Highly mobile ZRAK "Centaur"
One of the main combat missions of self-propelled anti-aircraft missile systems in modern warfare is: protection against air strikes aviation the enemy in important strategic, industrial or administrative facilities, protecting personnel and equipment of military units and various defensive structures, destroying in the air guided cruise missiles of various types, such as Tomahawk, Helfaer, Mayverik, and other precision weapons, fighter and ground attack aircraft, enemy transport and landing helicopters, high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles, carrying out reconnaissance of the area. In addition to hitting air targets, the anti-aircraft missile system is able to fire at direct fire and destroy light armored vehicles, vehicles and enemy manpower.
The “Centaur” anti-aircraft missile artillery complex for air defense refers specifically to this type of self-propelled military equipment as part of the air defense forces. The use of the armor and chassis of one of the most modern Ukrainian armored vehicles in the creation of the Centaur air defense system tanks allowed to achieve very high performance both in speed and maneuverability, as well as to increase the cross-country ability of the car The combat weight of the anti-aircraft missile system does not exceed 38 tons, as a result of which the ground pressure is small and allows the machine to move without much difficulty even on soft ground. The maximum speed on the highway is high enough for this type of combat vehicles and is more than 60 km per hour, the capacity of the fuel tanks installed on the Centaur SPRAK provides it with a cruising range of up to 500 km. In addition to high mobility, which allows you to quickly change firing positions, such missile systems have a number of advantages compared to stationary ones. In particular, the high protection of the crew, located in the armored hull of the machine, against damage by small arms, fragments of mines and shells. Modern, high-tech radar and optoelectronic equipment located on the anti-aircraft missile system allows you to detect and conduct multiple air targets. Also accept and hit various targets specified from a remote command post, including flying at extremely low altitude, anti-aircraft high-precision guided missiles or artillery fire of an automatic gun.
Combining missile and artillery weapons in one mobile anti-aircraft missile system makes it possible to multiply the effectiveness of combat use and, depending on the type and nature of the target, choose and use one or another weapon. The main parts of the design of the Centaur anti-aircraft missile system are: a launcher for self-guided ground-to-air missiles, an automatic anti-aircraft gun, equipped with a new automatic loader mechanism, which allows increasing the rate of fire and simplifying service in a combat situation, radar control system (Radar weapons control) OLSU (Opto-electronic weapons control station), on-board computer with the most modern means of detecting, maintaining and hitting both airborne and ground targets.
The range of destruction of the target with missile armament installed on the air defense complex "Centaur" ranges from 1km to 12 km, the maximum height at which the airborne target can be destroyed reaches more than 4 km. Anti-aircraft artillery armament, installed on the "Centaur", consists of a rapid-fire automatic 40-mm gun, capable of firing both armor-piercing and high-explosive fragmentation projectiles equipped with proximity fuses. Ammunition is 170 high-explosive fragmentation projectiles and 30 armor-piercing. Rocket armament includes eight ground-to-air missiles equipped with a guidance system for several radio and laser channels, which can be aimed at a target by the crew of the vehicle or by data obtained from the command post. The response of the anti-aircraft complex to a target does not exceed 8-12 seconds in rocket fire mode and no more than 6-8 seconds in artillery fire mode.
In all of its indicators, Centaur ADC suggests that it is he who will come to replace aging anti-aircraft complexes, such as Shilka and Strela-10, the number of which in the armies of Asia, Africa and the Middle East exceeds 2000 units.
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