development, unlike Aviapriborostroenia, which remained essentially a collection of disparate assets that were not even united by a common brand. Therefore, the transfer of the enterprises of the Aviapriborostroenie concern to KRET looked like a quite reasonable step. As a result, KRET has become one of the largest Russian developers and manufacturers of avionics. Among his undoubted successes is the development of the BINS-SP2 inertial navigation system, first presented at the Le Bourget-2013 international aerospace show. It is designed to determine the location of the object, integrated processing and issuance of navigation and flight information, is capable of determining the coordinates and motion parameters of the aircraft in the autonomous mode in the absence of satellite navigation signals. This system will be applied on the fifth-generation fighter T-50, which is being created as part of the Advanced Aviation Complex of Frontal Aviation (PAK FA). Developer BINS-SP2 - Moscow Institute of Electromechanics and Automation (MIEA). This is one of the oldest domestic enterprises in the development of aviation instruments, navigation and control systems. MIEA produces autonomous and adjustable inertial navigation systems, systems of remote and automatic flight control, computing systems for navigation and aircraft navigation. The company actively participates in the development of avionics for MS-21 and Tu-214 airplanes, Ka-226 helicopters, etc. Ramensky Instrument-Making Plant, one of the leading manufacturers of flight and navigation systems for civil and military aviation, will become a serial manufacturer of BINS-SP2 systems. His specialty niche is the production of laser gyro products.

Of course, the merger of the former Aviapriborostroenie Concern OJSC has become a serious management challenge for the management of KRET. Now the concern is the largest Rostec holding company in terms of the number of its enterprises. Immediately after the merger of Aviapriborostroenia, there were more than 120. Now, after a series of mergers and reductions, the holding company manages 97 enterprises. Moreover, the complexity is not only in quantity, but also in dispersion; KRET geography - 31 subject of the Federation, from St. Petersburg in the north to Novorossiysk in the south, from Bryansk in the west to Vladivostok in the east. However, the economic indicators of the group allow us to say that, in general, the management of such a colossus is solved. Sales revenue in 2013 amounted to 85 billion rubles against 75,9 billion in 2012. The expected revenue in 2014 is 99,7 billion rubles, with plans to increase this figure to 146 billion rubles to 2016. The total net profit of KRET in 2013 year increased in relation to the same indicator of 2012 for 3,4 of a billion rubles, that is, to 6,6 of billion. To this it is necessary to add that the concern in 2013 in the year ahead of schedule and in full fulfilled the state defense order for the sum over 40 billion rubles. The decision of the management task will be the transition to a new structure. The first division, whose creation in the near future is announced by the concern's leadership, will be KRET Avionics.

Do not forget about the military-political conjuncture, playing in favor of KRET. Challenges, but at the same time a window of opportunity for the defense industry, have already been introduced and upcoming sanctions of Western countries for the supply of military products. They returned from heaven to earth that part of the military and political establishment, which naively believed that Russia would be able to purchase, if not all necessary, then at least high-tech military products from the West. The Ukrainian crisis and the subsequent sanctions dispelled these hopes — you cannot buy from a likely opponent of high-tech weapons systems, such as EW systems. Moreover, you can not buy production technology. Almost the same applies to the supply of avionics for combat aircraft. Here Russia will have to rely on its own strength. It is not by chance that within the framework of the recently concluded international exhibition of the helicopter industry HeliRussia 2014, the Radio Electronic Technologies concern and the Helicopters of Russia holding (both included in the Rostec Group of Companies) signed an agreement on the creation of a center for the development and production of innovative avionics for helicopters. The joint venture will also develop electronic countermeasures, weapons control systems for domestic-made combat, special and civil helicopters. Work on the integrated complex of onboard radio-electronic equipment for a promising high-speed helicopter is already underway. It will be a system that controls the operation of the engines of all units of the combat vehicle, providing orientation in space, piloting, the use of weapons, protection from external threats, integration into tactical structures. Our army aviation gets a good start for the future.

If the current successes of KRET - the creation of the latest EW systems, confident economic development, early fulfillment of the tasks of the GOZ - add the development of world-class integrated avionics systems, then there is no doubt that the list of recognizable brands of the Russian defense industry will be supplemented by another company.
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  1. +9
    5 July 2014 07: 37
    It is pleasant to read about the achievements of our creative thought, especially since many of these enterprises were visited in due time. And I am glad that under Yeltsin it was not possible to destroy them. Everything would be fine, but without modern domestic microelectronics, it will soon be possible to put an end to developments.
  2. +2
    5 July 2014 08: 27
    Good article, to the author +. With respect.
  3. Max
    +2
    5 July 2014 11: 36
    Quote: Iline
    Everything would be fine, but without modern domestic microelectronics, it will soon be possible to put an end to developments.

    And without our own production of rare-earth PIs, we will always depend on supplies from behind the mound. In short, a lot more needs to be done.
    1. +2
      5 July 2014 17: 12
      Do we have problems with the production of RMZ? And it seemed to me that we simply do not need RMZ, therefore, in many fields where it is possible to extract them, they go to the dump today.
    2. Voronbit
      0
      9 July 2014 03: 19
      with all our wealth, we cannot be a self-sufficient power today .. it's stupid ... we must move in modern fast-paced realities
  4. +2
    5 July 2014 13: 38
    everything will be fine fellow
  5. 0
    6 July 2014 10: 05
    Of course, you need to thoroughly develop your REM deposits. But, at the worst, on rare earth metals you can profitably agree with China. Moreover, China has a monopoly on its production.
  6. The comment was deleted.
  7. 0
    6 July 2014 18: 48
    well, not everything is so sad by rzm
    A team of scientists from the Seversky Technological Institute (STI) has developed a technology for the extraction and purification of rare earth metals needed for radio electronics, instrumentation, nuclear engineering and other high-tech industries.
    One of the main problems for the production of rare-earth metals is that their production from natural ore requires the disposal of associated radioactive elements, in particular thorium and uranium. STI scientists, in collaboration with specialists from TPU, MEPhI and the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC), have proposed a technological scheme for ore processing to produce a rare-earth element concentrate (REE), purified from radioactive and non-radioactive impurities.
  8. 0
    7 July 2014 09: 25
    very curious ... wink good but the Yankees also "puff" something similar Yes
  9. 0
    7 July 2014 16: 34
    Needle for invention is cunning.
    We were in worse conditions, but survived.
    KRET can do anything.
    The main understanding and decision of the country's leadership is that everything can be done, especially when the rooster is about to peck in a "respected" place.

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