Hit air targets at a distance of up to four hundred kilometers! This is an extremely ambitious goal set for the Russian Navy today – and work in this direction has already begun. However, for success in this case, at least two tasks must be solved – however, they are not too difficult, and the effect will be extremely high.Currently, a series of frigates of project 22350 is being built in Russia.
Structurally, these are very good ships. It is assumed that in the future they will be replaced by larger and more heavily armed frigates of the 22350M project. Little noticed in recent days has been an important news concerning important plans for the re-equipment of these ships. "The upgraded frigates of the 22350M project, equipped with the Poliment-Redut naval air defense system, will receive ultra-long-range anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM) with a range of up to 400 km," TASS reports, citing a source in the Russian defense industry.
If these intentions are realized, the newest frigates of the Russian Navy will receive the so–called "long arm" - long-range means of air destruction.
The question may arise: do we really need to shoot at long ranges? Need. At the moment, the US Navy carrier-based aviation has the ability to launch a combined strike with anti-ship missiles (Harpoon, LRASM) and anti-radar missiles AARGM-ER with a launch range approaching 200 kilometers. Due to obvious factors, such a launch will be possible only from a great height. To complicate such attacks, long-range anti-aircraft missiles are needed.
But in order for this weapon to be obtained and become effective, both the Russian industry and the military need to solve several tasks.
The first task. A new rocket for a serial shipFirst, let's find out how, in principle, it is possible to arm a ship with a long-range missile.
The problem is that such missiles have sizes that differ in a big way.
The frigates of the project 22350 have as a radar complex (RLC) a bundle of the Fourke-2 radar station (radar), the Poliment complex with antenna webs providing the use of SAMs, and a number of other systems. We don't know exactly what the future 22350M will have, but most likely the "Polymer" will also be there.
The Poliment radar system in conjunction with the Redut complex and the 3C97 vertical launch units are together part of the Poliment-Redut air defense system. UVP 3S97 provide the launch of the 9M96 missile system, the firing range of which is estimated in tens of kilometers. Future ships will use the same launchers, without options. The complex itself is very good. And the rocket is very good.
But having a longer range is always useful. Moreover, the "Poliment-Redut" could shoot several times further (although not by 400 km) if it had another rocket plus to the excellent 9M96. Thus, first of all, it is necessary to integrate a longer-range missile into the existing complex.
The most suitable candidates are the 48H6E3 and especially 40H6E missiles. They are designed for the ground-based S-400 air defense system, and marine modifications can be created on their basis. But such rockets are too big for 3C97, they will not fit into the launch cell. Maybe then shoot them with another launcher available on any frigate – 3S14, used to launch "Calibers" and (on 22350) "Onyx", "Zircons" and "Answers"?
No, it won't work. The transport and launch container (TPC) of anti-aircraft missiles in 3C14 also does not fit In addition, 3C14 is not integrated into the anti-aircraft missile system in any way. This is the problem, in fact, that needs to be solved first of all. Both on new ships and on old ones.
The first stage of the solution is the integration of the UVP 3S14 into the anti–aircraft missile system. The second is the development of a marine modification of the missile defense system, which, being compatible with the "Redoubt" in terms of electronics, will also require a smaller diameter of the transport and launch container than the existing ones. All this is technically possible.
What happens if you combine all this? And the fact that the range of destruction of a high-altitude air target by ship-based SAM "Poliment-Redut" will increase significantly.
And yet the cherished 400 km has not yet been achieved. The range of the missile, theoretically capable of hitting a target at 400 km, will be limited by the tactical and technical characteristics of the "Polymer". That is, there will be a rocket, but there will still be nothing to aim it at such a range from the ship. Is there a solution? There is.
Task two. TargetingThere is only one reasonable way to ensure the use of missiles at a range greater than that provided by "Poliment" – external guidance.
Theoretically, this can be done with the help of a so-called radar patrol ship, capable of detecting a target with its radars and giving data through a mutual information exchange system (VZOI) for firing at another ship carrying the same long-range missiles. But such a scheme has an obvious drawback – the patrol ship itself can become an object of attack from a long distance.
The main way to provide external guidance and target designation for a missile defense system should be the use of an aircraft (LA) of naval aviation capable of operating as a remote airmobile radar station. There should be a corresponding radar on such a device. Currently, Russia does not have ready-made solutions, but there are devices on which all of the above can be created.
First of all, these are Ka-27M ship helicopters. It is this platform that can become the main means of detecting air targets and targeting anti-aircraft missiles when firing at a long range. Of course, a lot of work is needed to make this possible, and besides, we need to resume the production of these helicopters. But all these are solvable issues.
And then the picture develops. The helicopter can operate far from the detachment of ships and from there provide both control over the air and surface situation, and missile guidance on targets.
In addition, the helicopter will be able to direct anti-aircraft missiles at targets located at low altitude. For example, on enemy aircraft. And also on anti-ship missiles, which in the final part of the flight go to the target at altitudes of 5-7 meters, almost above the crests of the waves. Along the way, you can mislead the enemy about where our ships are, simulating landings and takeoffs over false targets dropped on the water.
What else? There are also naval aviation aircraft – both the ship's MiG-29K fighters from the Kuznetsov (when it is finally repaired), and land-based naval assault aviation regiments. Again, they can't technically do it now. But with a certain modernization, this will become possible with the help of aircraft.
With the well-established interaction of ships and aircraft, it will be possible to provide a very high level of combat stability to surface ships. And most importantly, it is when used for external guidance of aircraft that it is possible to achieve firing at the maximum range of a "large" anti–aircraft missile - up to 400 km. Sometime in the future, the task of monitoring the air situation and targeting anti-aircraft missiles can be assigned to special marine drones.
The fact that such firing methods are real is proved by the example of the US Navy. The Americans have the NIFC-CA system, which allows carrier-based aircraft to be the "eyes" of surface ships, detect air targets and ensure their defeat with SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles from a distance from which the ship itself cannot detect the target even theoretically. The current record of the range of destruction of a low-altitude supersonic target in the US Navy according to this scheme is more than 200 km. Several F-35Bs, which took off from a universal landing ship, or F-35C, which took off from an aircraft carrier, are capable of providing targeted launches of hundreds of missiles from destroyers located at a safe distance from the enemy.
And Russia may well have something similar too. This is absolutely real both for ships that have already been built and for ships that are just being created. And the sooner it is done, the better.
Alexander Timokhin
