A bundle of a complex with a Garnet-4 drone and an artillery piece with adjustable Krasnopol ammunition, when first used in a special military operation, struck an American Abrams tank. About the creation of projectiles that destroy targets without a miss, and their winged gunners — in the TASS material
The Kalashnikov Concern announced the successful debut of these Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as target designators for high-precision projectiles on the Telegram channel. According to the report, the UAV "Granat-4" spotted a moving American car, escorted it, issued a target designation, and then illuminated it with a laser, pointing a high-precision Krasnopol at the tank. According to representatives of Kalashnikov, this was the first combat use of the complex with this drone, equipped with equipment for highlighting targets to ammunition with a laser homing head.
Krasnopol: 38 out of 40
In the second half of the twentieth century, the leading military powers began to develop high-precision weapons with semi-active homing heads. The general principle of operation of such munitions — as a rule, missiles — was that the target was irradiated ("illuminated") radio waves or laser radiation, and the munition received the reflected signal and was aimed at it.
Unlike rockets, artillery shells are difficult to make highly accurate. When fired, the ammunition experiences a thousandfold overload — the same powerful impact is received by all precision electromechanics (for example, a gyroscope), optics and control electronics inside its body.
"Shield muzzle" against tanks
American engineers were the first to solve the problem of placing the control system in the projectile: in 1975, Martin Marietta, which later became part of the Lockheed Martin defense concern, developed a guided artillery munition, which received the M712 index and the nickname Copperhead (from English - copperhead, North American venomous snake). According to data from open sources, a 155 mm caliber projectile weighing more than 60 kg and 1.4 m long has a cumulative warhead, hits targets at a range of up to 16 km. After firing, the M712 Copperhead flies along a ballistic trajectory like a conventional artillery shell, however, when approaching the target, it reveals aerodynamic stabilizers and steering surfaces, turns on the homing system for laser radiation reflected from the target, and hits the target with high accuracy. For the first time, the corrected projectile was used in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait, occupied by Iraq, and showed effectiveness.
In 1986, the Soviet Army received a 152-millimeter adjustable Krasnopol projectile developed by the Tula Instrument Engineering Design Bureau (KBP, now named after Academician A.G. Shipunov, is part of the Rostec State Corporation High-Precision Complexes holding). KBP representative Vladimir Rabinovich said in an interview with Zvezda TV channel that work on guided artillery ammunition began at KBP in 1974. At the same time, the main difficulty for engineers was in the barrel overloads of the projectile, reaching 10 thousand units — despite the fact that the laser homing equipment for missiles had already been developed at that time. It was necessary to place a gyrocoordinator in the projectile — a device with a precision gyroscope responsible for stabilizing the rotating ammunition in flight. Despite the initial overloads and the rotation of the projectile, the "eye" of the photodetector did not let the target out of sight.
From a cannon into space
The idea of firing a projectile from a cannon, which contains fragile scientific instruments and even a crew, has been expressed in the fantastic works of past centuries. The most famous of them is the novel "From a Cannon to the Moon" by Jules Verne, published in the middle of the XIX century. The fantasist "sent" three travelers in a projectile car into space from a cannon with a barrel more than 270 m long and a 180-ton propellant charge. Suspecting that the projectile would experience huge overloads when fired, the writer provided spring dampers in its design, as well as several wooden bulkheads separated by layers of water flowing out when fired. The crew compartment rested on this collapsible hydraulic damper. However, all these measures would not have saved the travelers from instant death. The Soviet writer and popularizer of science Yakov Perelman in the book "Entertaining Physics" suggested that Verne's fictional projectile would have experienced an overload of 60 thousand g when fired. "One cylinder of Mr. Barbicane (one of the heroes of "From a Cannon to the Moon" - approx. TASS) would have weighed at least 15 tons at the time of the shot (the weight of a loaded wagon); such a hat is more than enough to crush its owner," Perelman wrote.
For the first time, the effect of overload on living organisms was investigated by the Russian founder of theoretical cosmonautics Konstantin Tsiolkovsky on a centrifuge designed by him. He found that a chicken is able to withstand a fivefold overload, and insects - tens of g. Astronauts experience an overload of 3.5 g at launch, fighter pilots - over 10 g. In 1975, after the failure of the third stage of the Soyuz launch vehicle at an altitude of 192 km, with the subsequent abnormal entry into the atmosphere of the Soyuz-18-1 spacecraft, the crew of cosmonauts Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov safely suffered overloads of up to 26 units.
In the 1960s, the US Department of Defense, looking for inexpensive ways to put small satellites into low-Earth orbit, conducted experiments with ultra-long-range guns under the High Altitude Research Project (HARP) program. According to data from open sources, the largest was a 400 mm cannon with a barrel length of over 50 m. In 1966, a projectile fired from a similar cannon reached a height of 180 km (above the boundary of outer space). American researchers managed to send projectiles containing some scientific equipment and radio transmitters for tens of kilometers. However, the gigantic overload at the time of the shot precluded the use of complex devices in projectiles. For the same reason, experiments with rocket engines for pre-acceleration of projectiles failed. In the same year, 1966, the HARP program was closed.
Tests have confirmed the high efficiency of domestic correctable projectiles.
"Imagine, ten tanks are moving across the field at us, about 50 meters from each other," Vladimir Rabinovich recalled about the use of Krasnopol during the Zapad—88 exercises, specifying that the tanks were remotely controlled and unmanned. — And so we started shooting at these tanks. And we start hitting [them] one by one. And as a result, we, without expecting it, hit nine out of ten tanks."
Krasnopol made a splash during the first foreign display of the Russian Msta-S self-propelled artillery installation in 1993 at the IDEX exhibition in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). During the night demonstration firing, the self-propelled gun hit 38 of 40 targets with this projectile at a distance of 15 km.
The firing range of the Krasnopol is 20-25 km, the length of the projectile is 1.3 m, the weight is 54 kg, including a high—explosive fragmentation warhead — 11 kg.
Krasnopol is a universal projectile, it can be fired by almost any 152 mm caliber guns — from D-20 howitzers, the production of which began seven decades ago, to the newest wheeled self-propelled artillery installation Malva.
"It's impossible to hide from him"
Krasnopol shells have been widely used in the course of a special military operation since its very beginning. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has repeatedly reported the defeat of various targets with these adjustable ammunition: anti-aircraft missile systems, fortified enemy positions, armored vehicles. The projectile hits targets from above, and the protection of tanks and armored vehicles in the upper part is weaker than in other projections. Also, due to its high accuracy, Krasnopol is effective against buried concrete fortifications and bridges, allowing them to be hit with the first shot, without aiming.
"The main thing is to set the tip so that the ammunition flies approximately [to the target], and it is already illuminated with a laser, and the target is destroyed," said the commander of the artillery brigade's gun with the call sign Red. — Even in motion, if any equipment goes, it moves — highlight, and it will destroy the equipment in motion. It is impossible to hide from him."
High-precision projectiles are continuously being improved. Thus, Russian gunsmiths carried out a deep modernization of the corrected artillery ammunition. As reported by TASS in the High-Precision Complexes holding, compared with its predecessor, the updated projectile has an increased range of use, and the effectiveness of the warhead has increased by one and a half times. The upgraded Krasnopol strikes small-sized targets more accurately, tolerates strong winds better, and is less hampered by cloud cover.
In addition, the KBP has developed a modification of the Krasnopol for use from an unmanned aerial vehicle. The projectile, which became a correctable aerial bomb, has successfully passed pilot operation .
In addition to Krasnopol, Kitolov complexes with adjustable high-explosive artillery shells of 120 and 122 mm calibers, and Gran for 120 mm rifled or smoothbore mortars are used in a special military operation. Based on the experience of using them in their own, they are also being improved.
The Malachite complex with a laser designator-rangefinder, adjustable artillery shells Kitolov-2M, Gran and Krasnopol-M2
Image source: © Viktor Bodrov/ TASS
Strikes on enemy targets are also carried out with a 240 mm Daredevil corrected mine for the 2C4 Tulip self-propelled mortar. "Daredevil", like "Krasnopol", is aimed at the target with a laser beam, however, when approaching the target, it corrects its trajectory not with aerodynamic rudders, but with pulses of powder steering engines. The 1.6 m long and 134 kg ammunition is capable of destroying even a well-fortified command post.
As directed from heaven
An important part of the complex with a correctable projectile is a device that shines a laser beam at the target. For Krasnopol, the target can be illuminated by a laser target designator-a rangefinder. But for this, the gunner must get close to the target at a distance of at least 5 km, and when the laser "pointer" is turned on, he finds himself for enemy surveillance devices.
"In 2010-2012, in connection with the development of unmanned aircraft and its rapid growth, we began to conduct research on the possibility of highlighting a target using an unmanned aerial vehicle," he said Vladimir Rabinovich. "Krasnopol has got a second wind," he added. — We have shown the possibility of such an application, and with our hitting the target, the development of unmanned vehicles that can illuminate has also begun to grow very rapidly. And now the bulk of the use of Krasnopol is carried out using unmanned aerial vehicles."
This method is widely used in the military, while drones of the Orlan-30 type are used. A large vehicle with a take-off weight of 40 kg can stay in the air for up to eight hours, moving 300 km away from the launch site in autonomous mode.
Orlan-30 UAV with extended optoelectronic station with laser illumination of the target
Image source: © Viktor Bodrov/ TASS
Now Russian engineers have installed laser target illumination equipment on the unmanned aerial vehicle of the Garnet-4 remote surveillance complex. This UAV can barrage in search of targets for up to six hours at a range of up to 70 km from the control point and at an altitude of up to 2 km. The drone is equipped with an optoelectronic station with visible and infrared cameras, a laser range finder, and can illuminate targets at a distance of up to 3 km.
In addition, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the reconnaissance and strike UAV "Pacer" was also used to guide the Krasnopol to the target. According to the Russian military department, the heavy vehicle has a ceiling of 7.5 km, accelerates to 200 km/ h and can carry a payload of up to 300 kg.
According to the statement of the general director of the High-Precision Complexes holding, since the beginning of the special military operation, the production of Krasnopol shells has been increased 20 times. In April of this year, Denis Manturov, who held the position of Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Industry and Trade, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the holding, announced the growth of the state defense order for the enterprises of the association exponentially. It can be assumed that the use of an effective combination of correctable artillery shells and UAVs in the special operation zone will only grow.
Victor Bodrov
