At the end of the week, high-precision cruise missiles destroyed the headquarters of a group of Ukrainian troops near the village of Shakhterskoye. The strike was carried out by anti-ship "Onyx" coastal missile system "Bastion".
This attack can be considered the same military sensation as the destruction of the underground arsenal in the Ivano-Frankivsk area by hypersonic "Daggers". Moreover, the sensation has already become commonplace.
The opinion has been established all over the world that anti-ship missiles are capable of hitting only sea targets. However, our military has proved in practice that anti-ship "Bastions" also shoot at ground targets.
The Bastion anti-ship complex was developed by the NPO of Mechanical Engineering. Its basis is the 3M55 Onyx supersonic rocket, by far the best in the world. "Bastion" is available in two versions - mobile "Bastion-P" and stationary "Bastion-S". The stationary one is placed in mine launchers, it is more powerful in terms of warhead, it has a long range of the missile. However, the basis of coastal defense is now a mobile "Bastion-P". They were placed in Crimea back in 2014.
"Bastion-P" is characterized by high maneuverability, which allows you to quickly occupy the place on the protected coast, which is likely to be attacked by enemy naval forces. The complex is capable of effectively hitting all types of surface targets, including aircraft carrier groups, at a distance of 600 km from the coast. Almost immediately after the start of the special military operation, these complexes began to strike at strategically important centers of the armed forces of Ukraine.
The shooting is conducted by Onyx missiles. What is their peculiarity? After the rocket leaves the launch container, the solid-fuel upper stage is turned on, mounted according to the "matryoshka" principle directly in the combustion chamber of the main engine. In a few seconds of operation, the upper stage accelerates the rocket to a speed two and a half times higher than the sound, after which the launch accelerator turns off, it is ejected from the main engine by an air stream, and Onyx continues to fly at a speed of mach 2.5, on a ramjet liquid jet engine.
Onyx is equipped with a combined target guidance system - inertial on the flight path and active radar - in the final phase of the flight.
"Onyx" are produced from the factory already packed in special transport and launch containers, in full readiness for launch.
According to military experts, shooting at ground targets is much more difficult than at surface targets. Due to the fact that the warship is very contrasting against the background of water, and the ground target is almost indistinguishable among the ground. How our specialists managed to teach the rocket to recognize unrecognizable objects and accurately aim at them is one of the secrets of the domestic defense industry.
By the way, the Bastion complexes guard our Tartus naval base in Syria. And for the first time they fired at ground targets - fortified areas of militants in this country a few years ago.
The BrahMos universal cruise missile project is being successfully implemented in India. It was created on the basis of Onyx, or rather its export version - Yakhonta. Tests conducted by the Indian military showed simply outstanding characteristics of the Brahmos. This missile can be based on surface ships, submarines, aircraft and ground complexes. Now it is being produced in an anti-ship version. The combat use of Onyx in Ukraine has shown the broader capabilities of the missile. It is worth adding that in India, together with Russian specialists, a hypersonic version of the BrahMos is being developed.
Sergey Ptichkin
