Barrage ammunition in military conflicts
Analyzing the special military operation in Ukraine, many experts focus on the unjustifiably low use of barrage ammunition (BB). At the same time, supporters of the use of this type of weapon refer to the fact that the BB played an almost decisive role in the victory of Azerbaijan in the recent military conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. There is little talk about this, but even before the start of the special military operation, the Ukrainian design bureau Yuzhnoye began work on the creation of promising barrage ammunition. Although during the eight years of the war against Donbass, with the presence of several developments of private Ukrainian companies, this type of weapon was not (and is not) in the Armed Forces of Ukraine at all.
Portable additional equipment
The topic is also relevant because the United States, following the ATGM and MANPADS, plans to transfer the Aero Vironment Switchblade series of barrage ammunition to Ukraine in the next few weeks. We are talking about hundreds of Switchblade 300 products. Although the Americans know that the Russian army can fight with these munitions.
The United States also has a larger Switchblade 600 ammunition – with increased flight and combat characteristics. It has already entered service with American special forces. That is, such a UAV is primarily needed by ourselves. And the allies need it: about a year ago, a contract was signed with the British Ministry of Defense.
BB Switchblade 300 was created as a portable additional equipment for rifle units – for conducting reconnaissance, hitting targets at a distance of several kilometers. It can hit manpower, unprotected or armored vehicles.
Switchblade 300 is an unmanned aerial vehicle with a length of 600 mm, its weight is 2.5 kg. It has two pairs of planes and a pair of keels that unfold in flight. There are day and night cameras for search and guidance, remote control devices. The power of the warhead is compared to a 40-mm grenade.
The electric motor allows you to keep a cruising speed of 100 km per hour, a maximum speed of 160 km per hour, the duration of stay in the air is 15 minutes (the reason is small batteries). The flight range is 10 km.
The product is controlled by an operator who receives a picture and telemetry, issues commands, can blow up the device in the air. The product is ejected from the transport and launch container by compressed air.
The Switchblade 300 two-way radio communication is vulnerable to interference. Only optical means are used for reconnaissance and guidance, they can be suppressed. Electronic warfare means, especially powerful and "cunning" Russian ones, are able to suppress data exchange and control radio channels, which makes it impossible for the shock complex to work, and the ammunition self-destructs in flight. In the fight against this BB gives the result and the use of a combat laser. Its beam of sufficient power can disable the optics.
The switchblade is mostly plastic. It is difficult to detect using radar. But, for example, "Shell-C1" also has an optical channel. The plastic is fragile – the BB will crumble from a small-caliber projectile or several fragments of an anti-aircraft missile. "Pantsir-S1", as it is known, has rocket and cannon armament.
Finally, the American still needs to be delivered to the Ukrainian positions, which is also not easy.
In the "air mining" mode
In recent years, the Russian defense Industry has developed several unmanned aerial vehicles of the "barrage ammunition" (BB) class. These weapons have shown their capabilities in Syria. And, indeed, to a lesser extent, but it is also successfully used in special operations in Ukraine.
BB in our country has been considered for a long time as a weapon with low potential. Although unmanned aviation has had notable successes. The situation changed in 2019: ZalaAero's Kub-UAV and Lancet ammunition passed factory tests, received high military ratings, serial production and deliveries to the troops began.
Today, ZalaAero already has a BB line – in addition to the "Cube-BLAH" there are "Lancet-1" and "Lancet-3", new samples are being developed. The batch of "Kub-UAV" and "Lancet-3" has been put into experimental military operation in Syria. In Syria, several dozen BB were used to destroy various buildings, fortifications, and transport.
At the end of February, there were reports of the use of Russian BB in a special military operation in Ukraine. And on March 19, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation posted a video of the use of BB. The number of launches and their success were not mentioned. However, experts in most cases say that three types of BB are used in large quantities, they complement other shock systems well. There are also cases of failures.
What are the Russian BB? A plastic "Cube-UAV" with a length of 950 mm with a wingspan of 1.2 m is equipped with an electric motor, an autopilot with satellite homing or an optical system. The maximum speed is 130 km per hour, the flight duration is half an hour. A 3 kg charge can destroy unprotected equipment, buildings, and manpower.
"Lancet-1" has two X-shaped planes, take–off weight is 5 kg, including a warhead of 1 kg. An electric motor with a pushing screw allows you to reach speeds of up to 110 km per hour. The battery charge is enough for a 30-minute flight, then a fall on the target.
The use of the X-shaped tail provides advantages to the barrage ammunition when diving at the target and performing maneuvers. Such a scheme makes it related to high-precision missiles. In addition, the scheme allowed to reduce the size of the product.
"Lancet-3" is larger in size and weight. It weighs 12 kg, the warhead of 3 kg hits targets up to and including light armored vehicles. The duration of the flight is up to 40 minutes.
The Lancet can operate in the "air mining" mode. The product searches for enemy helicopters and UAVs and attacks them. BB of the Lancet family with optoelectronic systems conduct aerial reconnaissance, however, without issuing target designations to other firing means.
BB are easy to use, have fairly high combat characteristics, inferior, of course, to traditional UAVs, which both conduct reconnaissance and strike.
However, the BB is able to complement other ground-based and air-based weapons, as a result of which a full-fledged multicomponent weapons system with extensive combat capabilities is being created.
Swarm Attack
Awareness of the prospects of barrage ammunition leads to a fashion for them in many countries. Halcon company from the United Arab Emirates has introduced a new family of Hunter UAVs. These are three aircraft with different characteristics. Among other things, Hunter can be used as a barrage ammunition, about which they say: he makes a one-way flight.
The UAE project has been developed. The new Hunter 2-S unmanned complex (it is still at the preliminary development stage) uses the latest artificial intelligence technologies, new controls. The fundamental innovation is that this is a complex with group-use barrage ammunition operating in a "swarm".
The launcher for the Hunter is a package of guides in a box casing. The installation can be of different configurations depending on the number of media. The product with the 21st guide is known.
The Hunter 2-S has an electric propulsion system with a tail pusher propeller, wingspan – 1.44 m, length – 1.25 m, take–off weight - 8 kg.
Learn more about the artificial intelligence of the Hunter control system. It is responsible for autonomous control in flight according to a given program, reacts to emerging factors, searches for targets with standard detection tools and points at them.
UAVs with such a control system can be networked, exchange data between themselves and the operator, can fly in formation, search and identify targets together. In the future, they will even be charged with organizing an attack. The devices will choose which part of the "swarm" will go on the attack. A group of drones will be able to attack targets on the ground or on the surface of the sea.
Flight direction
The ability of the UAV to stay in the air for a long time, looking for a target or a moment to strike, and led to the appearance of the name "barrage ammunition". The Russian army initially ignored such developments because of the small strike capabilities of such drones compared to artillery systems.
Israel was the first in the world to develop barrage ammunition – initially as a way to defeat elements of enemy air defense systems. Today, the United States, Turkey, China and some European states, including Russia, have similar weapons systems.
The range of targets hit by UAVS is huge: artillery guns, firing points, troop concentrations, vehicles, artillery firing positions.
The advantages of BB allow us to talk about their prospects. This is, for example, low visibility for air defense systems. The price of the device is also a plus, which is almost always lower than standard samples of weapons. Launching a barrage drone is always cheaper than firing a high-precision projectile. In addition to the most high-precision projectile, it is always necessary to have at hand a suitable artillery system with a crew or calculation.
Another perspective has recently emerged. The Polish company WB Group has developed and introduced a new way of using the Warmate family of barrage ammunition – from aircraft.
Other new projects of barrage ammunition are being announced today, and supply contracts are emerging. BB makes advertising use for real purposes during local conflicts, as well as the interest of developed countries with powerful armies.
BB combines the strengths of several classes of equipment and weapons at once, but it has not escaped the disadvantages: limited flight range, small mass of warhead, etc.
Today, ammunition of different sizes and weights, of different powers are on the market – from ultralight quadrocopters with a low-power warhead to large UAVs carrying tens of kilograms of explosives.
Interestingly, the heavy category is not in high demand and is represented by only a few samples. The bulk of modern ammunition is light and medium. They have the optimal combination of technical, combat and operational parameters.
Combat use, tests, and market research have shown that UAVs weighing up to 12-15 kg with a payload of no more than 3-5 kg are of the greatest interest. Some companies are planning to create unified families that include several products with different characteristics. For example, Israeli devices of the U Vision Hero family or Russian Zala "Lancet".
There are also unusual solutions. The Israeli Harpy product had an autopilot flying according to a given program and a passive radar GPS. Later Harop used optics and radar. Modern ammunition from the Russian company ZalaAero and some foreign developments, in addition to optics, use satellite navigation and can attack targets with known coordinates.
Various types of launch vehicles are being developed as part of the unmanned strike complexes. Rail launchers or transport-launch containers are mainly used. The largest UAVs have to be used with self-propelled chassis. Whole batteries from the TPC can be placed on one chassis. For example, Taiwan's Jiang Xian complex has a semi-trailer with a launcher for 12 drones.
It turns out that there are handicraft barrage ammunition. In local conflicts, the simplest products made from commercial UAVs or their components can be used. Such drones are more often equipped with ready-made ammunition. The reliability and efficiency of such UAVs are usually low. But they are attracted by the low cost and ease of manufacture. The developers claim that the search for alternative solutions will lead to the appearance of original UAVs and their unusual carriers.
Nikolay Poroskov
Nikolay Nikolaevich Poroskov is a military journalist.
