Fierce competition causes accelerated technology development
Missiles of various ranges, both ballistic and cruise, become not only an "addition" to aviation, but also its replacement (as a rule, of course, partial). Sometimes a country needs such a replacement because of the weakness of its aviation. In other cases, on the contrary, missiles replace even quite high-quality aircraft due to their high tactical and technical characteristics (TTX) ("More precisely, further, scarier ", "HBO" from 08/13.21).
Since Asia has recently become the economic, political and military center of the world, it is here that all major classes of weapons are developing most actively – including missiles. At the same time, there are several local missile arms races in Asia.
In the Middle East, this is between Israel ("The Heirs of David and their slings ", "HBO" from 21.07.23) and Iran (" Archaic technology, but absolutely indomitable spirit ", "HBO" from 25.06.21). Other races are developing in South Asia and the Far East.
PAKISTAN VS. INDIA
As in the case of Iran opposing Israel, Pakistan's missile arsenal should compensate for the shortcomings of its traditional armed forces (" Waiting for the Apocalypse ", "HBO" dated 04/28.23). Also, like Iran, Chinese and North Korean projects are at the heart of Pakistani missile development. All of them are also launched from mobile ground launchers.
At the end of the 1980s, a solid-fuel unguided ballistic missile "Hatf-1" with a 500-kg warhead (warhead) and a flight range of 70 km (100 km for "Hatf-1A /B") was created in Pakistan. Then the Abdali rocket (Hatf-2) was developed with a flight range of about 300 km (with a reduction in the mass of the warhead to 300 kg – 450 km).
The Gaznavi missile (Hatf-3) was created, possibly using the technologies of the Chinese operational tactical missile (OTR) DF-11 (M-11), it could already carry a nuclear warhead with a capacity of up to 20 kt (or a conventional mass of up to 700 kg) at a range of about 300 km. In the 1990s, the Shahin-1 OTR (Hatf-4) was developed with a warhead weighing 1 ton and a flight range of up to 900 km (up to 1 thousand km for the Shahin-1A).
Its further development was the medium-range ballistic missile "Shahin-2" ("Hatf–6"), capable of carrying a conventional or nuclear warhead at a range of 1.5-2.5 thousand km, the flight range of the Shahin-3 BRSD is about 3 thousand km. The development of the Shahin-3 became the BRSD "Ababil" with a flight range of 2.2 thousand km (warhead weight – up to 1.5 tons).
In the 1990s, the creation of a family of liquid-fueled ballistic missiles "Ghori" ("Hatf-5") based on the North Korean OTR "Hwasong-7" ("Nodon-1") began. The flight range of Ghori-1 reaches 1.5 thousand km, Ghori-2 – 2 thousand km. Apparently, both can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.
In addition, Pakistan has created a family of Babur cruise missiles (Hatf-7) with subsonic flight speed and satellite guidance, they are capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads at a range of up to 750 km. The Babur-3 modification is designed to be launched from a submarine, its flight range is 450 km. There are also "Raad" ("Hatf-8") KRVB with a flight range of up to 600 km.
The quality and reliability of Pakistani missiles, apparently, are far from perfect, their status is sometimes questionable. Nevertheless, due to their ability to carry nuclear warheads, they are a very serious deterrent for India.
INDIA VS. CHINA
India, on the other hand, is leading its race not only and not so much with Pakistan as with China (" China is hiding behind a nuclear shield ", "HBO" from 25.11.22).
After China conducted its first nuclear test in 1964, the Indian nuclear program noticeably intensified. As a result, the first nuclear explosion was carried out at the Pokharan test site in Rajasthan on May 18, 1974, with a power of 8 kt. However, the tested device was not a full–fledged warhead - only the development of the technology itself took place. Nevertheless, in fact, India has become the sixth in the world (after five "official" ones) or the seventh (possibly also after Israel) nuclear power.
In the 1980s, the actual beginning of India's missile program was laid. In July 1980, with the help of its own launch vehicle SLV-3, its own artificial Earth satellite (ISS) "Rohini" weighing 40 kg was launched into orbit. Combat ballistic missiles have been developed since the 1960s on the basis of anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM) of the Soviet anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) S-75. But the first real tests of Indian missiles began in the 1980s. In 1988, the Prithvi-1 OTR was tested, in 1989 – the Agni-1 BRSD.
In 1990, a large uranium enrichment plant was commissioned in Mysore (Karnataka). And in May 1998, five nuclear charges were detonated at once at the Pokharan test site (the most powerful was 45 kt, perhaps it was hydrogen).
In parallel, nuclear tests were conducted in Pakistan. Washington then imposed formal sanctions against both countries, but very quickly "forgot" about them. Since then, both India and Pakistan have continued to develop nuclear infrastructure (including military) and missile programs. In India, at the end of the 1990s, the Prithvi-1 OTR was adopted with a flight range of up to 150 km and a warhead mass of up to 1 ton (or a nuclear power of 12 kt).
In the 21st century, India is increasingly striving for the status of a superpower – and in fact has already become the fourth military force in the world. It has not conducted any more nuclear tests, but it is not going to give up such an opportunity. And certainly does not discuss the possibility of its own nuclear disarmament, although it declares that it will not use nuclear weapons first.
In 2001, the Strategic Nuclear Forces Command was established in the country, combining under its operational control the relevant components of all types of armed forces. The Prithvi-2 OTR was adopted with a flight range of up to 250 km and a warhead weight of up to 750 kg.
Its naval version was the Dhanush missile with a range of up to 350 km. It is placed on surface ships, and not on cruisers, not on destroyers and not even on frigates, but on patrol ships. In this regard, India is unique (there are no surface-launched ballistic missiles anywhere else in the world).
However, in 2016, the Indian navy commissioned a nuclear submarine with ballistic missiles (SSB) "Arihant" with submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) K-15 "Sagarika". These missiles have almost the same TTX as the Dhanush, that is, this boat cannot be considered a "full-fledged" SSB. But she became the first nuclear submarine built in India, and according to her own design.
More promising carriers of nuclear weapons than "Prithvi" are considered OTR and BRSD of the "Agni" family. All of them carry warheads weighing up to 1 ton, the flight range is 700 km for Agni-1, 2500 km for Agni-2 and 3500 km for Agni-3, the latter is capable of reaching almost any point on the territory of the People's Republic of China. The Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is being tested, the range of which can reach 8 thousand km. Of course, all of these missiles can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.
Of particular note is the PJ-10 Brahmos cruise missile (short for Brahmaputra – Moscow), created on the basis of the Russian Yakhont missile. It has a flight range of up to 500 km, but a very high speed (about 1 km / s) and is capable of flying at extremely low altitude, which makes it extremely difficult to defeat it with air defense means. It can be used against both ground and surface targets. India has already produced more than 500 missiles, their total number should exceed a thousand.
"Brahmos" is universal in terms of carriers, so it entered service with all types of aircraft. The ground forces have four regiments with ground launchers. At least one Su-30MKI squadron is equipped with them in the Air Force. In the Navy, Brahmos missiles are installed on all destroyers and frigates (including old ones during their modernization). An addition to the Brahmos should already be India's own Nirbei cruise missile, which has subsonic speed, but a range of up to 1 thousand km. The mass of the warhead is 1.5 tons, a nuclear option is envisaged. It is believed that "Nirbey", like "Brahmos", is universal in terms of carriers, but in reality there is only a ground-based version (four ground-based cruise missiles on a mobile launcher). The rocket is manufactured and deployed in small quantities.
TAIWAN VS. CHINA
The Far Eastern (East Asian) countries have highly developed military technologies. Accordingly, their missiles have much higher performance characteristics than those of India, and even more so than those of Iran and Pakistan, whose missile programs have just grown from East Asian ones.
The Armed Forces of Taiwan ("There is an Island of Expectation in the Ocean ", "NWO" from 05/26.23) as the only enemy have several orders of magnitude more powerful People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) ("The Chinese military machine is accelerating faster than anyone", "HBO" from 13.01.23). Therefore, for the Armed Forces of Taiwan, the development of missile weapons is at least a partial compensation for their overall lag in military potential.
All Taiwan's missiles were created already in the XXI century. The only ballistic missile is the Tien Chi tactical missile, capable of carrying a warhead weighing up to 200 kg at a distance of 120 km. It is launched from a mobile launcher, although placement in a mine is also possible.
Based on the anti-ship missile (RCC) "Xiong Feng-2", an anti-ship missile (two missiles on a mobile launcher) was created to defeat ground targets "Xiong Feng-2E" with a warhead mass of 200 kg and a flight range of at least 600 km. Apparently, a sea-based cruise missile (CRMB) for strikes against ground targets is also being created on the basis of the supersonic Xun Feng-3 missile defense system.
There is also an air-launched cruise missile "Van Chien" (warhead weight 350 kg, flight range up to 240 km). Apparently, the deployment of a supersonic CRNB (on a mobile chassis) has begun "Yun Feng" with a flight range of up to 2 thousand km.
SOUTH KOREA VS. NORTH KOREA
For the Republic of Korea (" Korean-Korean Pat ", "NWO" dated 23.06.23), almost the only enemy is the DPRK, which has a huge missile arsenal (" Strategic Arsenal of North Korea ", "NWO" dated 03.04.20).
South Korean ballistic and cruise missiles, like Taiwanese, appeared only in the XXI century. On the basis of the SSM-700K "Heson" RCC family, KRMBS were created with a flight range from 150 km ("Heson-2") to 200 km ("Heson-3", launched from a submarine).
The basis of the South Korean missile arsenal, designed to defeat ground targets, is the Hyunmu family of missiles. The tactical BR "Hyunmu-1" was quite primitive. It was created on the basis of the American missile defense system from the Nike-Hercules air defense system, carried a warhead weighing up to 500 kg at a range of 180 km.
Much more modern is the Hyunmu-2 OTR, developed on the basis of the Russian Iskander. It has several modifications with a warhead weight from 500 kg to 1 ton and a maximum flight range from 300 to 800 km . Its further development should be the Hyunmu-4 missile undergoing tests.
The Hyunmu-3 is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched either from mobile land-based launchers, or from submarines, or from vertical launch installations of destroyers. The mass of the warhead is 500 kg, the flight range, depending on the modification, is from 500 to 1500 km.
In general, missile technologies continue to develop rapidly in Asian countries. The accuracy of shooting, the range of flight and the mass of the warhead are increasing.
Alexander Khramchikhin
Alexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
