Anti-ship warfare is one of the most important areas of development for the country’s fleet. The creation of effective and high-quality defense ensures the free movement of their own surface ships and submarines and pushes the enemy far from their own coast.
The active increase in the fleet of major world powers and the improvement of naval air defense systems reduced to zero the effectiveness of torpedo- and dive bombers, which in the late 1940s formed the basis of anti-ship forces. With such changes, a new milestone started with the creation of weapons of increased defeat range and autonomous guidance that became available due to such innovations as an active homing head.
The main players in the race to create an anti-ship defense were the USSR and Sweden. The USSR felt a great threat from the United States due to the large fleet of battleships and aircraft carriers available in this country. Sweden, at the same time, felt an increase in both the size of the Soviet fleet and its activity in the Baltic Sea, which threatened the territorial integrity of Sweden due to numerous violations of the country’s maritime borders near the Gotland island.
Those countries had a different vision of the platform used as a carrier for this type of weapons. Developed in 1958 in the USSR, the P-15 Termit anti-ship missile, weighing 2.5 tons and with a 454 kg warhead, was primarily aimed at the destruction of surface ships with displacements of more than 5,000 tons and was installed on missile boats and larger surface platforms.
In its turn, the Swedish company SAAB, together with the Swedish Ministry of Defense, relied on a small anti-ship missile to ensure a lower flight altitude and better maneuverability. The Rb-04 missile developed in 1955, weighing 600 kg and having a 300 kg warhead, was installed on SAAB A-32 Lansen aircraft, which allowed more maneuvering use of the missile and the ability to approach the aircraft from different directions.
The maximum effective range of the Rb-04 was about 35 km, which was five kilometers less than a Soviet missile. The use of missiles should occur after the visual detection of targets by reconnaissance aircraft, after which AShM carriers should launch towards the target.
In addition to the aviation variant, in the early 1960s, SAAB specialists developed a variant of the ground-launch anti-ship missile on the French Nord Aviation CT20 target drone basis. This version received the Rb-08 index and was installed on a special towed launcher, and subsequently on ship launchers.
The mass of the missile was 900 kg, and the maximum range was increased compared to the aircraft missile to 80 km. Warhead – 250 kg.
The speed issue of an anti-ship missile has been discussed until now. Each theory has both its advantages and its disadvantages, which is why the search for the optimal option continues. Practical tests were carried out by the U.S. Armed Forces in the 1990s, and calculations based on general tests indicated parity in their capabilities to destroy surface targets.
The best maneuverability at a low flight altitude of 2-5 meters above the level of the sea is considered an advantage of a subsonic missile. Such altitude is below the minimum level of shelling by ship anti-aircraft systems due to restrictions in the guidance radar, which are aimed at finding and capturing targets at altitudes starting from 10 meters.
Usually, a subsonic missile can travel long distances at low altitudes, which improves stealth after launch and provides a long-range at such an altitude. Under the same conditions, a supersonic missile needs a higher altitude to ensure the appropriate range at the level of a subsonic missile within the same mass-dimensional characteristics.
In reality, to achieve a long flight range, a supersonic missile has to be two to three times larger than a standard subsonic, as well as twice as heavy because of the need for more rocket fuel. In addition, the weight of the missile becomes key in its installation on sea platforms, which limits the number of missiles installed as well as the size of the launch platform.
The advantages of a supersonic missile lie in its speed at the final stage of flight and its ability to search for a target in a short time. Supersonic speed provides less time spent in the area of operation of the ship’s air defense and provides a greater probability of overcoming it.
After the launch of ten subsonic missiles, ships equipped with multi-channel radar stations reduce the interval of capture and destruction of targets, providing effective protection against a certain number of such missiles. In the case of supersonic missile launches, this number falls to the effective interception of two missiles. In addition to the total number, the probability of destroying the AShM with one anti-aircraft missile also falls, and depending on the number, this probability decreases with a consumption of up to 2-3 missiles to intercept one missile.
An important factor, as noted above, is the trajectory of missiles. For effective search and lock-on, the rocket makes the pitch-up maneuver to lock on the target’s active head. This factor also plays an essential role the effectiveness of AShM due to the presence of radio horizon for all radar stations of the ship and limits detection of low-altitude targets up to 20-24 km. And if a subsonic missile is capable of reaching the target search path and can be detected at a distance of 20 km, a supersonic missile can be detected earlier due to its higher altitude of flight as well as its higher altitude on the target search path. Early detection will ensure faster preparation of the ship’s air defense systems for combat.
In addition to active countermeasures, the ships are also equipped with passive means, such as chaffs and flares, which can prevent seekers from capturing the target. In this case, a subsonic missile shows better capabilities than a supersonic one, since if detected, the subsonic missile will have more time in flight, and during this time, traps will not pose a threat to the seeker.
The obsolescence of onboard seekers, as well as the lack of preparation of onboard systems from the very beginning of going to sea, did not allow either an anti-missile maneuver or open fire on missiles. The real practice of counteracting AShM is actually very difficult and requires a lot of attention to radar and control of air defense. The fact that in real cases of encounters of ship groups with anti-ship missiles in most cases ended with at least one hit tells us that the ship has no chance of at least some kind of self-defense.
On April 20, 2022, an article was anonymously published on the web under the loud headline: “The crew of the Moskva cruiser is betrayed by their own.” The article contained scanned copies of the certificate of technical condition of the Moskva missile cruiser dated February 10, 2022, that is, a month before the start of a full-scale invasion.
The certificate lists a number of faults in the missile and artillery parts of the ship’s air defense systems:
S-300 Fort SAM – during a check of the electronic shot (blank round – ed.) after target lock on, there was no binding of missiles to the target. The display on the FI231K device didn’t light up. There was no visual information on the situation indicator when the receiving and transmitting channel No. 1 operated. The ФFE21A device was faulty. The protection element’s fuses blew, igniting the fault. The operation of the CVM device No. 1,2 was unstable. The “Test FK” mode didn’t pass. The fault (channel 1) indicated on the FV27F device when it went to high deployment. The FI234K was curved on the unit.
Osa-MA SAM No. 1 – antenna post – no radiation at TDS (target detection station).
Osa-MA SAM No. 2 – requires FK-1 adjustment, there was no locking of the TDS antenna, a constant signal of the simulated target on the range indicator.
AK-630 No. 1 was a faulty control unit, there was no voltage of 27 volts, it was necessary to replace the Ао-18 No. 3 machine due to the maximum deterioration of the barrel.
Malfunctions of radar units in air defense systems:
MR-800 is a Soviet and Russian long-range radar surveillance system designed to detect aerial targets. The system consists of two radar stations, the antennas of which are located in antenna landings on the back sides of each other. Works in combination with the S-300F SAM.
Faults: device No. 2P-1 (first channel) non-operating subblocks V110-1 FIT. Required repair of subblocks, the second stage of the first channel is not turned on: device No. 2 (1 channel), the gap of the textolite plate, the necessary replacement of bearings on АТТ-50-400 No. 2 (II channel), the АТО-20-400 (standby) during operation was unauthorized to turn off, the machine of protection of the unit was triggered, the 1 channel of the device 2-О (1) was a faulty heat exchanger, the 1-2 channel device 14-2 the ZVA unit did not set the speed.
MR-123 Bagira is a Russian naval artillery fire control system. The system is designed to control the АК-630 anti-aircraft guns. Provides fire on aerial targets, including low-flying ones.
MR-123 No. 1 (nose) – no TV focusing on device No. 3.
MR-123 No. 2 (port side) – unauthorized voltage drop when switching from “Manual” mode to “Search” mode.
MR-123 No. 3 (starboard) – no image on the TV set, and the beam width in the “Locking-on” and “Automatic” modes didn’t meet the specifications. There was no indication of “Scanner ON” test lamp. On the KAP panel of device No. 3 (there is no beam scanning), device No. 1 was not controlled at the angle of place.
So, the ship went to sea with a number of serious malfunctions in the system of long-range radar detection of MR-800, some of the operations were performed on backup systems. Problems were also present in the functioning of the S-300F.
Any anti-ship missile, subsonic or supersonic, poses a great threat to any ship. Ideal conditions for the detection and destruction of these missiles are not always possible for a number of reasons. In addition, in this case, it is necessary to take into account the serviceability of search and capture systems, the condition of the crew, and its attentiveness to target recognition, as well as a large number of other factors.
A dispute on which of the missiles — super- or subsonic — is the best still remains without an answer. Ideally, missiles complement each other, creating a formidable anti-ship warfare system.
In addition, the prevalence of subsonic missiles in the West is associated with the possibility of unifying them into ship, aviation, and shore platforms, which in the end makes it possible to reduce costs and spend more time proving one model. Installation on small sea and aircraft platforms from 2 to 16 missiles allows for the creation of a large salvo launch on enemy ships, which will provide a high probability of hits and provide dominance at sea.
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