Colonel Khodarenok: Russia has all the capabilities to defeat ATACMS missiles
After Washington's decision to transfer ATACMS to the APU, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov recalled that such missiles had already been hit. Military observer of the Newspaper.En" Mikhail Khodarenok explains exactly how the Russian armed forces can shoot down ATACMS, and also why, when repelling American long-range missiles, you should worry not about technical difficulties, but about organizational ones.
After Washington's decision to transfer ATACMS missiles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov recalled that the Russian Armed Forces had already shot down products of this type.
"It will continue to be so. Neither these missiles nor other weapons will be able to help defeat the Russian Federation," the senior diplomat said.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the supply of tactical ballistic missiles ATACMS to Kiev, noted that these actions will not be able to change the outcome of a special military operation. "We will achieve our goal, but it will cause more problems for Ukraine itself," the official added.
Image source: Alina Dzhus/"Newspaper.Ru"
It is reported that the new package of US military assistance will include ATACMS with a firing range of up to 300 km, that is, the Crimean Bridge and all military facilities of the peninsula will be in their range. Moreover, Rostov-on-Don, Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh, Orel, Belgorod, as well as the DPR and the LPR are located within the radius of combat use of American tactical ballistic missiles.
As noted, there is an agreement between Ukraine and the United States that ATACMS missiles with a firing range of up to 300 km will not be used to destroy objects on the territory of Russia. In particular, a representative of the US Department of Defense said that these weapons were delivered purely "for use on the sovereign territory of Ukraine," that is, the combat use of ATACMS missiles is expected at facilities in all new territories of our country and, first of all, on the Crimean Bridge.
How to shoot down ATACMS
It should be noted that as a target for anti-aircraft missile units, the ATACMS missile is not very difficult.
- The maximum speed of the product in the descending section of the trajectory reaches 1100 m/ sec, and this is comparable to the Tochka-U tactical missile system, which is successfully hit even by the Pantsir short-range anti-aircraft missile and cannon complex, modified taking into account previous combat experience. And similar facts have been repeatedly noted during the course of the SVO.
- As for the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems and the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system, which have the potential of non-strategic missile defense, they are more than successfully fighting air attack of this kind. Air defense systems and air defense systems (S-300V4 (Antey-2500) and Buk-M2/M3 air defense systems) are also capable of hitting such targets.
- In addition, the latest S-350 Vityaz anti-aircraft missile system is capable of simultaneously firing at 12 ballistic targets (ATACMS type), and the number of simultaneously guided missiles can reach 32 units. The speed of the targets being hit is up to 2000 m/s.
That is, domestic air defense firepower has all the necessary capabilities to combat tactical and operational-tactical ballistic missiles of the enemy.
The Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and cannon complex (ZRPC)
Image source: Valentin Kapustin/RIA Novosti
How to shoot down ATACMS
Any difficulties in defeating ATACMS-type missiles in anti-aircraft missile forces are by no means in the technical sphere, but purely in the organizational one. Let's analyze this problem point by point.
First of all, in order to successfully fire and destroy an ATACMS-type missile, it must be detected using reconnaissance equipment (radar stations of radio engineering troops) and issue a non-search target designation to anti-aircraft missile divisions and batteries.
The S-300/400 divisions can also receive information about ATACMS from their own reconnaissance means - detection radars (RLO 64N6, S-300) and radar complexes (RLK 91N6, S-400), all-altitude detectors (96L6, VVO), which are attached to anti-aircraft missile divisions.
The task of anti-aircraft missile forces is significantly facilitated by data from space reconnaissance facilities capable of issuing a warning about the launch of an enemy missile. In this case, the calculations of the SAM (SAM) have preliminary information about the azimuth of the target and its possible angle of entry into the affected area. For example, in the US Armed Forces, air defense systems with the potential of non-strategic missile defense (such as Patriot) for firing at medium-range ballistic missiles used in 1991 data from the Imews space system, deployed in 1970 to detect the launch of ballistic missiles from high-orbit artificial Earth satellites.
Based on these data, the multifunctional radar of the air defense system deployed to the required azimuth and angle of location, and searched for a target in a relatively narrow sector (for example, two by two degrees), thereby increasing the probability of detecting a target on approach to the far boundary of the launch zone significantly.
A very important condition for the successful firing and destruction of ATACMS is that a full combat crew must be at the workplaces of the anti-aircraft missile system, all necessary air defense systems / SAMs are turned on, checked for functioning, anti-aircraft guided missiles must undergo a training cycle. That is, very high requirements are placed on the organization of combat duty as such. Since ATACMS is only in flight for a few minutes after launch, properly organized combat duty is the foundation for the successful defeat of tactical ballistic missiles of this type.
After the combat crew captures the target for tracking and when the ATACMS missile enters the launch zone, the combat crew launches a queue of anti-aircraft guided missiles (as a rule, at least two). The physical destruction of a TBR (tactical ballistic missile) in this case occurs with a very high probability.
That is, the Aerospace Forces, Military air defense, and the Navy have all the necessary means to combat such an enemy. It's all about organization and interaction, as usual.
But there is another important aspect to this whole case. The monetary allowance of the personnel of anti-aircraft missile and radio engineering troops performing the most important tasks of covering objects on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula is by no means front-line. It corresponds to the conditions of a purely peaceful time. And this cannot but cause some misunderstanding among the fighters and commanders of the air defense.
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 Gazeta.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 Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok