Every new weapon has a venerable prototype
A report on the development in Russia of a ground-based anti-ship ballistic missile (PKB) "Serpentine" with a hypersonic warhead (warhead) caused a wave of comments.
It is understandable. Such a missile is designed to destroy aircraft carriers and other large surface ships of a potential enemy at long ranges.
"EAST WINDS" OF CHINA
It is noted that in terms of its characteristics, the "Serpentine" will be close to the Chinese PKDB DF-21D and DF-26. The abbreviation DF means Dong-Feng ("East Wind"). This is how the PRC designates intermediate-range and intercontinental-range ballistic missiles.
The DF-21D strikes sea surface targets at a range of 1,450 km (according to other sources – 2,000 km), and the DF-26 – at a distance of 5,000 km. During the shooting on August 26, 2020, a DF-21D missile struck a moving target vessel located in the South China Sea between Hainan Island and the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands) from a position in Zhejiang Province on the coast of the East China Sea. The DF-26 missile was fired from the depths of the territory of the People's Republic of China – from a training ground in Qinghai Province in the west of the country. Both PCBs hit the target.
Now in China, work is underway to improve the accuracy of this weapon. If before the PCBs were intended only to destroy aircraft carriers, now they are "trained" to destroy destroyers and other ships, including in bases at berths. A new target position has been erected in the Taklamakan desert of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China. Piers and ship models resembling Arleigh Burke-type destroyers have been built there. They are being fired at.
BUT WE WERE THE FIRST
The success of the PRC in the creation of the PCDB is undeniable. But ballistic missiles that can hit moving enemy surface ships are not a Chinese invention. The first country to learn how to shoot them at aircraft carrier formations was the USSR.
In 1962, a resolution was issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers on the creation of a D-5 complex with a 4K10 (R-27) liquid rocket for nuclear submarines. It was deemed expedient to develop a 4K18 (R-27K) anti-ship missile based on this submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). The implementation was entrusted to SKB-385 (now the Academician Makeev State Rocket Center).
The Miass enterprise is a leading developer of domestic naval ballistic missiles. But even for him, the R-27K turned out to be a difficult product. Unlike the basic R-27 SLBM with a range of 2500-3000 km, adopted in 1968, the anti-ship ballistic missile had to tinker.
She has a small second stage for correcting targeting. This required new solutions and technologies. Due to the equipment of the second stage, in order to preserve the dimensions of the rocket, the dimensions of the first stage were reduced, which led to a reduction in the maximum firing range to 900 km. The starting mass of the R-27K is 13.25 tons, length is 9 m, diameter is 1.5 m, the head part is nuclear, monoblock, with a capacity of 0.65 Mt.
The initial target designation for the submarine firing was issued by the Legend satellite system or the Success-U aviation system, which included Tu-95RTs aircraft and Ka-25RTS helicopters. Processing of the received data on the ship's intelligence equipment "Killer Whale" allowed to determine the coordinates of a group of ships with an accuracy of up to 25 km. But this was not enough to hit the target, especially if the target is moving at a significant speed. The guidance of the R-27K in the final section was carried out using a passive radar homing head with signal processing by an onboard computer system on transistors and diodes. In flight, the antenna-feeder device was extended from the instrument compartment of the second stage, opened and directed towards the intended target location. According to the signals emitted by the radar of enemy ships, the main target in the compound was determined. For its defeat, the trajectory of the flight of the head unit and its subsequent separation were calculated.
"KEY" – TO THE TARGET
The passive homing system, called the "Key", searched, captured, selected and tracked the target and provided information to the missile's control system to correct its trajectory by turning on the second-stage engines twice. The defeat of the enemy aircraft carrier did not provide for a direct hit into it. The detonation of a powerful nuclear warhead was supposed to be over the target, which guaranteed to lead to the destruction of both the aircraft carrier and the nearest escort ships.
In 1970, tests of the world's first PCB began. 20 launches were carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site, 16 of them were successful. Since December 1972, firing was carried out from the diesel-electric submarine (DPL) K-102 of Project 605 – modernization of the DPL with ballistic missiles of project 629A.
It took a serious refit of the submarine. Due to the placement of the Sigma-605 navigation complex, the Record-2 CVM, the Kasatka B-605 target designation complex and four vertical PKBR R-27K launchers aft from the fence of the retractable devices, it was necessary to increase the length of the submarine by 12.5 m.
The first launch from the K-102 was unsuccessful due to a malfunction of the control system. But the next 10 were successful. The culmination was the last, eleventh start in 1975. The K-102 DAPL fired at maximum range from the White Sea. At the time of launch, the uncertainty of the target position was 75 km. But the "Key", like all other systems, worked flawlessly. A barge with a radar placed on it, whose signals were picked up by the antenna-feeder device of the second stage of the rocket, was hit by a direct hit.
WHY WAS THE TOPIC CLOSED
The K-102 was the only submarine equipped with R-27K missiles. Despite successful tests, it did not enter service with the Project 667B submarines for which it was intended. Actually, these nuclear-powered carriers of the PKBR were not built either.
The development of a more advanced PKBR R-33 with an active-passive homing system and a firing range of up to 2000 km has stopped. The surface ships of the ocean zone with a displacement of 13480 tons, which were supposed to be armed with six R-27K missiles, also did not reach the slipway.
Why did the Soviet leadership, which usually supported the creation of promising means of warfare at sea, abandon such an effective weapon?
The official reason was that the PKBR R-27K was supposed to be placed on the Project 667B submarines, which outwardly did not differ from the carriers of the 667A and 667AU strategic missiles. So, according to the Soviet-American Treaty on the OSV of 1972, they fell under the general offset of strategic carriers, which Moscow did not want to do. In addition, the R-27K and R-33 missiles were practically indistinguishable from SLBMs, and it was difficult to identify them as anti-ship.
The Americans at the negotiations on the OSV especially focused on this, because they understood that in the event of the deployment of the USSR Navy submarines with the PKB, the hegemony of the US Navy in the World Ocean would come to an end, and aircraft carriers would be out of business altogether.
There was, in our opinion, another reason. The command of the USSR Navy realized that the adoption of the R-27K actually crossed out plans to create an ocean fleet. Why is it needed if enemy aircraft carrier formations can be destroyed with the help of ballistic missiles launched from submarines? Probably, for the same reason, work on the PKB R-33 of the D-13 complex was stopped.
Today it is obvious that if the PCBs with placement on submarines are still subject to the prohibitions of the Russian-American Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty, then the shore-based PCBs are no longer limited to anything. Since the United States withdrew from the INF Treaty on its own initiative.
Coastal-based PCBs are becoming increasingly popular. And not only in China. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran is armed with the Khalij Fars and Hormuz-2 PKB. Their range is small – only 300 km, but they do their job. American aircraft carriers today are trying not to enter the waters of the Persian Gulf, and in general not to approach the shores of Iran from the Arabian Sea.
WITH MANY UNKNOWNS
What is known about the PKDB "Serpentine"? Practically nothing. That it will be a ballistic missile with a firing range of several thousand kilometers and hypersonic combat equipment. That the combat unit will approach the target by performing evasive maneuvers, that is, by a snake – hence the name "Serpentine". In other words, it will be beyond the teeth of not only today's, but also promising missile defense systems.
It is not even known who is the developer of the complex. Most often called the Reutov NPO of mechanical Engineering. It is the developer of the Bastion coastal missile system (DBK) with 3M55 Onyx supersonic maneuvering anti-ship missiles, as well as the 3M22 Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missile, which successfully completed tests from a surface carrier this year. As TASS reported on May 22, the NPO Mashinostroeniya is now completing the creation of a DBK with a Zircon rocket. The firing range will exceed 1000 km, and the rocket's flight speed will be 4900-7350 km/h.
The "appointment" of the NGO of mechanical Engineering to the role of the developer of the "Serpentine" is natural, but by no means indicates that this organization is its creator. Kolomenskoye Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering (KBM) can also be listed among the potential authors of the "Serpentine". After all, the famous "Iskander" KBM is capable of hitting not only land, but also sea targets. In addition, it is a prototype of the hypersonic air-based missile system X-47M2 "Dagger", which can destroy aircraft carriers. The KBM has in stock the development of the operational-tactical complex 9K716 Volga with the 9M716 missile, which had an estimated firing range of 900-1000 km, frozen at the end of the 1980s.
But the 1000-kilometer shooting distance is not enough for the "Serpentine". But the missiles of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT) have a suitable range. The mobile ground RSD 15J45 of the Pioneer complex has 5000 km, the 15J53 Pioneer–UTTH rocket has 5500 km, and the 15J57 Pioneer-3 has 7,400 km. All of them were liquidated under the INF Treaty. For 15 years of their operation, there has not been a single accident. During the tests and exercises, 190 missiles were fired. All launches were successful.
MIT also has a significant reserve for the 15J66 rocket of the mobile ground complex "Speed" with a firing range of up to 4000 km. As the name implies, the delivery of a nuclear warhead to the target had to be carried out quickly.
Some sources report that a completely new rocket is being created for the Serpentine. But every new product relies on prototypes. Let's not forget about it.
IMPENETRABLE SHIELD
PKBR "Serpentine" will take a little. The U.S. Navy has 11 aircraft carriers. Of these, no more than eight or nine are ready for naval service. Thus, it is enough for the Russian Navy to have 10 launchers (two each on the Northern, Baltic and Black Sea fleets – the latter two with the possibility of hitting targets in the Northern and Mediterranean Seas – and four in the Pacific Fleet to hit floating airfields).
If these plans are implemented, Russia will be able to build a solid coastal defense system based on mobile DBCS. The first line will be made up of the Bal DBK with X-35 and X-35U missiles with a range of 130-260 km. The second frontier will be provided by the Bastion DBK with Onyx and Onyx-M missiles capable of firing at 600 km. The third protective shaft will be based on hypersonic anti-ship missiles "Zircon", hitting enemy ships at a distance of 1000 km or more. And at the farthest borders of the enemy will meet hypersonic PKBR "Serpentine". Absolutely impenetrable shield!
Alexander Ivanin
Alexander Sergeevich Ivanin is a military journalist.
