"Flexible" tactics of the possible use of TFR X-101 against NATO air defense outposts on European theaters. What nostalgic US Air Force?
The first combat use of the Caliber long-range tactical missiles, as well as the X-101 strategic cruise missiles, made a huge impression on the Western world. Hard times passed when hundreds and thousands of American "Tomahawks" dictated with impunity the unipolar concept of world order in the Balkans and the Middle East, and Russia, mired in its own problems and Yeltsin's corruption, was “left to sit” on the sidelines of participating in the most important geostrategic redistribution, confining itself to the march - to Pristina.
It was then that the US Congress and the United States Air Force, hoping for a further fall in the Russian economy and the impoverishment of the intellectual potential of the military-industrial complex, made a fatal strategic miscalculation, which has been regretted for 15 years. It was decided to close the development program of the low-profile TFR AGM-129A (ACM). First of all, this miscalculation created serious problems in the capabilities of conducting unique strategic aerospace offensive operations by the US Air Force, since, in light of the development of modern air defense systems, the tactical and technical capabilities of the existing Tomahawk and AGM-109C missile defense systems (CALCM) completely inadequate to retain dominance over key "players" in the Asia-Pacific and European theater of operations (Russia and the PRC). And as we know, the basic concept of Western domination in the World today rests on the standard SVKNO (by the forces of conventional subsonic TFRs and long-range tactical missiles), since the concept of “global lightning strike” (“fast global non-nuclear strike”) is still completely “raw” due to the lack of promising small-sized aeroballistic and cruise missiles X-86A, etc.
THE ADVANTAGES OF THE SKR X-101 WILL NOT ALLOW THE CERTAIN NATO COMMAND IN EUROPE AND NORAD. WHAT IS A UNIQUE ROCKET UNDER IN MODERN CONDITIONS?
Back in the distant 1983, in the design department of NPO Raduga, the unique at that time strategic cruise missile X-55 was developed. The range of the first TFR modification was 2500 km; the rocket had a circular cross section of the fuselage and a straight wing spanning 3,1 m; X-55 can be equipped with a warhead weighing up to 0,41 tons. The next version, the X-55CM, has an increased flight range to 3500 km, thanks to which it became possible to make an MRAU far from the patrol areas of enemy fighter aircraft. Another, the most modern modification - X-555, has a reduced flight range to 2500 km, but a significantly better guidance system using an optical-electronic relief correlation system and GLONASS navigation. Meanwhile, all these modifications have one important drawback, which affects the negative outcome of a strike operation in conditions where the enemy uses a large number of DRLO planes, as well as ground and air interception devices. The missiles have a relatively large radar signature (from 0,1 to 0,3 м2), because of which their detection by modern radar systems, air and ground-based will not be difficult.
For example, analyzing the data of a highly authoritative table-reference book of detailed tactical and technical characteristics of modern radars on the website of the Stealth Machine (paralay.com), it can be clearly calculated that the airborne radar AN / APG-77 of the inconspicuous Fighter 5 of the F-22A generation “ Raptor ”is capable of detecting the CKR X-55 / X-55CM at a distance of up to 150 - 160 km, and the AN / APG-79 radar of the F / A-18E / F Super Hornet fighter at a distance of 100 km. The AWACS E-3C / G AWACS aircraft are able to detect X-55 with their AN / APY-2 radar at a distance of 300 - 350 km. Such a state of affairs could not satisfy the Russian Air Force at all, since the detection of our subsonic air attack assets by the enemy at such a long distance makes it possible to prepare and distribute all air and ground-based air defense systems to repel a blow: the effectiveness of the MPA will decrease sharply; remember the times of “Storm in the Desert”, when even a weak Iraqi army, located in the information blockade, using the Osa-Shilka ZRSK-ZSU link, managed to intercept at least 20 KR “Tomahawk” during the operation, imagine how many times the number will increase with the use of such SAMs as “SAMP-T”, VL MICA, “Patriot PAC-3” or the new promising offspring MBDA - short-range SAMs FLAADS, these systems are simultaneously capable of shooting down air targets over 10 (and their calculus on modern theater goes for tens, not counting hundreds of MANPADS operators who receive tactical information about targets from the same DRLO aircraft). The X-55 and even the X-555 began to need a speedy modernization, the emphasis of which was on a radical reduction in the radar visibility of missiles.
Work on the project TFR X-101 began in the middle of the 80-s. and were initially aimed at a significant increase in the range of the X-55 cruise missiles, and later, after observations made during military operations in Yugoslavia and Iraq, work was continued on the missile radar signature. This can explain the 14-year run between the start of the design work and the first flight tests of prototype TFR X-101, last autumn 1998 of the year.
X-101, developed by the ICB Raduga and brought to operational readiness in 2012, received a number of significant technological improvements, thanks to which it can be attributed to the high-precision weapons of the next generation. The main structural elements of the X-101 are special composite materials and radar absorbing coatings, and the fuselage has the most flattened contours with the implementation of the side ribs (as in the nose of the Su-34 fuselage), which made it possible to achieve an incredibly low ESR in 0,01 m 2, commensurate with artillery guns NURS. The maximum speed of the rocket was kept at the level of 1000 km / h, the weight of the warhead was at the level of 0,41 t, while the range was increased by 57% (compared to X-55CM) and reached 5,5 thousand km. This required approximately 900 kg to increase the mass of the TFR fuel, and the mass of the rocket itself increased to 2300 kg, which required the installation of a retractable straight wing of a larger area with a span of 4,4 m to achieve sufficient load-bearing properties. The 5500 km range is a truly outstanding quality of the X-101 in the class of strategic cruise missiles, because even the most long-range US TFR AGM-86B ALACM (only in nuclear design) has a range of 2780 km (less than the X-55CM). Not surprisingly, the U.S. Armed Forces are very unhappy with the X-101's baptism of fire.
The American E-2D and E-3C airplanes are simply “blind” in relation to this rocket already with 100 - 120 km, and the “Super Hornet” and “Raptor” will not “examine” the object with the EPR in 0,01 m 2 already with 65 — 80 km Such stealth allows the most efficient use of the terrain, as well as some operational voids between enemy air defense batteries for a sudden breakthrough in areas where the radar systems of the air defense missile system cannot be detected and escorted by X-101.
During the escalation of a likely major conflict in the European theater of war, such gaps in the NATO defense may be numerous, and they will certainly be identified by ORTR planes, AWACS and A-50 aircraft, as well as the DER-systems of precision-guided Su-34 bombers, and then a sudden and merciless MRAU will follow. It can be assumed that these NATO S / A zones will try to be eliminated by patrolling with specially designated fighter links, but it will not be so easy to implement such well-established work in the “chaos” of air war, with active use of EW facilities, and a weakened place will be found.
ASYMMETRIC ANSWER OF US ARMED FOR SCR X-101 IS NOT ONLY FOGGLY, BUT AND LOCAL
In previous articles, we several times mentioned some threats related to the purchase of the low-profile AGM-40 JASSM tactical long-range cruise missiles (about 158 km) by the Polish 500 air force, as well as a possible contract for the missile-upgraded AGM-158B JASSM-ER (range - 1300 km), which with a certain probability can overcome similar weakened zones of 1, 2 and 4 commands of the Air Force and Air Defense in the Western and Southern military districts, and then enter the airspace of the Russian Federation over the internal, most industrial, regions mi of the former Moscow district, including the Nizhny Novgorod and other areas. Indeed, the western and southwestern operational areas can be considered the most missile-dangerous in this regard, due to the maximum density of units in the European NATO countries in a relatively small area of Europe, especially since the US will continue to reinforce its air forces from Russian borders, threats whole mass. But not everything is so terrible.
The AGM-158B JASSM-ER, with its low flight profile (25 - 30 m), still has more than the X-101, the EPR (around 0,1 m2) and is not at all a strategic flight range. Considering the fact that all modern air defense of Russia is built on divisions, brigades and shelves of the C-300PS / PMU-1 and C-400, which are attached to specialized low-altitude detectors (NVO) 76HXNUMNHNMNUMXX6, and the radars of illumination and targeting (RPN) 30HNNNHNMNHNMNHMNUMXX6, and Radar 926X40, and Radar 6NXNHMNXX. on a specialized tower 30ВХNUMXМД, interception of JASSM-ER will be simplified. These on-load tap-changers are able to detect the latter at a distance of about 101 km. American and European air defense systems are not equipped with such high towers, and therefore the range of capture of small-sized X-17 will not exceed 20 — XNUMX km.
The American counterpart of our strategic X-101, - TFR AGM-129A (ACM), began to be developed from the year 1983. And in the summer of 1985, the first B-52H of the Strategic Air Command of the US Air Force were equipped with AGM-129A. This rocket then represented one of the most perfect means of air attack. The most progressive trends of stealth technologies were taken into account in its design, and the range reached 3700 km. The radar signature in the PPS and the PPS were reduced due to the implementation of the ribbed form forming the nose of the rocket, as well as the shape of the tail unit with the beaver tail nozzle. Also, stealth of the wing and the use of composites contribute to stealth. This nozzle design also reduces infrared signature and acoustic visibility: between the working turbine of the F112-WR-100 engine and the edges of the inverted trapezoidal nozzle integrated into the fuselage tail, there is a solid air chamber that cools the jet. Heating of the working surface of the chamber is not visible not only from the side of the PPS, but also from the side projections, because it is covered with a special heat-absorbing envelope in the inner cavity of the rocket's tail. It is worth noting that this detail of the disguise of the AGM-129A rocket remains the most progressive, even among modern cruise missiles.
The rocket’s modern guidance system, which includes not only an inertial guidance system, satellite correction and an optical-location sensor on the final leg of the flight, but also a special laser altimeter LIDAR instead of a radio altimeter, the data from which are compared with reference maps incorporated into the rockets storage of the onboard computer for missiles, which does not allow the means of passive XRE of ground and air-based to displace the missile from the radiation of this device. It is known that X-101 on the march section of the route also applies this principle.
It was originally planned to manufacture 2500 TFR AGM-129A, which was planned to arm B-52H, as well as a more dangerous machine - B-1B “Lancer”. The latter, in view of their small EPR (7 — 9 м2), could penetrate the airspace of the USSR and the Russian Federation from the northeast operational direction (from the Arctic Ocean), and represented a great threat to the military-industrial infrastructure of Siberia and the Far East, so as AGM-129A missiles were able to reach the central regions and southern borders of our country from the northern coast of Russia.
But the collapse of the USSR played into the hands of our Armed Forces: the large-scale production of American missiles was first “stung” to 1000 units, and then they froze 509 products altogether. In the spring of 2012, the last of the remaining 460 AGM-129A missiles was eliminated, and now the likelihood of resuming production of a similar, more sophisticated version seems to be difficult, because the expensive and unprofitable projects that they still need are plenty for Americans today. The X-NUMX generation F-5A / B / C fighter jet generation program alone, known as JSF, alone costs 35 million dollars, which is 1500 times the cost of the 60 construction and maintenance program of the low-profile DDG-3 class impact destroyers. Zumwalt. The mite is also provided by the configuration of warheads of mothballed AGM-1000, which is “sharpened” for nuclear warheads, which will require quite a bit of time and cost for conversion into high-explosive fragmentation versions of combat units. During this time, both the US Air Force and the Russian Air Force will have time to switch to completely new hypersonic EHVs such as X-129A and U-51.
What to say! It was such an annoying surprise that the “deliberate” American air forces were waiting for at the most difficult hour for our country, because the X-101 rocket built in “troubled times” allowed us to surpass the West in this class of weapons for decades.
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