Counter-battery warfare stations and the effectiveness of artillery impact
The armed conflicts of recent decades have clearly demonstrated both the high importance of artillery for achieving success in combat, battle and operation, and the equally serious need to effectively combat it. The solution of this difficult task is carried out within the framework of counter-battery warfare (KBB) with the use of artillery units or other means of fire destruction. The effectiveness of the use of such largely depends on the successful use of various means of artillery reconnaissance and, first of all, specialized radar stations of counter–battery warfare (KBB radar).
Since its appearance, artillery has played an important role on the battlefield. Moreover, for a long time this role was, by and large, decisive, which is why artillery got its nickname - "God of War". And for good reason. After all, it was artillery that guaranteed victory in battle, battle, battle and often in the war as a whole to those who own a large number of different guns, preferably with a large caliber and a long firing range, and to those who have the personnel best prepared for its use. As a result, as experts have calculated, in the wars of the last centuries, the ground forces suffered the main losses from artillery fire.
Moreover, the appearance of combat aircraft and guided missiles of the surface–to–surface and air-to-surface classes, although it shook the monopoly position of artillery, it could not completely neutralize its significance even in wars of a new type.
As a result, artillery – both barrel (mortars and guns of various types, including self-propelled) and reactive (multiple launch rocket systems - MLRS) - due to its ability to affect the various depths of the enemy's defense is still one of the most effective and widespread fire weapons on the battlefield. Moreover, due to the introduction of the latest technologies, artillery acquires, as they say, a "second wind".
Firstly, the artillery of the new millennium will become more effective - by increasing the accuracy of shooting and the ability to solve a wider range of tasks than before, and even with greater efficiency. It is planned to achieve this, among other things, due to "smart" ammunition capable of independently, without the participation of an artilleryman, determining the highest priority target for destruction in the current situation (from a group target) and adjusting its flight path, ensuring, for example, hitting the target in the most vulnerable place or at the most effective angle.
Secondly, artillery is becoming more long-range – it will be able to hit targets at a significantly longer range. First of all, it is planned to achieve this through the widespread introduction of active-reactive ammunition, as if combining a standard guided or correctable artillery shell and a mini-rocket in a single case.
Finally, thirdly, artillery will become more mobile on the battlefield and will gain greater mobility in the theater of operations.
It is possible that other constructive, technical and technological solutions will be implemented that will give artillery systems new features and provide them with new capabilities, which will allow this type of weapons not only to maintain its importance on the battlefield, but also, quite possibly, to seriously increase its role in the wars of the future, providing troops with the opportunity to significantly increase firepower and solve a wider range of tasks.
However, the growing role of artillery on the battlefield leads to the need to develop methods, methods and means of combating it: firstly, the construction of appropriate protective structures for their personnel and equipment and carrying out necessary measures to minimize possible damage from enemy artillery fire (dispersal of forces and means, operational maneuver by them, etc.), and, secondly, the speedy suppression of enemy artillery. The latter is a whole set of measures that can be combined in one concept - counter-battery warfare. At the same time, the effectiveness of such a struggle largely, one might even say – to a decisive extent, depends on the successful conduct of artillery reconnaissance.
The classic, 1984 edition, "Military Encyclopedic Dictionary" gives the following tasks that artillery intelligence is designed to solve: detecting and determining the coordinates of the enemy's nuclear attack means, his artillery, mortars, tanks, anti-tank weapons, control points and other objects (targets); additional reconnaissance of objects (targets) intended for destruction; collecting (clarifying) data on terrain and weather conditions; monitoring the results of firing their artillery and tactical missile strikes; issuing data for correcting fire.
At the same time, such reconnaissance, including those carried out in the interests of counter-battery warfare, is conducted using technical means of various principles of operation (radar, sonometric, optical and optoelectronic, seismic, etc.), which to one degree or another make it possible to solve the problem of reconnaissance and detection of enemy artillery fire – artillery guns, mortars, MLRS, and, if necessary, tactical missiles – and the subsequent issuance of target designation data to their fire means to suppress these means. Military specialists of the leading countries of the world have always paid important attention to the comprehensive improvement of such means and the development of new, more effective ways of using them in the framework of counter-battery warfare. However, in recent years, due to the qualitative improvement of barrel and rocket artillery and the growth of its combat capabilities, this issue has been given a much higher priority. What are these means and what are their tasks? Let's consider them further.
Battery Struggle
According to the definition given to the term "counter-battery warfare" by the already mentioned "Military Encyclopedic Dictionary", this means "the defeat by artillery fire of enemy artillery batteries located in closed firing positions in order to gain fire superiority."
Moreover, a successful KBB can be considered only if the enemy's firepower and their combat crews are either completely destroyed, or, as the world experience of wars shows, it happens much more often, are suppressed. Recall that, according to established canons, the target is considered suppressed if the enemy's firepower and their combat crews have lost the ability to continue artillery firing for a certain period of time. At the same time, the time it took to achieve this goal, as well as the expenditure of ammunition produced in this case, is important in such cases. It is clear that the less time and ammunition spent– the more successful the actions of their artillery are considered. But how to achieve this?
"The main condition for a successful fight against enemy artillery is a well-organized reconnaissance of enemy batteries, providing timely, reliable and accurate determination of the coordinates of firing positions, and high accuracy in determining installations for firing to kill," noted Doctor of Technical Sciences Major General of Artillery A.I. Matveev and Candidate of Technical Sciences Colonel E.K. Malakhovsky in the work "Shooting to kill batteries", published back in 1971.
At the same time, they emphasize that in order to ensure real and economical fire when enemy batteries are hit, it is not enough to determine only the exact coordinates of the firing positions of the latter. "The task of artillery reconnaissance in modern conditions is also to establish the nature of the battery: self-propelled, towed, determining the caliber of guns and the nature of engineering equipment," the authors of this fundamental work point out.
For these purposes, the KBB is conducted using a number of means and methods of artillery reconnaissance. Moreover, usually when solving the problem under consideration, the combined use of several methods and technical means is carried out at once, which makes it possible to obtain a higher final result when solving this very difficult task. "Only the use of all means of intelligence in the aggregate, as well as proper processing and analysis of the information given by them, can ensure reliable results in determining the necessary data and enemy batteries," the work "Shooting to kill batteries" emphasizes.
The most effective ways to detect enemy artillery and mortar batteries, as well as the locations of MLRS launchers and enemy tactical missiles and determine the coordinates of their firing positions are the following:
- the use of data obtained with the help of classical aerial photography of aircraft (LA) or conducting satellite imagery of the terrain of specific reconnaissance satellites;
- reconnaissance of enemy positions and correction of their artillery fire in real or close to real time using manned or unmanned aircraft with optical, optoelectronic, radar or laser location (lidar) detection means;
- involvement of sound intelligence units;
- the use of specialized radar counter-battery warfare (including portable), as well as various means of electronic intelligence.
However, not everything is so simple. After all, for example, a significant disadvantage of aerial photography is that the data obtained with its help is sent to the commander of the counter-battery fighting artillery unit with a certain time delay. However, by now, classical aerial photography has almost fallen out of use, and the data of aerial or radar surveys of the desired area or a specific object obtained with the help of an aircraft are already being received by consumers through various channels in real time or as close to the real time scale as possible.
Space specific reconnaissance has also made significant progress, the basis of which is satellites with specialized photographic, optoelectronic or radar equipment. Today, the military of the developed countries of the world already have the opportunity to receive data from such satellites in real or as close to real time as possible.
However, the success of actions within the framework of counter-battery warfare, and often the very possibility of conducting it, in the case of manned or unmanned aircraft, depends on whether air supremacy is currently ensured in a given area, and on the presence of a developed air defense system in the area, and in the case of specific reconnaissance satellites, on the ability to use one or another satellite to cover a given area in the required period of time.
Without radar, it is not possible to imagine counter-battery warfare today. Photos from the website www.dvidshub.net
Naturally, when using photographic and optoelectronic means for these purposes, bad weather (rain, snow, fog, etc.) and the appropriate methods of camouflage used by the enemy (smoke screen, etc.) can pose a serious problem, and in the case of thermal imaging or radio intelligence means used for these purposes, counter measures taken by the enemy (various kinds of interference).
In turn, when using sound reconnaissance units to detect enemy batteries firing and determine the coordinates of their firing positions, poor conditions for hearing the sounds of shots and ammunition bursts, as well as high intensity of artillery and mortar fire of the enemy and its troops and other factors can become negative factors.
That is why, according to foreign military experts, the most effective means of detecting enemy artillery firing positions and determining their coordinates, as well as determining the places where artillery ammunition falls and adjusting the fire of their artillery, are currently counter-battery radar stations.
They are characterized by high accuracy of operation regardless of weather conditions and time of day, and also, very importantly, have a long detection range. The use of such specialized radars, therefore, can be considered the most effective both from the point of view of the accuracy of determining the coordinates of the firing enemy gun(s), and from the point of view of the efficiency of solving such a task. Albeit with some reservations, because, for example, in this case it is virtually impossible to reliably assess the damage caused to the battery being shelled.
However, recently there has been a trend in the development of artillery instrumental reconnaissance in the direction of integration into a single complex of various passive means, such as sound reconnaissance and optoelectronic reconnaissance means, which makes it possible to bring counter-battery warfare to a completely new level. A striking example in this regard is the newest Russian sound-thermal artillery reconnaissance complex "Penicillin", created by specialists of the holding "Roselectronics", which is part of the State Corporation "Rostec" (the head structure of the holding is JSC "United Instrument Corporation").
Special radars and their operation
The principle of operation of specialized CBB radars is based on the earliest possible detection of artillery shells (mortar shells, rockets or tactical missiles), the subsequent conduct of several measurements of their current position and, ultimately, the determination of the coordinates of the enemy's firing position. After being brought into combat position, the KBB radar scans the space above the horizon with a beam, eventually forming the so-called detection barrier. In the case of receiving a radar signal reflected from an artillery munition object that appeared in the survey sector, the station accompanies the detected target for a period of time that is necessary to determine its flight path and calculate the coordinates of the enemy's firing position.
In the course of its operation, the radar detects the current position of the munition at several points of its flight path, after which the computer included in the radar complex calculates the flight path of this munition and, after its prolongation and extrapolation, ultimately determines the coordinates of the firing artillery piece, mortar or MLRS launcher. At the same time, the software allows you to automatically determine the caliber of the accompanied artillery ammunition and the type of the enemy's firing gun. Also, in the general case, the size of the firing position of the enemy artillery unit is estimated and the classification of the identified targets according to their degree of threat is carried out. After receiving the coordinates of the enemy's firing position, they are promptly transferred to the KP of their forces to open fire to defeat.
Due to the calculation of the flight path of enemy artillery ammunition, these radar stations are also able to determine with sufficiently high accuracy the places of possible fall of ammunition, which allows you to warn your troops (population) and, as far as circumstances allow, minimize potential damage from enemy fire. In addition, they can be used to adjust the fire of their artillery, provide topogeodetic binding and solve other tasks.
It should be particularly pointed out that in order to successfully solve the task, it is necessary to correctly select the position of the KBB radar, which requires taking into account a number of factors: terrain features (on the one hand, they should not interfere with the operation of the station's antenna system, and on the other hand, ensure the maximum possible reduction in the probability of hitting this station from enemy air strikes and artillery); the expediency of placing the station in the area of the firing positions of the artillery unit whose work it is designed to provide, or in the area of the location of the object in whose cover system it is included; as well as a number of others.
It is possible to significantly increase the efficiency of the KBB radar due to the simultaneous use of radio intelligence means, with the help of which it is possible to search, intercept, direction finding and analysis of radio emissions of enemy radio equipment used to ensure the combat use of its artillery and mortar units. In particular, in this way, it is possible to accurately establish the enemy's radar artillery reconnaissance system, reveal the location of its artillery control points and the location of the artillery units themselves, as well as determine with sufficiently high accuracy the type of artillery, mortar and rocket weapons systems available to the enemy in this area, as well as the outfit of forces and means.
The KBB radar generally includes: an antenna system, a transceiver, processing, communication and data transmission equipment, as well as a power supply system. At the same time, it should be particularly noted that in modern KBB radars, the station antenna is usually a flat rectangular phased array (FAR) or active phased array (AFAR) antenna array, in which an overview of the surrounding space is carried out by electronically scanning the beam of the radiation pattern.
Usually in this case, as Colonel A. Krupnikov points out in the article "Radar stations of counter-battery warfare of major foreign countries" published in the December 2010 issue of the magazine "Foreign Military Review", the azimuth scanning sector averages 90 degrees, the scanning sector by the angle of the place averages 30 degrees, and the possibility of a circular view of the surrounding space is provided by installing headlights on a rotary platform.
Typical examples of the construction of the KBB radar antenna system according to such a design scheme are the Russian Zoo-1 complexes (in domestic sources it is often referred to simply as "Zoo") and 1L260-E (also known by the designation "Zoo-1M"), developed by specialists of the Tula Scientific and Production Association (NPO) Strela (part of the Concern of East Kazakhstan Region Almaz-Antey), as well as such foreign radars of similar purpose as:
- the American AN/TPQ-36(V) and AN/TPQ-37(V) stations from the specialized Firefinder counter-battery warfare radar complex, as well as the AN/TPQ-53 station that replaced them and the AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR), which is designed to replace a number of radars in the US Marine Corps that solve the tasks of counter-battery warfare, detection of unmanned and manned aircraft, as well as cruise and other guided missiles (including high-speed and actively maneuvering), air traffic control, etc.;
- mobile radar KBB "COBRA" (COBRA, an abbreviation of Counter Battery Radar, which can be translated from English as "Counter Battery radar station"), created in 1998 by the multinational consortium EURO-ART in the interests of the armed forces of Great Britain, France and Germany (companies from the UK, USA, France and Germany participated in the program);
- mobile radar KBB "ARTHUR" (ARTHUR is an abbreviation of ARTillery HUnting Radar, which can be translated from English as "Radar station of counter-battery warfare", although literally its name will sound like "Radar station - "hunter" for artillery"). The station was created by specialists from Norway and Sweden, and today the Swedish company SAAB is engaged in its production and maintenance. Depending on the customer's needs, it can be placed on the chassis of various cross-country trucks or on the chassis of an articulated tracked conveyor type Bv 206. In the British Army, "ARTHUR" is in service under the designation MAMBA - an abbreviation of Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield rAdar, which can be translated from English as "Mobile radar for tracking artillery on the battlefield";
- the new Swedish multifunctional radar "Giraffe 4A" (Giraffe 4A), which has the ability to solve problems in order to ensure counter-battery warfare;
- the Israeli EL/M-2084 station, which is not only capable of effectively solving the tasks of counter-battery warfare, providing, in particular, detection, marking and determination of the coordinates of firing positions of firing artillery pieces, mortars, MLRS launchers and missile units of the enemy at ranges up to 100 km, but also allows you to confidently detect and accompany small-sized aerial targets, such as, for example, unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as operational-tactical and tactical missiles at ranges up to 350 km.;
- Chinese KBB radars "Type 704", BL904, PFS (abbreviation of Phase and Frequency Scan, which can be translated from English as "phase and frequency scanning") and SLC-2, equipped with phased and active phased antenna arrays, as well as a number of other radars of a similar purpose.
Such a constructive scheme – with one antenna placed on a rotary device – has also become widespread in the class of small-sized KBB radars designed to be carried by combat crew personnel or placed on motor vehicles. Such radars are used primarily to detect the positions of firing mortars and mortar batteries, as well as conducting reconnaissance of ground moving targets and even detecting low-flying drones. In addition, they allow you to control the firing of your artillery and mortars in cases where the use of larger radars is impractical, as well as in conditions of special and counter-terrorist operations, where the use of large radars of a similar purpose is seriously difficult or impossible at all.
A typical example of such radars is the Russian portable radar for reconnaissance of firing positions of mortars "Aistenok", developed by the NGO "Strela". According to the information set out in the article "Portable radar station for reconnaissance of firing positions of mortars "Aistenok" (index 1L271)" from the electronic catalog of export weapons and military equipment of the ground forces posted on the official website of JSC Rosoboronexport, this radar can be used for reconnaissance of firing positions of firing mortars of 81-120 mm caliber along the trajectory of the mine and control the firing of its mortars of 81-120 mm caliber, as well as for reconnaissance of moving ground targets of the "tank" type and control of artillery firing. guns of 122-155 mm caliber on shell bursts.
By the way, using the example of "Aistenka", you can clearly see the breakthrough that engineers managed to make in the field of radar development for detecting positions of firing mortars. So, the domestic ARSOM-1 Molniya station intended for solving this problem (ARSOM is an abbreviation of the full name "Artillery Radar Station for Detecting Mortars"), adopted in 1951, was placed on the chassis of a heavy artillery tractor AT-T (Artillery Tractor – Heavy), and a power unit was also attached to it, which was transported on a separate trailer. In the course of combat work, the station had to be serviced by a combat crew of several people. Moreover, it could work mainly on mortars, although domestic sources indicate that it was possible to determine the positions and firing howitzers (the station could also provide correction of its artillery fire). Now this task can be successfully solved with the help of a small-sized station "Aistenok", the total weight of an autonomous (wearable) set of which is only 135 kg, and a combat crew of only three people is needed for its maintenance.
It should be particularly noted that such small-sized stations can be installed quite easily and quickly on the roofs of buildings and on various types of vehicles, which makes it possible to turn them into mobile CBB radars with significant combat potential and capabilities to solve a wide range of tasks, often going far beyond the classical counter-battery warfare.
At the same time, antenna systems have recently been widely used in small-sized, portable CBB radars, which are formed from many – several dozen - small headlight panels fixed around the central element of the antenna system frame. This configuration makes it possible to provide a continuous circular view of the surrounding space, which is especially important for the effective operation of special operations forces, airborne troops or marines, as well as within the framework of the organization of the system of protection of advanced facilities of troops (forces).
A striking example of such all-round view stations can be the American portable KBB radars of the AN/TPQ-48/49/50 family, which were developed by specialists of the Syracuse Research Corporation (SRC), as well as the portable KBB radar "Serhat" (Serhat), created in the Turkish company Aselsan, and the Chinese YLC-48A radar, developed in the Nanjing Scientific andresearch Institute of electronic Technologies. All of them are actually built according to a single scheme and differ slightly in their characteristics and capabilities to solve the tasks assigned to them.
Today, KBB radars have already been developed and in a modular design. Thus, the X-band station HFL-CM, created in the Italian company IDS (an abbreviation of Ingegneria Dei Sistemi, which can be translated from Italian as "Engineering Systems"), is a set of radar modules based on antennas with AFAR, which have a viewing sector of 60 degrees (one canvas of AFAR) or 120 degrees (two AFAR canvases) and can be placed on a telescopic lifting device or on the roof of a building or car.
The complex includes appropriate radar data processing equipment and communication equipment, as well as a portable power plant or compact power supplies. If necessary, radar modules can be used to create an "antenna" that provides a constant circular view of the surrounding space and automatic detection of mortar mines, artillery and rocket shells, as well as their fall sites and positions of firing mortars, guns and MLRS launchers. The only limitation of the station is the ability to work only on ammunition flying along a parabolic trajectory.
In turn, the processing, communication and data transmission equipment and the counter-battery radar power supply system, depending on the specific type of station and its design (mobile, transportable, portable, etc.) are placed either in separate small-sized portable units (and partially on the antenna system itself), or on a single wheeled with the antenna system or tracked chassis, or on a separate chassis, or even inside standard containers that can be transported by various types of equipment, including transport or multi-purpose helicopters, transport and amphibious convertiplanes and military transport aircraft. At the same time, the specified equipment and equipment usually have a modular design, which significantly simplifies their maintenance, including at the firing position, and repair.
Vladimir Shcherbakov
Deputy Executive Editor of HBO
Vladimir Leonidovich Shcherbakov is a military expert, journalist, and historian.
