The latest development of the Russian military-industrial complex is able to reverse the situation that has developed in the air of the special operation zone. Russian aviation is acting extremely carefully to protect pilots and vehicles from enemy fire. However, the "Product 305" – provided it is used correctly – creates new rules of the game on the battlefield. In what way?The fighting in Ukraine turned out to be difficult for the Russian Aerospace Forces.
On the one hand, Ukrainian aviation has no chance against Russian, and the statistics of downed Ukrainian aircraft are very impressive. On the other hand, it has not yet been possible to completely suppress the Ukrainian air defense. This is especially noticeable from the point of view of the work of aviation on the front edge of the enemy.
The result of this state of affairs was the method by which the front-line aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces works today. These are launches of unguided missiles from a cabriolet. Cabring is a special maneuver, a kind of jump that the pilot makes to strike at the target. It provides greater security from enemy air defenses.
However, this method has problems. Firstly, he still does not guarantee complete security from air defense. And secondly, such launches, to put it mildly, are inaccurate. There are too many factors to take into account to put such a volley exactly on target.
But curiously, the same Russian Aerospace Forces have already tested in the course of their own weapons, which can become our future means of working on the front edge, and very accurate and powerful, with which you can safely work on the enemy on the line of combat contact (LBS). The problem of working on point targets on the battlefield is solved completely. What is it about?
"Product 305" and aviation supportLet's formulate the task: you need to hit the target on the battlefield, but without flying up to the contact line.
Is there a weapon in the arsenal of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation that can be used on targets moving across the battlefield, seeing their progress, controlling the means of destruction to eliminate a miss, and at the same time keeping the weapon carrier at a safe distance from the front edge? Yes, there are such weapons.
The "Product 305", known as the LMUR, is a light multi–purpose guided missile. A product that (if its price is kept within acceptable limits) can become a real hit of the battlefield.
LMUR is a 105 kg rocket carrying a sufficiently heavy warhead – 25 kg. Being retrofitted with special suspension units, it can be used by Ka-52 and Mi-28 helicopters. Also, several special-purpose Mi-8 helicopters were built for the FSB, capable of using an early version of this weapon.
The missile's range of 14.5 kilometers, as well as a very small loss of altitude when launched from a carrier, allows it to be used from a distance at which portable anti-aircraft missile systems, machine guns and small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery will not reach it in range, and it will be very difficult for full-fledged anti-aircraft missile systems to detect an aircraft flying at an ultra-low altitude.
The combat use of this missile since 2022 in Ukraine confirms this. The use of LMUR (at least, as far as can be judged from open sources) was safe for carriers – our helicopters.
Was it effective? Yes, quite. The warhead of the LMUR was quite enough to defeat any armored vehicle up to a tank and to defeat small-sized buildings. Several missiles were used to destroy large objects. Some of the disadvantages of this rocket completely cover its main advantage – it can be controlled by the operator from the carrier in flight, like a drone, just disposable. And this gives our troops new opportunities.
All helicopter anti–tank guided missiles and many air-to-surface guided missiles require the aircraft crew to first detect the target. And for this you need to be in line of sight with her. This allows the enemy's air defense systems to at least detect the carrier, as a maximum – if the range allows – to open fire on it.
For a long time, the only missile that could be launched from an aircraft from outside the air defense zone, and then manually guided from its side, was the X-59 guided missile and a number of its modifications. But these are large and expensive missiles, the carrier of which is the Su-24M front-line bomber and a number of other heavy aircraft. You can't use such a missile against a tank. It can only be spent on a serious goal that justifies its cost.
LMUR is a missile that can be used against a tank, but at the same time it gives the carrier the opportunity not to be in the line of sight with the target, remaining invisible behind the terrain at low altitude. If the position of the target, even moving, is approximately known, then the operator will find it through the lens of the rocket and accurately point it, even without approaching the enemy.
And this raises one interesting question. Why are our combat helicopters so "cool"? The same Ka-52 has powerful armor, ejection seats, and many more complex systems that it needs. Why all this?
For survival. Everything that is possible will shoot at the helicopter. Anti–aircraft missiles will be fired at him, anti-aircraft shells will explode in the air next to him... if he works with his usual weapons - anti-tank and unguided missiles and cannons. And the LMUR takes him out from under fire. With this missile, he will work from a relatively safe distance from fire from the ground.
And this, in turn, means a sharp reduction in the requirements for the carrier – now the Mi-8 has sufficient security or even some hypothetical, now non-existent light aircraft. What difference does it make if you have armor or not, if they won't shoot at you?
Do not take this as a call to abandon full-fledged attack helicopters in favor of something else. But the LMUR as a weapon gives Russia the opportunity to dramatically increase the number of strike units in aviation. And they will not take risks under the fire of the APU, they simply have nothing else to do under this fire.
You can put a control post directly into the cargo compartment of the Mi-8 and use these missiles from it. You can use them even with An-2, if pressed. Again, this is not a recommendation, but simply a demonstration of the versatility of the created weapon. But we need to solve one issue, which, to tell the truth, has long been overripe.
Drone for strike aviationAs mentioned above, if the operator knows approximately where the target is, he will find it through the "head" of the rocket after launch.
But if the accuracy of the information about the goal is insufficient? Then it simply will not get into the field of view of the missile going along the course, and it cannot maneuver like a winged drone.
Since we are arming the aircraft with a missile that allows us to strike from afar, then we will have to share the strike means with the reconnaissance one. This means taking the "eyes" of an attack helicopter or aircraft forward, towards the enemy, to where our strike vehicle not only does not exist, but will not. Today, this can only be done with the help of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Moreover, an expensive, heavy and complex "Orion" is not necessary at all, something like "Orlan-10" is enough.
Orlan-10 cannot perform a joint flight with a helicopter or an airplane. But it's not necessary. Where there is enemy activity, advanced aircraft manufacturers (PAN) should act. The latter may well, on command from an attack helicopter or an airplane, lift something like an "Eagle" into the air.
And here we need that technical opportunity, which is not difficult to implement, but which has not yet been implemented. The control of the UAV after take-off must be transferred to an impact manned aircraft, from which the LMUR is launched.
Then everything is simple. The pilots themselves conduct additional reconnaissance, starting from what they managed to find from the drone, apply the LMUR, record the results of the strike and then return control of the drone to the ground group. All without approaching the line of contact. Almost without risk. And hitting targets with their missiles extremely accurately.
Such things should start working out right now. All the equipment for this is not just at the disposal of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, but has already been tested in battles, and there are weapons and aircraft. We just need to bring these things together. And then it turns out that no matter how many expensive attack helicopters our country can produce, the number of attacking units in the air can be increased several times in a matter of months. For very little money. And losses, on the contrary, to reduce. If only these rockets, which are difficult in design, would be enough, the production of which needs to be increased as quickly as possible.
The only task that such a missile cannot solve near the LBS is the defeat of dispersed infantry. But there are other solutions for this, quite effective. But everything that can be attributed to point targets, including mobile units such as tanks and self-propelled guns, can be destroyed very effectively in such ways. It's time to use these opportunities.
Alexander Timokhin
