Promising high-precision air-to-surface ammunition is the first to be received by the foreign air force
At the end of November, the American military-political publication The National Interest conducted an audit of air-to-surface ammunition in order to determine those that have an optimal efficiency-to-cost ratio. Suddenly, the Russian ammunition became the leader. However, it has not yet been adopted by the Russian aerospace forces.
The destruction of a Jihad-mobile based on a serial "Toyota" worth 15 thousand dollars using a high-precision cruise missile, which costs the Pentagon an average of half a million, is essentially an economic crime, the author of the publication believes. Even the most inexpensive American munition, suitable for precise strikes on single targets, the GBU – 39 planning bomb is expensive to destroy primitive terrorist targets. It costs about 70 thousand dollars. However, this is the cost of the first version of the bombs. At the end of the last decade, a more advanced modification appeared that allows you to destroy not only stationary objects, but also mobile targets. So its cost exceeded a hundred thousand.
At the same time, according to The National Interest, you can do the same job of delivering accurate strikes on mobile targets for just 15 thousand. According to American information, about the same amount will cost the Russian advanced planning bomb "Drill". Although, of course, it is extremely dangerous to estimate the cost of a product before its mass production is launched. The Pentagon intended to make the F-22 Raptor the most mass-produced aircraft in the US air force. However, when it came to the production of these machines, because of their exorbitant cost, the series was limited to two hundred units.
India supported the Russian manufacturer
But before moving on to promising ammunition, it would be logical to consider those already in service. The first swallow was the KAB-500L adjustable aerial bomb. It began to enter the air force of the Soviet Union in the mid-seventies of the last century. The number 500 indicates the mass of the bomb, which in the KAB-500 family, which developed later, is maintained inaccurately, but the deviations are small. L-laser. That is, the bomb is equipped with a laser weather vane homing head.
With a good accuracy of aiming the bomb at the target (4-7 m), this method also has disadvantages. The bomb does not belong to the "throw and forget" type of ammunition – the target must be illuminated with a laser beam by the aircraft that dropped it. However, it may be another plane or ground gunner. In addition, when the state of the atmosphere worsens, the GOS bomb has difficulties detecting the illuminated target.
"Drill" compensates for the lack of third-generation anti-tank systems in the Russian army, which is the American " javelin» ”
The family continued to develop in the Russian period of the country's history. Consistently appeared KAB-500Kr (TV GOS, high-explosive concrete-breaking warhead), KAK-500OD (TV GOS, volume-detonating warhead). Both bombs are already "dropped and forgotten". And the accuracy is about the same as that of the KAB-500L. One-and-a-half-ton KAB-1500s of the same GOS and warhead types were also developed and adopted. The concrete-cutting "polutorka" is able to break through three meters of reinforced concrete floors or go 20 meters deep into the ground.
All these bombs were developed at the state research and production enterprise "Region", part of the Corporation" Tactical missile weapons " (KTRV). And all of them have a significant drawback – they can be used without risking losing the carrier aircraft, mainly against irregular formations, that is, against bearded terrorists. Separated from the aircraft, the KAB-500 and KAB-1500 can fly no more than eight kilometers. That is, the bombing aircraft must enter the short-range air defense zone. The only thing that can not harm him is a stinger-type MANPADS, which have a range of no more than 4500 meters.
There is another drawback of these bombs – their design does not include a reduction in radar visibility. That is, the task of intercepting them with the help of enemy air defense systems is not complicated.
And in the mid-10s, the "Region" did what the GBU has been used in American planning bombs since the beginning of the new century – correcting the flight path using global positioning satellite signals. The bomb was named KAB-500S (satellite). Its computing module is universal. It can use a GLONASS or GPS signal, or it can work simultaneously with both of these signals. In order to achieve high reliability and noise immunity, the flight control system has 24 channels for receiving satellite signals. Other methods of increasing the quality of ammunition were also used. And this was reflected in the cost, which increased to 50 thousand dollars.
The military said that although the bomb turned out to be wonderful, but they do not intend to pay a lot of money for it. The discussion is still ongoing. But at the same time, already manufactured KAB-500S are periodically dropped in Syria.
However, after all, the channel of sales of this ammunition was opened. India was the first to buy a fairly large batch of KAB-500SE (export). Then other countries started to catch up. Specifically for the fifth-generation su-57 fighter, the KAB-250 bomb was created. It is being tested, including in Syria. Only its weight is known for sure – a quarter of a ton. Ktrv General Director Boris Obnosov said that tests of the KAB-250LG-e modification with a laser GOS and a high-explosive warhead are now coming to an end. That's just not clear why the index is e-export. After all, it is not for the su-57. Only rumors are circulating about the flight range, the boldest insist on 40 kilometers.
"Region" went the way of " Boeing»
Meanwhile, the KTRV and the "Region" that is part of it continue to multiply not only bombs within their families, but also the families of non-engine air-to-surface ammunition themselves. This may suggest that we are seeing one big and serious topic break up into many subtopics. And all this is done on the basis of humanistic principles-to load labor collectives with work and, if possible, to save wages in this difficult financial time.
In the US, all this is solved much more compactly-within one or two topics. In this regard, the history of the planning 250-pound GBU-39 aerial bomb is typical. In 2001, Boeing and Lockheed Martin participated in the tender for the creation of this munition. At the earliest stage of the lists, Deputy Secretary of the air force Darlene Drouin excluded the requirement to hit mobile targets from the TOR. This significantly increased the chances of Boeing winning the tender. Drouin was later proven to have colluded with Boeing, and she received a prison sentence. And the developed bomb could only be used against stationary targets. But five years later, they caught on, and to control the flight by GPS signal, they also added guidance using both infrared and radar GPS.
As a result, the bomb turned out to be universal. With an excellent flight range of 110 kilometers. Accuracy-five to eight meters and one meter for GOS bombs. And it is not overgrown with" better " bombs from other manufacturers or the same. In the future, it can be upgraded to improve performance. But it will still be the same GBU-39 Mod N.
"Region" also created another family, more precisely, two-controlled bombs UPAB-500 and UPAB-1500. UPAB-500B and UPAB-1500B (concrete-cutting) were presented for the first time at the MAKS-2019 international aerospace salon. They are equipped with fuses that operate in three modes: with detonation in contact with the surface and with two different detonation delays. It controls the inertial correction for the GLONASS signal. The planning range has also increased significantly – 40 kilometers for UPAB-500B and 50 kilometers for UPAB-1500B. The accuracy is about 10 meters.
Igor Krylov, General Director of the regional state research enterprise, said at MAKS-2019 that both bombs have already passed all tests and are being sent to the VKS. Probably for trial operation.
It can be assumed that in the foreseeable future in this family will be new UPAB, which will expand the range of warheads. But even in this case, the family will turn out with a significant limitation of use: if the UPAB is not equipped with a GOS, then they can only attack fixed targets.
Anti-tank "Drill" and modular " Thunder»
So why is the" favorite "of the American edition of the bomb"Drill"? Its official name is the planning bomb cluster PBK-500U "Drill" with self-aiming combat elements SPBE-K. It was created in the NGO "Basalt", part of the state Corporation"rostec".
Its development, which began in the 90s, was greatly delayed due to the difficulties encountered with the implementation of the requirements of the TOR in terms of accuracy characteristics. The bomb was supposed to be adopted two years ago, but they decided to conduct additional tests in real combat conditions. That is, in Syria. At the moment, according to the developers, the military has no complaints about the "Drill". And it will be implemented in the air force combat units next year.
The weight of the bomb is 540 kilograms. Length-3100 mm, maximum diameter-450 mm. The bomb contains 15 combat elements designed to destroy armored vehicles, fortified engineering structures, air defense radars and control points. The working height of the bombing is in the range from 100 to 14 thousand meters at a speed of 700 to 1100 kilometers per hour. When creating the bomb body, stealth technologies were used, which makes it extremely difficult to detect it using radar.
At the moment of dropping the bomb, it begins to glide with the help of retractable wings. Correction of the flight is carried out aerodynamic control surfaces. The coordinates of the target are stored in the memory of the Drill, and the flight to it is performed under the control of the GLONASS satellite signal. The maximum flight range, depending on the speed of the aircraft and the height of the bombing, reaches 30 kilometers. This is enough to ensure that the carrier aircraft does not go deep into the zone of operation of short-range military SAMS, which at a distance of 15 kilometers do not pose a danger.
Once at the end point of the planned route, "Drill" at an altitude of 200 meters shoots 15 combat elements, each of which is equipped with an infrared or radar GOS.
The most effective "Drill" works against armored vehicles. Combat elements distribute targets and each of them, under the control of the GOS, rushes to its tank or armored personnel carrier. At the same time, tanks are attacked in the upper projection, which is the least protected. Thus, the Drill compensates for the lack of third-generation anti-tank systems in the Russian army, such as the American javelin. But the task of hitting the tank from above is solved, you can say, for free. The Pentagon buys each missile for this ATGM for 100 thousand dollars. At the same time, the range of the Javelin is only five kilometers. "Drill", as mentioned above, costs 15 thousand, has a range of 30 kilometers and is ideally able to hit 15 armored targets. But in reality, this figure, as the test statistics show, is 8-10.
The "Drills" it has another advantage – each unit is equipped with equipment for the recognition of "friend or foe". Therefore, the cassette can be dropped directly into the center of a tank battle and it will not cause damage to its armored vehicles.
It must be said that the "Drill" does not violate the Convention on cluster munitions, which allows their use if each submunition weighs more than 20 kilograms. The Drill's combat elements are heavier.
The US uses the AGM-154 500-pound "wide-profile" cluster munition. There are purely bomb modifications that can plan for 22-110 kilometers. There are those with a solid-fuel engine that fly 500 kilometers away. The number of combat elements varies from 6 to 146, which violates the requirements of the Convention. However, the United States did not sign it, as it did not sign a lot of other international documents that they require other countries to comply with.
American combat elements work in much the same way as Russian ones, but they do not have "friend – foe"recognition equipment.
The advanced development of the KTRV is conceptually similar to the AGM-154 "bomb missile". This is a modular family of ammunition, which is called the guided missile and bomb weapons system (RBV) "Thunder". It is a kind of "constructor kit", from which modules ammunition with the necessary properties and characteristics is created. At the moment, two munitions have been created that have the same dimensions: length-4200 mm, the largest diameter-310 mm.
All of them use the same guidance system – inertial with GLONASS/GPS signal correction. Identical steering wheels. The warhead is different, but it is recruited from three different modules in different combinations.
1. the 9-A-7759 Rocket (with an engine) has a range of 120 kilometers. The high-explosive warhead weighs 315 kilograms.
2. Bomb 9-A1-7759: flight range-65 kilometers, high-explosive warhead-480 kilograms.
3. Bomb 9-A2-7759: flight range-65 kilometers, volume-detonating warhead-370 kilograms.
Due to the lack of GOS ammunition, they can only be used for strikes against fixed ground targets.
In conclusion, it should be said that the statements of THE ktrv management about "Thunder" sounded extremely optimistic notes. Development tests have been completed, we are preparing for the state tests, and there we are close to launching mass production. However, at the moment, the revival is observed only among expert versions of promising planning ammunition with the letter E. They are advertised, produced, and sold to foreign customers. But something falls and the Russian air force.
Vladimir Tuchkov
Military-industrial courier newspaper, published in issue # 47 (860) for December 8, 2020
