Naval aviation will be connected to the "killer" networks. The Navy will receive a unique automated control system (ACS). Thanks to the new aircraft, helicopters and drones in real time will be able not only to transmit, but also to receive the coordinates and parameters of targets from ships, submarines and ground surveillance systems. After that, the detected enemy objects will be destroyed by all available means. Thus, according to experts, the fleet will be able to create continuous zones of destruction with an area of hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. This automated control system is especially effective in the case of using hypersonic complexes "Zircon" and "Dagger".
Naval aviation will be connected to the "killer" networks. The Navy will receive a unique automated control system (ACS). Thanks to the new aircraft, helicopters and drones in real time will be able not only to transmit, but also to receive the coordinates and parameters of targets from ships, submarines and ground surveillance systems. After that, the detected enemy objects will be destroyed by all available means. Thus, according to experts, the fleet will be able to create continuous zones of destruction with an area of hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. This automated control system is especially effective in the case of using hypersonic complexes "Zircon" and "Dagger".
Target Designation Network
As sources in the military department told Izvestia, at present, the automated control system of naval aviation (MA) is in a high degree of readiness. It is expected that its first samples will be delivered to the troops in the near future. According to the interlocutors of the publication, the novelty will combine information from various sources. The processed data will then be transmitted to the ships for strikes. Thanks to this interaction, the fleet will be able to create continuous zones of destruction with an area of hundreds or even thousands of kilometers.
Earlier, the head of the MA and air defense of the Black Sea Fleet, Colonel Sergei Saushkin, said that in the coming years, drastic changes will take place in the ACS, which will improve the quality of management by an order of magnitude.
All modern and advanced anti-ship missiles receive target designation and route before launch. They begin to search for objects independently only on the last section of the flight, a few tens of kilometers before it. The ammunition does not include its own relatively low-power homing head for this purpose for a long time.
— To bring a long-range weapon system to the target area, a certain accuracy is required, - military expert Viktor Murakhovsky explained to Izvestia. - The homing heads of missiles have a limit on the range and the angle at which they can recognize an object. Just shooting into the sea in the direction of the target is a pointless waste of expensive weapons. There are certain requirements for the issuance of target designation for aiming ammunition at ship groups and individual ships. It should be borne in mind that they do not stand still. A typical connection overcomes tens of kilometers in an hour. Therefore, the command post must have up-to-date information that allows you to bring shock weapons to the target area.
According to the expert, that is why it is necessary to combine all the means of intelligence that are based in space, in the air, on ships and ground objects. They must collectively deal with the "opening" of ship groups. The unified information system ensures the operation of the reconnaissance and strike circuits, Viktor Murakhovsky noted. And reliable and up-to-date information from it can be used by a variety of weapons systems: coastal missile systems, ship-borne strike weapons, and others.
Such a system will be especially relevant for submarines, former submarine commander Igor Kurdin told Izvestia.
— We use only the information that we "hear" with the help of hydroacoustic systems, and this is not a very long distance, - the expert explained. - Of course, we need a complete reconnaissance situation in as large a radius as possible, primarily in areas of combat use. Even in an underwater position, the command has the ability to call the submarine to communicate in case of urgent need — including for the transfer of intelligence. The aircraft's ability to gather information is much greater than that of a ship, but it has lower combat stability. Therefore, the detection and tracking system must be comprehensive.
Aviation modernization
As previously reported by Izvestia, the MA will soon receive hypersonic missile systems "Dagger" with a range of more than 1.5 thousand km. They will be the first to enter the Northern Fleet. But the Southern Military District already has an experimental squadron of such aircraft. They regularly fly out on patrol over the Black and Caspian Seas, and are used in exercises together with Tu-22M3 bombers carrying anti-ship missiles.
A program is also underway to expand the capabilities of the Su-30SM multi-purpose naval aviation fighters. They will be able to use a wider range of long-range missiles, including the most powerful X-32.
Over the past eight years, MA has received 120 new and upgraded aircraft. Many of them are re-equipped with a specialized computing subsystem SVP-24 "Hephaestus". It allows you to receive target designation from external sources and sniping to hit both surface and ground targets, even with unguided ammunition. It was reported that they had re-equipped the Su-24M of the 43rd separate naval assault Aviation Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet.
Earlier, the defense Ministry reported on the ongoing development of a new patrol aircraft, which should replace the anti-submarine Tu-142M3. Representatives of the AI also announced plans in the period from 2021 to 2030 to receive promising deck-based drones and ship-based radar patrol aircraft. They will also be able to work with the automated control system.
The Su-33 carrier-based fighters that were upgraded to SVP-24 were used to attack ground targets of terrorists in Syria during the combat campaign of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier there in 2016. Anti-submarine patrol aircraft Tu-142M3, which are also equipped with this subsystem, were also seen in the Arab Republic. They not only conducted reconnaissance, but also attacked extremist targets with bombs themselves.
Marine scouts
Since the advent of long-range anti-ship missiles, the navy has had to solve the task of targeting them. During the flight of subsonic ammunition to the maximum range, the ships running at full speed could move several tens of kilometers and get out of the affected area. In order not to lose sight of the enemy and find it at a long distance, the aviation began to use reconnaissance aircraft with powerful radars.
The turboprop Tu-95RTs were the scout and target designator for anti-ship missiles of the Cold War. They were designed on the basis of long-range strategic bombers and released in a series of 53 machines. A huge aircraft weighing more than 180 tons with a crew of nine people could monitor carrier strike groups from a distance of hundreds of kilometers. Their duration of patrolling in the air reached a day.
The Tu-95RK was used not only from the territory of the USSR. They also regularly patrolled from Soviet bases in Guinea, Vietnam, and Cuba. This made it possible to track the movement of NATO squadrons in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Such aircraft were actively used until the 1980s. Then they were gradually replaced by a space reconnaissance and target designation system.
