How are the tests of marine complexes
Marine underwater weapons (MPO) have always served as one of the main shock and defensive means of the Russian Navy. And it continues to play an extremely important role in ensuring the combat stability of the naval strategic nuclear forces of our country. Modernization of torpedoes, mines, anti-mine systems, anti-submarine missiles, combat underwater robots, sonar countermeasures and other weapons systems is designed to provide an advantage to the Russian Navy and is able to influence the nature of modern submarine warfare. To do this, according to their tactical and technical characteristics, domestic products must match or exceed foreign analogues. In order to develop promising directions for the development of MPO, at the initial stages it is necessary to carefully study the possibilities of new samples and test them in conditions close to reality.
Throughout its history, Concern Marine Underwater Weapons – Gidropribor JSC (part of the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation) has been paying special attention to the creation and development of its own test base and experimental fleet. Ever since its establishment in 1944, the Scientific Research Mine-Torpedo-Trawling Institute No. 400 (NII-400) of the People's Commissariat of Shipbuilding Industry already had minesweepers, mine rafts, transport vessels transferred from the USSR Navy and for reparations. The company's fleet was based in Leningrad and in the early 1970s numbered up to 20 units. Among them were base minesweepers, special purpose vessels, diving boats, there was even its own landing stage for 35 seats.
Work with watercraft was carried out at several Navy test sites, including in the Gulf of Finland and Ladoga. And it continues to this day for the benefit of the development of military science, protection and improvement of the country's Navy.
Closed tests of new samples of military equipment and weapons began to be conducted on Lake Ladoga since the 1950s. At first, all the necessary equipment was delivered from Leningrad by water. On the Pirogovskaya embankment there was a mooring wall, to which the motor ship Primorsk was moored. Products prepared for full-scale and bench tests were loaded onto it and shipped by water to the Vladimirovskaya or Rybnaya bays, where the naval units were located. With the improvement of the road infrastructure in the Leningrad region, delivery began to be carried out by land – specialized KrAZ. The commission and members of the test group together with the military personnel took the products on site. Then the equipment was loaded onto experimental vessels, the participants underwent the necessary briefings, received assignments and went to the landfills.
The main water area for testing new developments of the Research Institute was the deep-water area of the north-western part of the lake. Here, first of all, the specialists had to examine the surface and underwater situation, organize security, arrange support vessels, prepare landfill equipment – target simulators, sonar and radar surveillance systems, etc. And only after that it was possible to start performing the tasks.
In the 1970s, the volume of tests on Ladoga increased significantly. At that time, new samples of mPOS were being developed for nuclear submarines of the 2nd generation and new classes of surface ships of the Navy. In particular, there were active research works in the field of hydroacoustics, experiments were conducted on resistance to the effects of an electromagnetic pulse of artificial origin.
Not far from Priozersk, on the territory of a military unit in the village of Storozhevoye, a special department was formed in 1974, the main task of which was to create all the necessary conditions for preparing new products for full-scale tests. A little later, the employees of the special department were transferred to the area of Vladimirovskaya Bay on Konevets Island, and the company began to significantly expand its own laboratory and testing base.
In 1976, a hangar was erected by the company on the territory of the military training ground in Vladimirovskaya Bay. Two years later, a vibrating electromechanical installation VEMU-1 was placed in it, which was designed for testing long products weighing up to three tons.
A separate room was equipped for electrical tests of chemical current sources. New batteries for torpedoes, mines, underwater vehicles, etc. were studied here. At about the same time, a test site was built at Cape Rodushka and stands were installed to test products for explosion and fire safety. A special tower made it possible to drop MPO samples weighing up to 3 tons in full combat gear from a height of 10-12 m onto a metal plate and record the result after the load fell on a solid base.
To simulate a fire in a confined space during the testing of new samples with a caliber up to 533 mm, the company's specialists designed and manufactured another separate stand. With its help, it was possible to create a short-term fire field with a heating temperature to the desired parameters and to check the products in full configuration.
In 1987, a SI-2 shock pulse stand was installed and put into operation at the tip of Cape Vladimirovsky by the forces of the special department – it allowed testing products weighing up to 6 tons. Unique in its design and capabilities, the stationary 200-ton object is not subject to disassembly and relocation. It was constructed in the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in a single copy and is still serviceable.
Almost all the developments of marine underwater weapons, which are supplied to the Russian fleet, passed through the special department's bench base on Ladoga. More than 70% of preliminary and full-scale field tests were conducted here. However, the political and economic processes that affected the country in the early 1990s could not but affect the life of the concern. And they directly affected the testing unit. The enterprise was ordered to move the research equipment from Konevets Island to Vladimirovskaya Bay on the territory of the military unit. Not everything was saved – only the property that could be placed in the hangar. Some of the stands mentioned above actually went to scrap metal – there was simply no place in the military unit for sites with a specific purpose (including for conducting tests for explosion and fire safety).
In 1994, after the transfer of the Leningrad Diocese of the Nativity Monastery, the Central Research Institute "Gidropribor" ceased its activities on Konevets Island. And in 2000, the number of experimental vessels in the waters of Lake Ladoga decreased several times.
Today, issues of environmental protection and concern for the planet's natural resources are increasingly being raised in society. JSC Concern "Marine Underwater Weapon – Hydropribor" specializes in the use of environmentally friendly power plants. The work on Ladoga was carried out accompanied by specialists of FSUE "Scientific Research Institute of Hygiene, Occupational Pathology and Human Ecology" with regular monitoring of the aquatic environment. It was found that the effects of hydro-tests are of a short-term and local nature and are negligible as a percentage of the total sources of pollution. According to the degree of damage to nature, the concern's electric power plants can be compared with conventional motorboats.
By the way, as environmentalists note, the main reasons for the deterioration of the state of Ladoga are the consequences of agricultural and industrial activities of coastal enterprises.
In the early 1990s, in order to preserve the ecosystem of the lake, units of the Ministry of Defense carried out large-scale work on the rehabilitation of the Ladoga water area, as well as adjacent territories and islands from the consequences of long-term testing of equipment. In the course of a unique special operation, the special purpose expedition of the Leningrad Naval Base lifted and towed from Lake Ladoga to the area of the Novaya Zemlya Islands the experimental vessel "Kit", which sank in 1953 off the island of Makarinsari.
Now the ecological state of Lake Ladoga can be called stable – this conclusion was made based on the results of a comprehensive analysis of waters by the Institute of Lake Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
JSC Concern Marine Underwater Weapon – Hydropribor continues testing and research activities in the waters of Ladoga and conducts a set of measures to minimize the risks of harm to the ecosystem of the lake. Much attention is paid to maintaining its own experimental fleet in technically sound condition. All vessels comply with environmental protection requirements. In accordance with Russian legislation, the company operates a navigation safety management system, which eliminates the possible adverse consequences of field tests as much as possible.
In the future, the concern intends to develop the coastal infrastructure of the test base in Vladimirovskaya Bay within the framework of the federal target program. In the coming years, the company's own fleet will be replenished with a modern experimental vessel – a floating launch stand. It is also planned to equip the test base with the latest means of monitoring the aquatic environment and underwater survey.
Vladimir Patrushev
Vladimir Viktorovich Patrushev – General Director of JSC Concern MPO – Gidropribor Vladimir Alekseevich Bezruchko – Head of the Testing Department of JSC Concern MPO – Gidropribor.