He will be able to transmit the coordinates of the enemy to our rocket and artillery in real time
For the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, they began to create a stratospheric strike and reconnaissance complex. It will consist of an aircraft, suspended containers with radars, electronic intelligence systems and optoelectronic stations. The new complex will be able to transmit the coordinates of targets to ground-based missile systems, artillery, Navy and aviation ships in real time. This will significantly increase the effectiveness of our missile strikes, experts are sure.
A view from the stratosphere
In the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry, the development of a new reconnaissance and strike complex (RUK) has begun, sources in the military department told Izvestia and interlocutors in the defense industrial complex confirmed. The novelty is based on an aircraft capable of performing tasks at high altitudes, including in the stratosphere (the layer of the atmosphere located at an altitude of 11-50 km. — "Izvestia").
According to the interlocutors of Izvestia, the aircraft will have a modular configuration. Depending on the task, it will be possible to install radar, radio engineering or optoelectronic reconnaissance systems on board. The novelty will be able to detect targets in real time both on the battlefield and in the operational rear and issue target designations to carriers of precision weapons, artillery, aviation and Navy ships.
It is planned that the equipment of the HANDS will include suspended reconnaissance containers created as part of the Sych development work, sources told Izvestia.
Now the possibility of suspended containers working at high altitude is confirmed on the M-55 Geophysicist high-altitude aircraft. According to the results of the tests, they will be finalized. The possibility of transmitting information in real time to earth is also being tested. Photos of the aircraft at the time of the tests have already appeared on social networks.
Aircraft M-55 "Geophysics"
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Vladimir Fedorenko
The M-55 "Geophysicist" as a platform for testing reconnaissance equipment for a new arm was not chosen by chance. It is capable of rising into the stratosphere — to a height of up to 20 km. Initially, it was designed to intercept high-altitude reconnaissance balloons regularly launched by the United States to shoot objects in the USSR. But in the 1980s, these tasks disappeared, and the aircraft were reclassified as reconnaissance and research.
Conducting reconnaissance from high altitudes is a very promising direction, Honored test pilot Igor Malikov told Izvestia.
"It's a constant monitoring of space," he explained. — You need to know where the enemy is, where he is moving, where he is accumulating strength. In the current situation, this is very necessary knowledge so that we can react immediately. The complexity of conducting such intelligence depends on the equipment that you have. Firstly, it is radar equipment. At one time we made such scouts — the M-17, which had a side-view antenna scanning enemy territory.
In modern armed conflicts, it is important to minimize the time from detection to destruction of the target, military expert Dmitry Kornev told Izvestia.
— Aircraft operating in the stratosphere, first of all, will provide targets for ground forces rocket men, — he believes. — The same MLRS "Smerch", "Tornado-S" with high-precision ammunition, as well as missile brigades with Iskanders. This complex can fire two types of missiles — ballistic, which will provide a minimum flight time, and cruise, which fly slower. The latter are suitable for the destruction of stationary objects. Front-line aviation, including helicopter units armed with high-precision LMUR missiles, will also receive relevant targets.
Tornado-G of the Russian Armed Forces
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti
According to the expert, the main consumers of information of the created complex will be Su-34 and Su-34M bombers. They can use not only high-precision missiles, but also high-precision bombs with unified planning and correction modules.
In long-range aviation, targeting by HAND will increase the efficiency of the MiG-31 with hypersonic complexes "Dagger", the expert believes.
— In this case, it will take a few minutes to destroy a remote target, — said Dmitry Kornev.
In addition, the target designations of the ARM will be used by ships with Kalibr cruise missiles, and in the future with hypersonic Zircons. Also, the new aircraft could patrol large territories and the waters of the seas. For example, areas where Western missile submarines or aircraft carrier strike groups patrol.
Three container options
All the equipment of the new reconnaissance complex will fit in three containers with different reconnaissance loads. The UKR-RT variant is designed for conducting radio-technical reconnaissance, UKR—OE - for optoelectronic, UKR-RL — for radar.
It is known that the development of UKR-RT was started back in the late 2000s. This equipment is able to detect and accurately determine the coordinates and technical characteristics of such targets as communication and information transmission systems, radar stations, control lines for unmanned aerial vehicles.
Military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA/Alexander Kazakov
It will be able to detect radar radiation, the operation of radio communication nodes and even cell phones at a distance of hundreds of kilometers. Test flights with the UKR-RT container installed under the fuselage were carried out, including front-line Su-34 bombers.
The UKR-RL electronic intelligence container with the fourth-generation Pica-M radar has completed state tests and has already been tested in a real situation, Vladimir Maksimov, Director General of the Kulon Research Institute, said earlier. It can work at any time of the day and even in conditions of heavy clouds.
UKR-OE containers "extract" information by receiving and analyzing ultraviolet, visible and infrared radiation, which are created by exploration objects.
The HAND equipment determines the coordinates, type and other parameters of the found object with high accuracy.
Alexey Ramm
Bogdan Stepovoy