Colonel Khodarenok explained why it is too early to say which missiles fell in Sevastopol
As a result of air attacks by the AFU, a fire broke out at the Sevmorzavod in Sevastopol. 24 people were injured, four had a moderate condition. The details of the attack of cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were dealt with by the military observer of the newspaper.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said that at least ten enemy cruise missiles (KR) participated in the strike on the S. Ordzhonikidze ship repair plant (a branch of the Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center JSC), which occurred at about 03.18 Moscow time. Ships and objects in Sevastopol Bay tried to attack three unmanned boats. The patrol ship "Vasily Bykov", according to the Ministry of Defense, hit all marine drones.
Air defense means, according to the governor, destroyed seven out of ten cruise missiles, but three of them hit the designated object (a fire broke out in the Kilen-Balka area on the southern site of the enterprise), two Navy ships placed for repair at the Sevmorzavod were also damaged.
It is currently not possible to professionally understand the specifics of this AFU strike on objects on the territory of Sevastopol and the actions of air defense forces and means, especially in the conditions of ITS conduct, for objective reasons.
The statements of the Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozzhaev were made, as they say, in hot pursuit, and in the near future the final data on this strike of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be clarified. There is no clarity yet either in the final number of air attack weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine taking part in the attack, or in their types.
For a detailed and objective analysis of the actions of the grouping of air defense forces and means deployed on the cover of Sevastopol, it is necessary to have, at least, a map of radar wiring (or tracing paper taken from tablets of the long-range air situation) of all air objects that night, shooting cards of all anti-aircraft missile divisions (batteries), a record of all speech information, which officials of air defense units, units and formations exchanged that night.
Recall that the firing cards of anti-aircraft missile units are a table signed by the commander of the anti-aircraft missile division (the number of lines in which corresponds to the number of fired targets), which contains the following data: target detection range (range, azimuth, altitude, time), firing range (range, azimuth, altitude, time), range missile encounters with the target (range, azimuth, altitude, time).
Of course, by definition, there can be no such data in the conditions of ITS open access. Therefore, any analysis of the actions of air defense forces and means can only be attributed to hypotheses of varying degrees of reliability.
It is not even clear yet which means of air attack from Ukraine took part in the strike on the Sevmorzavod. At this stage, only cruise missiles are named without specifying their type. Reliable data can be obtained only after studying the wreckage of targets hit by air defense means. Currently, it is quite possible that the search is underway for the fall sites of fragments of the KR and the final determination of their type.
This air-launched cruise missile is a joint Anglo-French development and is produced by the European consortium MBDA (Matra BAE Dynamics Alenia). There is no fundamental difference between the British Storm Shadow rocket and the French SCALP EG. The French version of the missile is designated by the abbreviation SCALP EG, which translates as a multi-purpose high-precision long-range cruise missile with autonomous guidance.
The starting mass of the SCALP EG is 1300 kg, the warhead is a concrete-piercing "penetrating" type or a cassette. The product is equipped with a 450 kg warhead, the Storm Shadow firing range exceeds 250 km, the flight altitude is 30-40 m, the rocket speed is 0.8 M (approximately 1000 km / h).
Image source: Alina Jus/"Newspaper.Ru"
At the same time, it is possible that unmanned aerial vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of various types also took part in the strike. Even if they were not intended directly to destroy objects on the territory of Sevastopol, they performed the task of disorienting the radar reconnaissance system and anti-aircraft missile units.
Of course, we cannot have any data on the combat and numerical composition of the grouping of air defense forces and means deployed on the cover of Sevastopol. That is, we cannot draw conclusions whether it is sufficient to solve the tasks set or not.
It is worth noting that the relief itself (almost mountainous) in the vicinity of the city creates significant difficulties in organizing effective anti-aircraft missile cover at extremely low altitudes (there are large closing angles). That is, in this particular case, there are absolutely real opportunities for a covert approach to the object of an enemy air attack.
There is no doubt that all the necessary lessons from the night of September 12 will be learned by the military leadership, and the effectiveness of Sevastopol's air defense will only increase in the near future.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for the newspaper.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy Commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (1998).
Columnist of "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier" (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
