Iskander-M vs Pershing-2
The modern Iskander-M and the resurrected mobile missile system MGM-31C Pershing II. At first glance, they have nothing in common: the newest OTRK with a conventional warhead and a medium-range strategic missile created during the Cold War era.
But this is only at first glance ...
Both “toys” brought a lot of problems, horrifying opponents on both “sides of the barricades”. Both were created in difficult times with the hope of changing the traditional view of database maintenance. Both have a dismal reputation - A whole squall of international scandals is associated with the deployment of Iskander and Pershing.
Despite the difference in age and purpose, both missiles are very close in size (length / max. Diameter of the hull: Iskander-M - 7,2 / 0,92 m, Pershing-2 - 10,6 / 1,0 m), and the twofold difference in their starting weight (3,8 versus 7,4 tons) does not matter much from the point of view of their basing. Both complexes have the proper degree of mobility on the ground (“Iskander-M” - self-propelled launcher with 8x8 wheel formula, “Pershing-2” - semitrailer, truck tractor). And equally transportable by rail, sea and aviation by transport.
Despite a threefold difference in flight range (1770 vs. 500 km), the radius of impact of both ballistic missiles is quite large in the scale of compact Europe.
When developing both systems, accuracy was set at the forefront.
By virtue of its conventional equipment, the Iskander-M has the ability to directly hit the target (deviations in 5 ... 7 meters are compensated by the power of the warhead).
“Pershing-2” was intended for a surgical exact “decapitating” strike on the most important military infrastructure of the USSR: headquarters, bunkers, protected command posts, communications centers, etc. Hence the fierce pursuit of a radical decrease in the QUO.
As a result, both missile systems were equipped with a maneuvering head, and, by virtue of their exceptionally high performance characteristics, they were recognized as masterpieces in the field of rocket production.
And now two irreconcilable superheros suddenly got a chance to meet in battle:
“It is important to force Russia to return to the execution of the INF Treaty. For this, the US has not only diplomatic, but economic and even military response options in the reserve. ”
- Rose Gottemeller, Deputy State Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, December 10 2014
“You can, of course, return to the 80 years, deploy cruise missiles or Pershing in Europe. Now the Americans do not have them, but it seems that this is what is going on. Only the deployment of medium-range missiles in Europe can be regarded as the “military methods” of the answer. ”
- From an interview with the former head of the international contractual administration of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant-General of the Reserve Evgeny Buzhinsky.
Iskander the Great Warrior
It will fly from Kaliningrad to Warsaw in 2 min 22 seconds. During this time, NATO naval will not even have time to brush their teeth ...
Most of the flight path of the Iskander-M runs in shaky layers of the atmosphere at altitudes from 20 to 50 km (apogee). In the most neglected areas of atmospheric space, inaccessible to most of the modern air defense systems.
The speed of the warhead at the moment the main engine is shut off exceeds six speeds of sound.
The warhead is made with the technology of “stealth”. Smooth, streamlined ammunition with small dimensions, without aerodynamic surfaces of a large area. According to Western sources, on the outside of the warhead is additionally covered with radio-absorbing ferromagnetic paint. All this creates additional difficulties for its detection and interception by enemy air defense / missile defense systems.
Seven types of combat units for a wide range of tasks: cluster, high-explosive fragmentation, penetrating - weighing from 480 to 700 kg.
Maneuvering warhead with correction on all segments of the flight. The system of gas rudders in rarefied atmospheric layers and deflected rudders in the final part of the trajectory. Intensive maneuvering with 20-30g overloads at the terminal stage of flight is applied. There is a possibility of a vertical dive to the target at an angle close to 90 ° at a speed of 700-800 m / s. The KVO of the Iskander-M warhead reaches 5 ... 7 meters.
Mixed guidance system according to the inertial navigation system (INS) at the initial and middle part of the flight and optical sensors (DSMAC type) at the terminal stage. The issue of equipping warheads with a GPS / GLONASS based guidance system is being considered.
There is a project to equip warheads with its own EW system for the production of active jamming of the enemy’s air defense radar systems.
Its flight characteristics are on the verge of the capabilities of Western air defense / missile defense systems. High accuracy, coupled with a powerful missile warhead (in 1,5-2 times heavier than the Tomahawk warhead) allow the Iskander-M to change the “game conditions” by changing the situation in the theater of operations. Command posts and bases of the enemy, hangars, fuel storages, clusters of armored and aviation equipment, air defense missile systems, artillery batteries, bridges and power plants: all this will be subject to inevitable total destruction in the first minutes of the war.
“Seven minutes of flight to Moscow ...”
... Touching the stars at an altitude of 300 km, the warhead was rapidly returning to the atmosphere. In the depths of the body, reliably protected from heat, cold and overloads, methodically ticked off the seconds on-board computer ... 428, 429, 430 - the Karman line was passed. It's time! Guided by accelerometer and gyroscopic data, the Pershing-2 warhead was deployed in space perpendicular to the fall path. Brakes! Brakes! Plasma streams shreds off the slippery surface of the hull and are carried away into the purple mist of the stratosphere. At first, weak and discharged, the atmosphere is already confidently whistling overboard, swaying “canoes” in their streams, risking to defy the air of the ocean.
At an altitude of 15 km, the Pershing-2 extinguished speed to 2-3 speeds of sound, the INS once again oriented the warhead properly, and an exciting action began. The radar of the RADAG system came to life under the ablative plastic fairing. The warhead received an annular image of the underlying relief due to scanning around a vertical axis with an angular velocity of 2 rev / sec. Four reference images of the target area for different heights, recorded in the form of a matrix, each cell of which corresponded to the brightness of a given area in the selected radio wave range, were stored in the onboard computer's memory. Comparing the data obtained with the radar maps stored in the memory, the warhead determined its current position and the error of the ANN. Correction of the combat unit at trans-atmospheric altitudes was carried out using jet engines on compressed air; in the atmosphere - aerodynamic surfaces with hydraulic drive.
Having completed its task, the RADAG system was shut off at an altitude of about 1 km. Having received the last corrective impulse, the warhead swooped along a ballistic trajectory, conducting a point destruction of the intended target.
The small, deadly masterpiece of the Martin Marietta company dismayed the entire Soviet generals and party elite of the USSR. In the case of the outbreak of war, the Persing-2 MRSD “knocked out” in a few minutes all the most important military and civilian infrastructure in the territory of the European part of the USSR. There was no way to defend against a terrible threat. Nuclear parity has been broken.
Flight Path "Pershing-2"
By December 1985, MGM-108C Pershing II launchers were deployed in Germany. The effect of this was comparable to the current location of the Iskander-M OTRK in the Kaliningrad region. An international scandal flared up, which further cooled relations between the USSR and the USA.
The next few years, the country was looking for a way out of this situation. Neither side wanted to compromise. Unable to compete with the accuracy of its “Pershing-2” missiles, the Soviet Union, in retaliation, continued to deploy the PCM-10 “Pioneer” medium-range missiles (circular deviation from the target ± 550 meters against 30 m in “Pershing-2”) with the intention to disperse the grouping of NATO troops with solid thermonuclear fire. Each “Pioneer” carried three RGCH IN with a power of 150 kt against a monoblock “Pershing-2” warhead of low power (from 5 to 80 kt).
SS-20 Saber (RSD-10 “Pioneer”) at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. To his right is baby “Pershing-2”
It all ended in 1987 with the signing of a treaty on the elimination of short and medium-range missiles (INF). By the summer of 1989, all of the “Pershing-2” missiles were removed from combat duty in Europe. Recycling took another few years, by burning at the stand of solid-fuel engines of both stages. Thus, the last “Pershing-2” was burned in 1991 year.
Of particular interest in this stories cause the technical moments of the American rocket. Such as a warhead targeting system: a primitive retro-electronics allowed to realize the incredibly small (even by today's standards) value QUO. Or a radiotransparent plastic radome of the radar antenna, which withstood heating of hundreds of degrees when the warhead entered the dense words of the atmosphere at eight speeds of sound.
“Pershing-2” has sunk into oblivion, taking its deserved place in the ranking of the most terrible inventions in history. And it was extremely unpleasant to hear about the possibility of its reincarnation using modern technologies.
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