The development of military space technology in the fifties took place mainly in the direction of creating intercontinental means that could cause strategic damage. At the same time, humanity has already gained experience gained in the development of a special type of ammunition, combining the properties of airplanes and missiles. They were driven by a liquid-propellant or solid-propellant engine, but at the same time used the lifting force of the plane, which was an element of the general structure. These were cruise missiles. To Russia (then the USSR) they were not as important as intercontinental ones, but work on them was already underway. After decades, she was successful. Several samples of this type of armament are already in the arsenal or will soon take their place in the ranks of means that restrain the potential aggressor. They cause fear and completely discourage the desire to attack our country.
"Tomahawks" with a neutron bomb - a nightmare of the eighties
At the very end of the eighties, Soviet propaganda paid great attention to two new types of American weapons. The neutron bomb threatened by the Pentagon “to all progressive humanity” could only compete with the “Tomahawks” in its deadly properties. These shark-shaped shells with thin short planes were able to sneak up on targets on Soviet territory unnoticed, hiding from detection systems in ravines, riverbeds and other natural depressions of the earth's crust. It was very unpleasant to feel their own insecurity, and the citizens of the USSR were indignant that the insidious imperialists were again drawing the country of developed socialism into a new round of the arms race, and these cruise missiles were to blame. Russia needed something to respond to the threat. And only some very informed people knew that in fact something similar was already being developed in the Soviet Union, and things were not going so badly.
American ax
The prototype of all modern cruise missiles can be called the German V-1 projectile (V-1). Outwardly, it resembles the American Tomahawk, created four decades later: the same straight planes and a narrow fuselage, a silhouette that is simple to primitiveness. But there is a difference, and very big. The ammunition, called the Cruise Missile, is not just a missile equipped with a wing, it is something more. Behind the external simplicity lies a very complex technical scheme, the main element of which is an ultra-fast computer that instantly makes decisions about changing course and altitude in order to avoid collision with obstacles. This is necessary for flying at an extremely low altitude at a speed sufficient to comply with another condition for surprise - the speed of charge delivery to the target. And it was also important that the “eyes” of this “shark” worked well. The radar installed in the bow of the projectile saw all the obstacles and transmitted information about them to the electronic brain, which analyzed the terrain and issued control signals to the steering wheels (slats, flaps, ailerons, etc.). The Americans did not succeed in a full-fledged supersonic cruise missile: the Tomahawk reaches its ultimate regimes only at the final section of the trajectory, but this does not prevent it from presenting a real threat today, especially in relation to countries that do not have perfect air defense and missile defense systems.
Soviet X-90
It is not known for certain what prompted the Soviet leadership to give instructions on the beginning of the development of the Kyrgyz Republic. Intelligence may have reported the beginning of American research in this area, but it is possible that the idea that arose in the bowels of a secret research institute interested someone from the Department of Defense. One way or another, in 1976, work began, and the deadline for their completion was set small - six years. From the very beginning, our designers took a different path than their counterparts from the USA. Subsonic speeds did not appeal to them. The missile was supposed to overcome all the lines of defense of a potential enemy at extremely low altitudes. And supersonic. By the end of the decade, the first prototypes were presented, which showed excellent results (up to 3 M) in field tests. The secret object was continuously improved, and in the next decade it could fly faster than four speeds of sound. Only in 1997, the world community was able to see this miracle of technology at the MAKS exhibition in the pavilion of the Rainbow research and production association. Modern cruise missiles of Russia are the direct heirs of the Soviet X-90. Even the name is preserved, although many of the weapons mentioned have undergone changes. The elemental base has become different.
The launch of this missile was supposed to be carried out with the Tu-160, a huge strategic bomber capable of carrying 12-meter-long ammunition with folding planes in its bomb bay. The media remains the same.
"Koala"
The modern Russian X-90 Koala cruise missile has become lighter and shorter than its progenitor: its length is less than 9 meters. Little is known about her, mainly the fact that her very existence (without announcing the details) causes concern and irritation of our American partners. The cause of concern was the increased radius of the projectile (3, 500 km), which formally violates the terms of the INF Treaty (medium and short-range missiles). But this is not what scares the United States, but the fact that these strategic cruise missiles (as they are called, although they cannot overcome the ocean) are capable of “breaking through” all the boundaries of the missile defense system, which the United States unobtrusively but stubbornly pushes toward Russian borders.
This sample has already received its NATO designation: Koala AS-X-21. We call it differently, namely, a hypersonic experimental aircraft (GELA).
The general principle of its action is that, leaving the Tu-160 bombs at an altitude of 7 to 20 kilometers, it straightens the deltoid wing and plumage, then an accelerator is launched, which accelerates the projectile to supersonic sound, and after that the marching engine starts. The rate of decrease reaches 5 M, and on it the GEL rushes to the goal, which can already be considered doomed. Intercepting this KR is almost impossible.
Uranus, naval and aviation
Anti-ship missiles are also most often cruise missiles. Their trajectory, as a rule, is similar to the combat courses of ground counterparts. The development of this type of weapons in the USSR was carried out by the Zvezda design bureau. In 1984, the chief designer G.I. Khokhlov was entrusted with the creation of a complex of means of combating surface naval targets with a displacement of up to five thousand tons (that is, relatively small) in conditions of active electronic counteraction and difficult meteorological conditions. The result of the team’s efforts was the X-35 “Uranus”, in its characteristics it approximately corresponds to the parameters of the American KR “Harpoon” and can be used in salvo mode. The defeat range is 120 km. The complex, equipped with a detection, identification and guidance system, is installed not only on combat units of the Navy, but also on aircraft carriers (Ka-27, Ka-28 helicopters, MiG-29, Su-24, Su-30, Su-35, Tu-142, Yak-141 and others), which greatly expands the capabilities of this weapon. The launch is carried out at very low altitudes (from 200 m), anti-ship missiles of this type are launched at speeds of more than 1000 km / h almost above the waves (from 5 to 10 m, and at the end of the trajectory it even drops to three meters). Given the small size of the projectile (4 m 40 cm in length), we can assume that its interception is very problematic.
"Hundred X"
After air defense systems, both Soviet and American, reached high capabilities in their development, practically all countries refused to use free-falling ammunition. The presence of solid, reliable and powerful strategic bombers prompted the military leadership to seek their application, and it was found. In the United States, the B-52, and in the USSR, the Tu-95 began to be used as flying launchers. In the nineties, the main ammunition of Russian carriers of tactical and strategic charges delivered to the target by airplanes without crossing the air defense borders was the X-101. In parallel with them, almost completely identical samples were developed, capable of carrying nuclear charges. Both Kyrgyz Republics are currently classified, only a limited circle of people should know their tactical and technical characteristics. It is only known that a new model was adopted for service, it is distinguished by an increased combat radius (more than five thousand kilometers) and amazing accuracy of destruction (up to 10 meters). The X-101 warhead has a high-explosive fragmentation filling, and this parameter is most important for it. The carrier of a special charge may not be so accurate: in an explosion with a power of tens of kilotons, several meters to the right or left do not play a big role. For the X-102 (nuclear carrier) range is more important.
Winged Strategy
All items, including types of weapons, can only be considered in the aspect of comparison. There are various defense doctrines, and while some countries are striving for absolute global dominance, others simply want to protect themselves from possible aggressive encroachments. If we compare the cruise missiles of Russia and the United States, we can conclude that the technical parameters of American weapons do not exceed the capabilities of their rivals. Both sides are betting on increasing the combat radius, which gradually removes the KR from the category of tactical weapons, giving them an ever greater "strategic". The idea of resolving geopolitical contradictions by delivering an unexpected and overwhelming blow does not visit the heads of the Pentagon generals for the first time — it’s enough to recall the bombing plans of Soviet large industrial and defense centers developed back in the late forties and early fifties, immediately after US enough nuclear warheads.
AGM-158B Extended Range, USA
The emergence of a new model of weapons in the United States is an event of a national scale. Taxpayers are pleased to realize that with the money they paid to the budget, the state acquired yet another proof of American global dominance. The rating of the ruling party is increasing, voters are rejoicing. So it was in 2014, when the US strategic forces received a new airborne missile defense system AGM-158B, created as part of the Joint Air To Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range defense program, abbreviated JASSM-ER, which means that this tool is designed to strike at Earth's surface and has an extended range of application. The widely publicized new weapon, judging by the published data, does not surpass the X-102 in anything. The flight range of the AGM-158B is vague, in a wide range from 350 to 980 km, which means its dependence on the mass of the warhead. Most likely, her real radius with a nuclear charge is the same as that of the X-102, that is, 3, 500 km. Cruise missiles in Russia and the United States have approximately the same speed, mass and geometric dimensions. It is not necessary to speak of American technological superiority also because of better accuracy, although, as already noted, it does not have such great significance in a nuclear strike.
Other Kyrgyz Republics in Russia and the USA
X-101 and X-102 are not the only cruise missiles in service with Russia. In addition to them, other models equipped with pulsating air-jet engines, such as 16 X and 10 XN (they are still experimental), anti-ship KS-1, KSR-2, KSR-5, with high explosive penetrating or fragmentation warheads, also carry combat duty explosive or nuclear action. You can recall the more modern CR X-20, X-22 and X-55, which became the prototype of the X-101. And there are also Termites, Mosquitoes, Amethysts, Malachites, Basalts, Granites, Onyxes, Yakhonts and other representatives of the stone series. These cruise missiles of Russia have been in service with the aviation and navy for many years, and the public knows a lot about them, although not all.
Americans also have several types of CRs of an earlier generation than the AGM-158B. These are the tactical Matador MGM-1, Shark SSM-A-3, Greyhound AGM-28, the aforementioned Harpoon, Universal Hawk Fast. In the USA, they do not refuse from the proven Tomahawk, but they are working on a promising X-51 capable of flying at hypersonic speeds.
