Old air defense systems continue to maintain their effectiveness.
The recent shooting by the Russian Ministry of Defense proved the effectiveness of the use of the Osa anti-aircraft missile system manufactured by 70. Parts of the air defense forces demonstrated the Osa anti-aircraft complex in action. This complex is the oldest and most common in the modern Russian army. "Wasps" entered service with the army of the Soviet Union in 1974 year. Since then, "Wasp" serves faithfully to our military and sailors. Currently, more than 400 of such systems are on duty. "Wasps" reliably cover ground and surface objects from possible air strikes.
Historical reference
"Wasp" (NATO classification: SA-8Gecko-Gecko) is an automated combined-arms anti-aircraft missile system made in the USSR. The complex is used in all weather conditions and is designed to provide cover for the forces and means of motorized rifle (tank) divisions in any type of combat. The development of the complex began in October 1960. According to the decree of the USSR Council of Ministers No. 1157-487 dated 27.07.1960/1962/XNUMX, work has begun on the creation of an air defense missile system under the code name "Wasp" (in the process of elaborating the requirements, this project was temporarily called "Ellipsoid"). The work was carried out sometimes hard, the deadlines were constantly missed. Therefore, by XNUMX, the development process had not even passed the stage of laboratory experimental verification.
The complex was developed mainly on the basis of SRI-20 GKRE under the supervision of the chief designer M.M. Kosichkina. For the creation of missiles for the complex was responsible Tushinsky engineering plant. Above the launcher worked design office compressor engineering at GKAT.
The Tushinsky Ministry of Health did not reach the set deadlines, therefore, in September 1964, by a decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers, all the work on the missile defense was appointed by the OKB-2, led by PDGushin. A new date was set for the launch of an air defense missile system for testing: the spring of the year 1970. In addition, the post of the chief designer of "Wasps" was taken by V.P.Efremov, and his deputy - I.M. Drizay. The wheel chassis for the OSA Osa was developed at the Bryansk Automobile Plant. In the spring of 1970, the Osa air defense system passed scheduled annual tests. The adoption of the "Wasps" was adopted through 11 years after the start of work on its creation: in October 1971.
The complexes began to actively enter into service with the army by 1974. However, in the 1989 year, the production of "Os" completely stopped, but the complex remained the most common in the armed forces to this day. At the beginning of 2008, the Wasp was recognized as the most numerous means of military air defense in Russia.
The complex is equipped with 4. 9M33 guided missiles, and Osa-AK and Osa-AKM versions - 6. missiles brands 9М33М2 and 9М33М3 respectively.
Osa rocket hit Tomahawk
According to the newspaper "Izvestia", air defense specialists of the Land Forces of the Russian Federation demonstrated the capabilities of the Osa anti-aircraft complex. In the course of the exercises, “Wasp” successfully coped with simulators of tactical missiles of the ATACMS system (analogue of the domestic Iskander) and the famous cruise missile from the US Tomahawk (analogue of our X55). - The exercises were conducted in difficult weather conditions: during a dust storm and heat, reaching 50 degrees.
The representative of the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation, Viktor Dvoinov: "Units that imitate the enemy, littered the radio with interference, despite this the system showed excellent fighting qualities."
However, despite accurate hits, the experts doubt, exactly the “Wasps” in real combat.
According to Igor Korotchenko, editor of the National Defense magazine, the target missiles used in such exercises do not provide a complete picture of how the original Tomahawk behaves in the event of an attack. During the exercises in Kapustin Yar, the role of the Tomahawk cruise missile was played by one of the very first Russian anti-aircraft systems, the Berkut C-25, and the tactical ATACMS, by the Saman rocket.
The military assure that the flight characteristics of these missiles are completely identical to the flight parameters of the American originals. According to the representative of the Ground Forces, it is not at all necessary that the training objective should look just like a potential enemy rocket. It is much more important that the target move at the same speed and along the same trajectory as the original. The representative added that for programming the trajectory of the training targets, data from real flights of cruise and tactical Tomahawk missiles and during their use by NATO forces during operations in Yugoslavia and Iraq were used.
"Saman", which imitated ATACMS, had a speed of 600 m / s, and "Wasp" hit it through 40 seconds after the start. During the exercise, other air defense systems were also tested: transported by Buk, Thor, Tunguska, C-300В and portable Igla and Strela-10. By 2020, these complexes should be replaced with new ones: “Tunguska” will be replaced by “Armor”, “Buk” - by “Vityaz”, C-300 - by C-400. And the "Wasp", it seems, will continue to carry on combat duty further.
Information