Experts told how the Russian Navy ship destroyed Bayraktar TB2
The frigate of the Black Sea Fleet "Admiral Essen" destroyed the Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 drone from the ship's anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) "Calm" off the coast of Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. "Newspaper.Ru" figured out what "Calm" is and how it works.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the Shtil air defense system launched two missiles and destroyed the Bayraktar, which was engaged in reconnaissance of the actions of Russian ships and military equipment in the Crimea and in the southern part of Ukraine, the Defense Ministry explained.
Earlier, the Russian military department said that 441 Ukrainian drones were destroyed during a special military operation.
The ship's anti-aircraft missile system "Calm" is a further development of the M-22 "Hurricane" complex. It includes a 9M317ME anti-aircraft guided missile, similar to the one used in the Buk-M2 land-based air defense system.
This is a single-stage rocket with a solid-fuel engine, having a length of 5.18 m. In the tail part of the rocket there are rudders with a span of 820 mm. With a launch weight of about 580 kg, this rocket carries a fragmentation warhead weighing 62 kg. On the trajectory, the ammunition accelerates to speeds of 1500-1550 meters per second. "Calm" is capable of destroying targets at an altitude of up to 15 km and at a distance of up to 50 km.
Then the main engines are switched on. Missiles and all equipment are "sewn" into the body of the ship. This is called a "modular scheme". Such a module ensures reliable safety, and you can always get it to carry out preventive maintenance or move it to another ship. It's like a designer," he told the newspaper.En" retired Rear Admiral Valentin Rogov.
For the first time "Calm" was presented at the international exhibition Defexpo India in 2004. Initially, the complex was intended for export supplies. It was ordered, in particular, by China and India. After that, the leadership of the Russian navy paid attention to the SAM. In 2014, the Russian Navy received the first complexes for frigates of Project 11356.
"The Calm air defense system is an analog of the Buk-M2 in the marine version. It is important that the target detection and tracking station is located on the ship itself, it has antenna masts that detect it. In this case, they found Bayraktar TB2 at a great distance, the target was escorted and a rocket was launched on command, destroying it. The "Calm" is intended to combat air attack means, whether it is carrier-based aircraft, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles or drones," he told the newspaper.Ru"" editor of the magazine "Arsenal of the Fatherland", military expert Alexey Leonkov.
According to the expert, "Calm" can intercept Bayraktar TB2 before he uses his weapon. "And at the same time, the drone operator will not even realize that the drone has already been taken for escort," Leonkov added.
According to Konstantin Sivkov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, Doctor of Military Sciences, Bayraktar TB2 can pose a threat both from the point of view of intelligence and from the point of view of the possibility of strikes, "therefore, the use of the Calm complex on it is fully justified."
As he told the newspaper.En" expert in the field of unmanned systems Denis Fedutinov, editor-in-chief of the magazine "Unmanned Aviation", the myth of the extraordinary effectiveness of the Bayraktar TB2 UAV was created by Turkish marketers.
"This is a myth, it was not without success introduced into the minds of politicians, who then began lobbying for appropriate purchases for the armed forces of their states. If you repeatedly show videos in the media of the successful destruction of targets by a drone and at the same time minimize the demonstrated losses of the drones themselves, these illusions may well arise.
At the same time, the military operation in Ukraine confirms the theses about the vulnerabilities of this drone: a low-speed, non-maneuverable sufficiently large drone is easy to detect and shoot down with air defense means, which has been repeatedly demonstrated. The myth has finally burst," concluded Fedutinov.
Irina Alshaveva
