The best air defense and pro systems. The most powerful rocket in the world
System S-300 "Favorite".
Photo courtesy of Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern
Well-known in expert circles, the analytical center Air Power Australia in early February presented an in-depth study on the combat capabilities of modern military aviation and current means air defense. Based on the American "air sword" and the Russian "shield".
ETERNAL COMPETITION
The choice of hypothetical opponents seems to be non-random. USA has the highest potential air force and, in addition, they hold the lead in the supply of aviation military equipment abroad. Russia is the leader in the production and export of air defense equipment. Suffice it to say that only one of its air defense concerns, Almaz-Antey, supplies products manufactured at its enterprises to more than fifty countries of the world (see map).
The arms market itself suggests who is the leader in what area. There is no need for experts who, for various reasons, are inclined to subjective assessments. For in the market they vote with funds from budgetary appropriations. Thousands and thousands of specialists, officials, and high-ranking military personnel are involved in operations to determine the best and most advantageous "cost-effectiveness" ratio of a particular type of weapon. Subjectivism is kept to a minimum.
In fact, Russian air defense systems are classified as a premium class. This assessment of researchers from Air Power Australia is supported by their high combat reliability, destruction efficiency and relatively low price by the standards of the arms market. For example, Americans of this class have systems that are much more expensive, despite the fact that the same reliability, efficiency and combat capabilities their products are significantly lower than Russian ones.
The conclusion of foreign experts is interesting: modern Russian anti-aircraft missile systems and radar systems have reached a level that virtually excludes the possibility of the survival of US combat aircraft in the event of a military clash.
According to an Australian study, resist Russian air defense not only the American F-15, F-16 and F / A-18 aircraft are capable, but even the promising fifth-generation Joint Strike Fighter, also known as the F-35 Lightning II. And in order to achieve superiority, which military aviation United States had at the time of graduation cold war The Pentagon needs at least 400 more F-22 Raptor aircraft to enter service. Otherwise, American aviation will finally lose its strategic superiority over Russian air defense.
According to analysts, this circumstance may also affect the position of the United States in the world. Countries such as China, Iran and Venezuela will be well aware that the Americans will not go to an open military confrontation, realizing that as a result of this, the US Air Force and Navy will lose hundreds of combat aircraft and pilots. That is, the United States military is at risk of unacceptable damage. Of course, unacceptable, from the point of view of American politicians, whose career in such a development of events will end in national disgrace.
Air Power Australia recalls that its expert, Dr. Carlo Call, who defended his thesis in the field of radar technology, compared the capabilities of modern Russian anti-aircraft missiles systems and American F-35 fighters and came to the conclusion that these aircraft would be an easy target. The manufacturer of the latest winged vehicles, the American corporation Lockheed Martin, has never tried to publicly challenge the expert's statement.
The researchers also came to the conclusion that since the end of the Cold War, Russian designers have managed to achieve significant results in the modernization of air defense systems. Moreover, the opportunity to comprehensively and objectively assess the potential of a potential adversary for Russian engineers and scientists appeared due to military conflicts in Iran in 1991 and in Serbia in 1999. This process, as noted in the report, is in many ways reminiscent of a chess game. As a result, the Russians were able to figure out how to checkmate American combat aircraft.
Comparing the capabilities of modern air defense systems and aircraft, analysts also note that the Russian S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system, produced by the enterprises of the Almaz-Antey air defense concern and already put into service Russian army, today actually has no analogues in the world. The technical capabilities of the Triumph are significantly higher than those of the American Patriot, and are twice as superior in terms of combat performance as the well-known predecessor of the S-400, the S-300 Favorit system, which was supplied to China, Slovakia, Vietnam and Cyprus. In the future, "Triumph" may become a pivotal project in the military-technical cooperation of the Russian Federation with the Arab countries, in particular with the Arab Emirates.
And what is characteristic, the study emphasizes, is that Russia is building a deeply echeloned air defense system. If the complexes S-300 and S-400 are long-range, then they tenaciously interact with complexes of small and medium range. They complement each other and at the same time insure, creating an insurmountable and solid wall for the air aggressor. Anti-aircraft missile systems small and medium ranges such as "Tor", "Buk", "Tunguska" were supplied, in particular, to China, Iran, India, Greece, Syria, Egypt, Finland, Morocco.
In addition to traditional customers of Russian military products, countries such as Singapore and Brazil, which have purchased man-portable air defense systems, are also interested in domestic air defense systems.
Russia's positions are also very strong in the market for sea-based anti-aircraft missile systems. For example, air defense systems "Shtil", "Reef", "Blade" are successfully operated on warships.
FROM AIR DEFENSE TO PRO
Anti-aircraft missile systems of the S-300 family are considered one of the most powerful air defense systems in the world. The development of this system began in the 1960s, when the USSR Armed Forces demanded the creation of a mobile multi-channel medium-range air defense system capable of protecting the country's sky from massive air raids. modern aviation using guided weapons.
Tests of the future S-300 took place in the 1970s. In order to misinform a potential adversary, according to the documents, the new air defense system was passed as the S-75M6 - another modernization of the “veteran” complex, widely known by that time all over the world, which had taken up combat duty in the late 1950s. The terms of reference provided for the development of three versions of the air defense system - S-300P for air defense, S-300V - for ground forces and S-300F - a ship-based complex for the Navy.
Systems for the air defense forces and for the fleet were mainly focused on the destruction of aircraft and cruise missiles, the military complex was supposed to have great opportunities to intercept ballistic targets in order to provide missile defense. Today, the S-300 systems form the basis of the air defense of our country and the Russian Ground Forces, and are also successfully sold on the world market.
On the basis of the S-300 air defense system, the latest S-400 system has been developed, capable of firing both new missiles and using the ammunition of its predecessor. The S-400 air defense system has the combat capabilities, mobility and noise immunity of the latest versions of the S-300 complex, combined with a longer firing range.
The S-400 system is designed to destroy all types of aircraft - aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles. An important difference between the S-400 and the S-300 is the new anti-aircraft missiles with active heads homing and increased firing range. "Triumph" is capable of destroying a target at a distance of up to 400 km and at an altitude of 30 km. These indicators make it possible to consider the complex not only as an air defense weapon, but also partially as an anti-missile weapon.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Colonel General Alexander Zelin, reveals the secrets of the S-400 Triumph complex: it can hit "a super-maneuverable small target with an effective reflective surface, which a five-ruble coin has." He is able to cope with air targets that are made using stealth technology, that is, stealth aircraft with a low effective reflective surface.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force is extremely proud that the anti-aircraft missile system The new generation S-400 is supposed to be used to ensure the safety of participants and guests of the 2014 Winter Olympics. “Builders will build facilities in Sochi for the Olympics, and we will prepare an air defense system that will ensure reliable conduct Olympic Games“, the general said in a recent interview.
Of course, reliable protection of both the people who arrived at the Olympics and the people of Sochi themselves is the most important thing, no one is going to argue about the need for this. And the margin of safety here does not hurt. Moreover, in the immediate vicinity is Georgia, against which Russian troops not so long ago fighting. And the frenzy of anti-Russian sentiments has not yet disappeared there.
However, life does not stand still. Two years ago Military Industrial Commission under the government of the Russian Federation, set the task, in particular, for the Almaz-Antey air defense concern to develop a promising fifth-generation air defense and missile defense weapon. His distinguishing feature will consist in the fact that firing, information and command systems and complexes will merge together.
This is the next step in the fight for clear and peaceful skies. The Russian backlog is high, but the closest competitor - the United States - also does not want to see itself as an outsider. The competition between technical schools and simply military potentials is intensifying.
One and a half meter khaki tube, compact sighting mechanism and shoulder strap. This, at first glance, a simple device behind the back of an infantryman is fraught with a deadly threat to pilots of aircraft and helicopters operating at altitudes below 4.5 thousand meters. It is almost impossible to get away from the missile of the 9K333 Verba portable anti-aircraft missile system (MANPADS) - it does not respond to heat traps and other tricks.
Pocket air defense
The first MANPADS appeared in the 1960s and immediately became enemy number one for pilots who adapted to take cover from long-range anti-aircraft missiles at low altitudes. It is almost impossible to notice a "man with a pipe" disguised in the folds of the terrain from the cockpit of an aircraft or helicopter, while, unlike machine guns and cannons, the only successful hit of a small rocket can "land" even a large aircraft in one fell swoop. In the case of MANPADS, there is no need to spend precious time deploying, loading and installing. Pointed, shot, forgot.
Particular success in the development of a fundamentally new at that time air defense weapons was achieved by Soviet designers. The command instructed in the shortest possible time to create the most inexpensive and compact complex, suitable for effective cover of ground units and subunits from the air without too much fuss. The task was not trivial: to make a system suitable for combating all types of air targets at altitudes up to 1.5 kilometers and at a distance of up to three. The missile was supposed to be guaranteed to hit aircraft towards and in pursuit. A prerequisite is the possibility of firing by one person, and from an unprepared position.
This is how the first Soviet MANPADS 9K32 "Strela-2" was born, which made a real revolution in the development of air defense systems. The complex, put into service in 1967, included a launch tube, a rocket with a duck glider and a propulsion system, a ground power unit, a portable passive radio direction finder and a ground-based radio interrogator, as well as maintenance equipment.
Shock, horror and complete incomprehension of what is happening - this is how you can characterize the emotions of Israeli pilots who were "lucky" to be the first to fall under the hail of Russian "Arrows" during the Arab-Israeli conflict. In the first air attack, 30 percent of the planes were shot down, after which the Israeli Air Force decided to suspend the raids for several days.
From Arrow to Willow
Then there was the improved and more noise-immune Strela-3, then the 9K38 Igla, which was also upgraded several times, and now it has been replaced by the Verba. Accurate, sensitive and resistant to interference, the complex clearly separates aircraft into "friends" and "foes" and strikes without a miss, not reacting to heat traps and other interference. With the help of "Verba", an infantryman can single-handedly "remove" a variety of aircrafts, beginning with attack helicopters and aircraft and ending with cruise missiles. The range of distances and heights is no longer the same as that of the first "Arrows", but is commensurate with the indicators of more serious military air defense systems.
The solid-propellant missile of the new MANPADS effortlessly reaches targets at altitudes up to 4.5 thousand meters and at a distance of up to 6.5 kilometers. In fact, this completely covers the high-altitude range of work front-line aviation- attack aircraft, tactical bombers and helicopters can be "laid" directly from the trench. In this sense, "Verba" is significantly superior not only to "Igloo-S", but also foreign analogues, including the famous American FIM-92 Stinger. For comparison: "Igla-S" takes air targets at altitudes up to 3.5 kilometers, and "Stinger" - up to 3.8. In addition, the lower limit of the target acquisition height for the Stinger is 180 meters, while the Verba starts working from ten. The kit comes with a compact radar that is resistant to interference. The station "sees" air targets at a distance of up to 80 kilometers.
The automated control system takes into account the speed and direction of flight of aircraft or cruise missiles and distributes them among anti-aircraft gunners, the location of each of which on the ground is determined by GLONASS. Fighters have precise vectors for shooting. Interestingly, "Verba" through tactical complex"Barnaul-T" is being integrated into common system air defense and can receive information about air targets that are "guided" by large radars.
Picky Bride
The Verba rocket owes its high sensitivity and "selectivity" to the types of targets to the proprietary three-spectral homing head, the "vision" of which operates in the ultraviolet, near and mid-infrared ranges. A missile, even on approach, is able to distinguish an airplane or helicopter from a thermal "trap" fired by it and make the right choice.
Like many other similar air defense systems, "Verba" can not only work "from the shoulder", but is also installed on ships and attack helicopters as an auxiliary anti-aircraft weapon. An important innovation is that the complex is much easier to maintain than the Igla. It no longer needs to be "frozen" - the new design of the homing head does not require cooling it with nitrogen. Ready to fire takes a matter of seconds from the moment the target is detected.
"Verba" began to be delivered to the troops relatively recently, in kits and batches. So, just the other day, another brigade set of the latest MANPADS entered the motorized rifle unit of the Central Military District (TsVO), stationed in the Altai Territory. According to the military, the new complexes will provide reliable cover for military units not only from air attacks, but also from massive cruise missile attacks. In addition, now anti-aircraft squads, anti-aircraft missile platoons and batteries as part of anti-aircraft divisions, as well as other units of the Russian Armed Forces, are armed with thousands of complexes of the Igla family, among which there are both early modifications and advanced ones with the "C" index.
The Russian S-400 Triumph air defense systems have no analogues in the world. They are capable of shooting down not only planes and cruise missiles, but also more complex targets: ballistic missiles and aircraft made using stealth technologies. Ability to use various types of missiles and additional radars to certain types goals makes the S-400 a decisive argument in matters of air security.
Saudi Arabia has become another country, in Russia, the S-400 air defense system. Previously, India and Turkey did this, Egypt and more are negotiating the purchase of Triumphs. Cairo is already in service Russian complexes S-300VM capable of shooting down short and medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, high-precision weapons, aircraft of various types. The same weapons are used by Greece, Venezuela, India, Ukraine and NATO member Bulgaria.
Despite the high efficiency of the S-300, the Triumph really changes the rules of air warfare, writes the Chinese edition of Eastday. The main difference between the S-400 and other systems is the ability to launch a large number of rockets of various types. The complex can simultaneously fire up to 40 targets, and the four types of missiles used form a layered air defense. The greatest danger is posed by 40N6E missiles with a range of up to 400 kilometers - despite the fact that the radius of action American system Patriot is limited to 96 km. 40N6E missiles are designed to intercept aircraft, cruise missiles and other targets at a speed of up to five kilometers per second (Mach 15!), overcoming a conventional air defense system. The rocket itself flies at a speed of 9M.
The S-400 includes an additional multi-band radar for detecting targets made using stealth technology. Their "invisibility" is designed for widely used centimeter-range radars, while the Triumph radar uses several frequencies in which stealth technologies do not work, - quotes the publication of one of the leading experts in the aerospace industry, Dr. Carlo Goppa.
In addition to fighting weapons and attack aircraft, Triumphs are effective against airborne command posts and flying radars. The viewing radius of the American E-3 AWACS - 400 kilometers - coincides with the flight range Russian missile 40H6E. And without the support of a flying radar, the US fifth-generation F-22 Raptor fighters are as harmless as children's toys - they turn off their own radar during an attack for the sake of stealth.
S-400 successfully resists ballistic missiles, which aroused interest in them among Saudi Arabia. Russia's breakthrough in these technologies is significant. Now "Triumph" really has no competitors, sums up the publication.
Country: USSR
Adopted: 1957
Rocket type: 13D
Maximum target engagement range: 29-34 km Target engagement speed: 1500 km/h
John McCain, loser of the past presidential elections in the United States to Barack Obama, is known as an active critic of Russian foreign and domestic policy. It is likely that one of the explanations for such an implacable position of the senator lies in the achievements Soviet designers half a century ago. On October 23, 1967, during the bombing of Hanoi, the plane of a young pilot, who came from the family of hereditary admirals John McCain, was shot down. His "Phantom" got an anti-aircraft guided missile of the S-75 complex. By that time, the Soviet anti-aircraft sword had already caused a lot of trouble for the Americans and their allies. The first "test of the pen" took place in China in 1959, when local air defense, with the help of "Soviet comrades", interrupted the flight of a Taiwanese high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft created on the basis of the British Canberra bomber. The hopes that the more advanced air reconnaissance aircraft, the Lockheed U-2, would be too tough for the red air defense system were also not destined to come true. One of them was shot down by S-75 over the Urals in 1961, and the other a year later over Cuba. On account of the legendary anti-aircraft missile, created in the Fakel Design Bureau, many other targets were hit in various conflicts from the Far and Middle East to caribbean, and the S-75 complex itself was destined long life in various modifications. We can safely say that this air defense system has gained fame as the most widespread of all air defense systems of this type in the world.
S-75
The most high-tech missile defense system: Aegis system ("Aegis")
SM-3 missile
Country: USA
first launch: 2001
Length: 6.55 m
Steps: 3
Range: 500 km
Height of the affected area: 250 km
The main element of this shipborne multifunctional combat information and control system is the AN / SPY radar with four flat headlamps with a power of 4 MW. The Aegis is armed with SM-2 and SM-3 missiles (the latter with the ability to intercept ballistic missiles) with a kinetic or fragmentation warhead. The SM-3 is constantly being modified, and the Block IIA model has already been announced, which will be capable of intercepting ICBMs. On February 21, 2008, an SM-3 missile was fired from the cruiser Lake Erie at pacific ocean and hit the emergency reconnaissance satellite USA-193, located at an altitude of 247 kilometers, moving at a speed of 27,300 km / h.
Aegis
The newest Russian ZRPK: ZRPK "Shell S-1"
Country Russia
adopted: 2008
Radar: 1RS1-1E and 1RS2 based on phased array
Range: 18 km
Ammunition: 12 missiles 57E6-E
Artillery armament: 30 mm twin anti-aircraft gun
The complex is designed for short-range cover of civilian and military facilities (including air defense systems long range) from all modern and promising funds air attack. It can also protect the defended object from ground and surface threats. Airborne targets include all targets with a minimum reflective surface at speeds up to 1,000 m/s, a maximum range of 20,000 m and an altitude of up to 15,000 m, including helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles and precision bombs.
Carapace S-1
The most nuclear anti-missile: 51T6 "Azov" transatmospheric interceptor
Country: USSR-Russia
First launch: 1979
Length: 19.8 m
Steps: 2
Starting weight: 45 t
Firing range: 350-500 km Warhead power: 0.55 Mt The 51T6 (Azov) anti-missile, which was part of the missile defense system around Moscow of the second generation (A-135), was developed at the Fakel Design Bureau in 1971-1990. Its tasks included the transatmospheric interception of enemy warheads with the help of an oncoming nuclear explosion. Serial production and deployment of "Azov" was carried out already in the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR. The missile has now been decommissioned.
51Т6 "Azov"
The most effective portable air defense system: Igla-S MANPADS
Country Russia
designed: 2002
MANPADS "Igla-S"
Destruction range: 6000 m
Defeat altitude: 3500 m
Target speed: 400 m/s
Weight in combat position: 19 kg
According to many experts, Russian anti-aircraft complex, designed to destroy low-flying air targets of various types in conditions of natural (background) and artificial thermal interference, surpasses all analogues existing in the world.
Igla-S
Closest to our borders: SAM Patriot PAC-3
Country: USA
first launch: 1994
Rocket length: 4.826 m
Rocket weight: 316 kg
Warhead weight: 24 kg
Target engagement height: up to 20 km
Created in the 1990s, a modification of the Patriot PAC-3 air defense system is designed to deal with missiles with a range of up to 1000 km. During the test on March 15, 1999, a target missile, which was the 2nd and 3rd stages of the Minuteman-2 ICBM, was destroyed by a direct hit. After the rejection of the idea of the Third position area of the American strategic missile defense system in Europe, Patriot PAC-3 batteries are deployed in Eastern Europe.
PAC-3Patriot
Most common anti-aircraft gun: Oerlicon 20 mm anti-aircraft gun
Country: Germany - Switzerland
designed: 1914
Caliber: 20 mm
Rate of fire: 300-450 rds / min
Range: 3-4 km The history of the Oerlikon automatic 20-mm anti-aircraft gun, also known as the Becker gun, is the story of one extremely successful design that has spread throughout the world and is still used to this day, despite the fact that the first sample This weapon was created by the German designer Reinhold Becker during the First World War. The high rate of fire was achieved due to the original mechanism, in which the impact ignition of the primer was carried out even before the end of the chambering of the cartridge. Due to the fact that the rights to the German invention were transferred to the SEMAG company from neutral Switzerland, both the Axis countries and the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition produced their versions of the Oerlikons during World War II.
Oerlicon
The best anti-aircraft gun of World War II: Anti-aircraft gun 8.8 cm Flugabwehrkanone (FlAK)
Country: Germany
Year: 1918/1936/1937
Caliber: 88 mm
Rate of fire:
15-20 rds / min
Barrel length: 4.98 m
Maximum effective ceiling: 8000 m
Projectile weight: 9.24 kg
One of the best in history anti-aircraft guns, better known as "eight-eight", was in service from 1933 to 1945. It turned out to be so successful that it became the basis for a whole family of artillery systems, including anti-tank and field ones. In addition, the anti-aircraft gun served as a prototype for the guns of the Tiger tank.
Flugabwehrkanone (FlAK)
The most promising air defense-missile defense system: the S-400 Triumph air defense system
Country Russia
designed: 1999
Target detection range: 600 km
Number of simultaneously tracked target tracks: up to 300 km
Damage range:
Aerodynamic targets - 5-60 km Ballistic targets - 3-240 km Destruction height: 10 m - 27 km
Designed to destroy aircraft - jammers, radar detection and control aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft, strategic and tactical aircraft, tactical, operational-tactical ballistic missiles, medium-range ballistic missiles, hypersonic targets and other modern and advanced air attack weapons.
S-400 "Triumph"
The most versatile anti-missile defense system: S-300VM "Antey-2500"
Country: USSR
designed: 1988
Damage range:
Aerodynamic targets - 200 km
Ballistic targets - up to 40 km
Defeat height: 25m - 30 km
The mobile universal anti-missile and anti-aircraft system S-300VM "Antey-2500" belongs to a new generation of anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense systems (PRO-PSO). Antey-2500 is the world's only universal missile defense and air defense system capable of effectively fighting both ballistic missiles with a launch range of up to 2,500 km and all types of aerodynamic and aeroballistic targets. The Antey-2500 system is capable of firing simultaneously at 24 aerodynamic targets, including subtle objects, or 16 ballistic missiles flying at speeds up to 4500 m/s.
Barak - Israeli anti-aircraft missile system(SAM) ship-based, designed for air defense of ships from anti-ship missiles and guided bombs.
A ground version of the Barak-8 system has also been developed.
Manufacturer - a consortium of firms IAI and RAFAEL. Adopted by the navies of Israel, India, Singapore, Taiwan, Venezuela, Chile, Azerbaijan. The cost of the Barak air defense system is $24 million.
The launch of Barak anti-aircraft missiles is carried out from a vertical launch installation. After launch, the rocket performs a vertical climb for 0.6 s, and then turns to a combat course.
When intercepting, the air defense system uses a multi-purpose radar station surveillance, tracking and guidance manufactured by ELTA Systems.
Advanced Barak air defense systems can shoot down enemy aircraft, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, guided bombs, unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters within a radius of up to 20 km in difficult weather conditions any time of the day. The sector of defeat is 360 degrees.
The Indian Navy successfully conducted the first tests of the Barak air defense system installed on board the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov) in the Arabian Sea - the missile intercepted and destroyed a real, low-flying, high-speed target.
In addition, Barak air defense systems are installed on other ships of the Indian Navy - the Viraat aircraft carrier, destroyers type "Calcutta", "Delhi", "Rajput", frigates of the type "Shivalik", "Godavari", "Brahmaputra".
No other country can compete with the Israeli Barak air defense system in this class of air defense.
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