Tests of the ship's anti-submarine missile system have been completed
Successful launches of hypersonic missiles "Zircon" obscured, took into the background reports on the completion of state tests of the ship's anti-submarine missile system (PLRK) "Answer". Meanwhile, this event is worth paying close attention to. Currently, technical documentation is being prepared in order to officially take the complex into service with the Russian Navy by the end of this year or early next year. The Ministry of Defense has already started serial purchases of PLRK.
Anti-submarine missile systems are designed to detect, classify and hit submarines and combat uninhabited underwater vehicles of the enemy at long distances. This is not done for sport, but to prevent the enemy hiding in the depths from entering the zone from where he is able to strike with a torpedo weapon.
The last PLRK, intended for use with surface ships, was created in Soviet times by the Sverdlovsk Design Bureau "Novator" and was called RPK-6M "Waterfall" (SS-N-16 Stallion – according to the NATO classification, that is, "Stallion"). It was adopted in 1981. "Waterfall" - "Stallion" has a rather intricate scheme of movement, since the version intended for launching from submarines ("Waterfall-PL") is fired from standard 533-mm torpedo tubes of submarines. After firing from a torpedo tube (conventional, as on large anti-submarine ships of Project 1155, or special, as on the heavy nuclear missile cruiser "Peter the Great" of Project 11442 and on the patrol ships of Project 11540 "Hawk"), an anti-submarine missile (PLUR) 83-RN goes under water for some distance as an ordinary torpedo. Then he makes a slide-takes it steeply up. When the PLUR breaks out of the water, a solid-fuel jet engine is turned on (those who have watched this spectacle, unanimously claim that it looks fantastic), which delivers the rocket to the target at a distance of up to 50 km. There is a parachute drop of the warhead, which consists of a nuclear depth charge or a 400-mm small-sized electric torpedo UMGT-1. The torpedo runs to the enemy submarine, located at a distance of up to 8 km and a depth of up to 500 m at a speed of 41 knots.
When the Design Bureau " Novator "in the 90s of the last century began to create a new ship PLUR, it was decided, in order to speed up the delivery of ammunition to the target, to exclude the stage of"diving into the water". This was also explained by the fact that the 91RE2 missile was intended for export as part of the Club-N complex and was launched from the 3R-14 universal ship firing complex (UKSK), like other Club KR systems (the export version of the "Caliber"). The presence of missiles for various purposes with a single universal firing training system allows you to vary the ammunition on the carriers depending on the task and the specific combat situation.
The mass of the 91RE2 rocket is 1300 kg, the length is 6.5 m, the firing range is 40 km, the flight speed is 2 m. The anti-submarine 324-mm torpedo MPT-1UME "Kolibri" with a 45-knot speed, a range of 8 km and a depth of 450 m are used as a warhead. It carries a 44-kilogram explosive charge.
Given the increase in speed and maneuverability characteristics of modern nuclear and non-nuclear submarines, as well as the decrease in the level of their physical fields, that is, stealth, today the fleet needed a more advanced PLRK. This was the "Answer". Its main creators were the St. Petersburg concerns of the Central Research Institute " Gidropribor "and the Central Research Institute"Electropribor". The first is the leading developer of marine underwater weapons in our country, and the second is the leading domestic institute in the field of high-precision navigation, optoelectronic surveillance systems for submarines and sonar systems. OKB "Novator" has faded into the background, as we believe, due to the heavy workload of the enterprise for the creation of new modifications of the Kalibr family of missiles and anti-aircraft missile systems, although the ideology of the anti-submarine complex and the launch vehicle based on 91R2, of course, have a Yekaterinburg origin.
Pilot-series production of the "Answer" began last year, and in early November of this year, the newest frigate of the Russian Navy "Admiral of the Fleet Kasatonov" project 22350 successfully completed a full cycle of state tests of the PLRK. The "Response" includes a ship-based sonar system( SAC), a lowered helicopter gas, a 3S14 universal launcher, ballistic launch vehicles with 324-mm MPT-1UM anti-submarine torpedoes, communication and pre-launch training systems. Detection of an underwater target can be carried out not only by the GAK and the ship's Ka-27PL helicopter, but also by other ships and submarines, as well as by PLO Il-38 and Tu-142M3 aircraft, which transmit data on the movement and maneuvers of the enemy submarine via communication lines.
Calculating the flight task with the ship's firing control system and entering data into the rocket takes only 10 seconds! This is followed by the launch of the missile along a ballistic trajectory into the area of the location of the underwater target. The length of the two-stage solid-fuel 533-mm rocket is 7.65 m, the launch weight is just over 2 tons. It has an inertial guidance system. After the separation of the first stage, the rocket is brought along a controlled trajectory to the area of the probable location of the submarine on the second stage engine. At this time, the trajectory is corrected, the rocket is stabilized and guided to a given point using the onboard inertial system and by means of aerodynamic rudders.
After the separation of the second stage, the MPT-1UM torpedo is parachuted, submerged in water and begins to search for a target in automatic mode, moving in a spiral without turning on the engine, but with a working sonar homing head. After the target is detected, the torpedo engine is activated. There is a high-speed approach for the purpose of performing evasion and counteraction maneuvers, and then – the defeat of the enemy submarine.
The weight of the small-sized 324-mm MPT-1UM torpedo, developed by the Dubna SSPP "Region", is 300 kg, the length is 3 m, the warhead weighs 60 kg. Its maximum depth of travel is 800 m, and its maximum speed is 50 knots. The range of multi-channel GSN with spatial and temporal correlation methods of signal processing with adaptive angle – 2 thousand m. As confirmed by tests of torpedoes, high-sensitive homing head is able to hear not only the quietest boat engines and propellers, but the noise around the submarine water.
The time of execution of the combat task by the "Answer" complex is 1-2 minutes, the firing range is from 5 to 50 km. The maximum flight speed of the missile on the main section is 2.5 M.At the same time, up to four missiles can be used to attack one nuclear submarine or DPL. The probability of hitting a target with a root-mean-square target designation error of 300-500 m is 0.91.
The adoption of the "Answer" complex and its implementation on ships will significantly increase the anti-submarine capabilities of the Russian Fleet. Now large surface ships of the Russian Navy and formations can build a three-tier PLO system. In the near zone – up to 20 km – against submarines and torpedoes released by them, the PLO/PTO complex "Paket-NK"is used. In the middle zone – within a radius of 5-50 km, the "Answer" is used, and in the far zone – up to 100 km – torpedoes and depth charges of Ka-27PL helicopters.
In the near future, the Otvet complex will receive frigates 22350 and 11356, ships of the 1155M project being converted from the BOD into frigates, corvettes 20385, and the Admiral Nakhimov heavy nuclear missile cruiser undergoing modernization under the 11442M project. There will be a place for it on promising warships and submarines (based on PLURO 91RE1) of new projects. After all, everyone needs such an "Answer".
Alexander Ivanin
Alexander Sergeevich Ivanin is a military journalist.
