What is the guided missile "Krasnopol", which the Russian Armed Forces use in Ukraine
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation uses a guided missile "Krasnopol" during a special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian military department has published footage of the destruction of a camouflaged command post of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kiev region using this munition. "Newspaper.Ru" figured out how Krasnopol works.
"Krasnopol" is a kind of symbiosis of a projectile and a rocket, which is called "correctable artillery ammunition", 152-mm or 155-mm caliber. It is used to defeat enemy armored vehicles and military facilities. The maximum range is up to 25 kilometers, the most effective at a distance of 16 kilometers. Its main feature is the exceptional accuracy of hitting both stationary and mobile objects.
Accuracy is achieved due to the possibility of correction by aerodynamic rudders of the ammunition at the end of the flight along the laser mark on the target. To increase the firing range, the projectile is equipped with a jet engine, which eliminates the possibility of countering the active means of protection of armored vehicles.
The calculation of the automated fire control complex "Malachite", which controls the "Krasnopol", consists of three people who highlight the target using a laser target designator-rangefinder. Each projectile operates at its own frequency and does not interfere with the control of others - it goes along its own "separate" beam. The rate of fire can be up to eight rounds per minute, which allows for massive and at the same time targeted fire at selected targets.
Military personnel collect the corrected artillery ammunition "Krasnopol" during exercises at the Yurginsky military training ground, 2021
Image source: Kirill Kukhmar/TASS
Serial production of projectiles is carried out by JSC Izhmash, and the homing head (GSN) is manufactured at JSC Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association.
"High-precision weapons of the Russian army have long been developed and used. The same ammunition "Krasnopol" was adopted in 1995. This shell was not used during the two Chechen companies. But Krasnopol was effectively tested in Syria, both on stationary and mobile objects," he told the Newspaper.Ru" military expert Vladimir Popov. - In particular, it was the Krasnopol shell that eliminated the militants who fired at the Khmeinim airfield in December 2017. In the conditions of a military special operation in Ukraine, Krasnopol proved to be a universal "cracker" of the AFU facilities, allowing it to deliver pinpoint strikes on specific targets. There are two nuances here - to avoid the death of civilians and to neutralize the enemy with single, but high-precision shots. There is no need to shoot at large areas, scattering fragments for hundreds of meters."
Officially, Krasnopol was exported by Russia only to India and China. At the same time, negotiations were underway to sell them to France and Venezuela.
"For example, in Afghanistan, the Soviet army lacked precisely such high-precision weapons. Artillery systems and multiple launch rocket systems did not have filigree accuracy, which was compensated by the massive fire of guns and installations, with a capacity of 122-mm and 152-mm calibers giving great destructive power and the scattering of fragments, " he told the newspaper.En" military expert, combat veteran, reserve Colonel Gennady Shorokhov. - When fighting on difficult terrain, our military preferred to use disposable grenade launchers "Mukha" and infantry flamethrowers "Bumblebee" with thermobaric grenades, with which they "smoked out" Mujahideen from caves and fortified areas. It was easier and more accurate to use them at close range than to wait for the fire support of self-propelled artillery installations "Carnation", "Acacia" or more powerful "Hyacinths". Now the use of Krasnopol in Ukraine differs both in range and accuracy of hit."
According to him, "Krasnopol" in fact has no analogues in the world.
- the expert summarized.
Victor Sokirko
