The military scientists specialties most in demand in the so-called ATO zone do not include air defense station operators. We need drivers, paratroopers, reconnaissance, but not those who have performed military or contract service and are trained in handling Buk or S-300 Favorit anti-aircraft missile systems. Photos and videos of this technique, crawling along roads in an easterly direction, have been flooded with news publications and the Internet in recent months.
Why “Favorites” near Donetsk?
It turns out that the specialists in air defense systems in the Armed Forces are quite enough, as are the air defense systems themselves. What are they there for? After all, everyone knows that the militia does not have its own aviation, and its appearance is not expected. How is it that several thousand soldiers and officers have been fighting with superior enemy forces for more than a year, while doing without aviation and modern electronic warfare equipment? Whose planes are going to bring down the crews serving the S-300 Favorit APU missile systems? There are more questions than answers. In order to somehow clarify the situation, it would be necessary to figure out what these defense systems are, how Ukraine received them and how many they can be.
General requirements for a modern mobile air defense missile system
Soviet anti-aircraft missiles have always, from the moment of their appearance, been recognized as the most effective means of combating enemy aircraft. It is enough to recall the events of the late fifties - early sixties, when U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, which were considered invulnerable, were shot down. They could fly at high altitudes (over 18 thousand meters), where interceptors could not climb, but anti-aircraft missiles got them there too. Then there was Vietnam, which showed the whole world that it would not be possible to bomb Hanoi and other cities of the DRV with impunity even with the American air fleet, which possessed super-powerful technical means. At the same time, the basic requirements for modern mobile anti-aircraft missile systems were formulated, and at the same time, the main problems that their calculations faced were clarified. The Shrike anti-radar missiles developed in the USA were guided by the beam of an active target search emitted by their antennas. Immediately after the volley, "maneuvering with wheels" became vital, that is, leaving the fighting positions as soon as possible in order to avoid a retaliatory strike. It took several minutes to bring the complex into transport position (usually a little over 20), and, as a rule, they threw connecting cables, because there was no time to rewind them.
All this experience was reflected in the design of the S-300 Favorit air defense system. Its first version began to be developed back in 1969, and entered the army in 1978.
Additional terms
So, a modern mobile air defense system should deploy and enter into a combat state for a short time, and then just as quickly (and even possibly faster), be transferred to the transport position and leave the operational area, without waiting for the enemy’s response to neutralize it. But there are other requirements, according to which the appearance of promising S-300 Favorit anti-aircraft missile systems of various modifications was formed. One of them is that initially the fighting position was secretive. If you place an air defense system on an open plain, the enemy will be able to detect it in various ways, including visual. Launching a rocket in the forest more often or because of the natural folds of the terrain is difficult, as these obstacles can prevent it. And yet, in order to save budget funds, the unification of the three main varieties intended for the fleet, land forces and air defense is highly desirable. These conditions basically correspond to the S-300 Favorit missile systems.
Basic requirements and characteristics
At the beginning of work on the project, the main problems for air defense were already formulated. Since conventional planes and helicopters became elements of a tactical link, the main emphasis was placed on intercepting low-flying high-speed targets and missiles attacking from the stratosphere at high speeds (in particular, military units of ICBMs). In such a wide range, the S-300 Favorit complex can operate. Characteristics take into account almost any type of goal:
- The range is 5-90 (later 150) km.
- The height of detection and damage is from 25 m to 27 km.
- Target speed - up to 4140 km / h, later increased to 10 thousand km / h.
- The number of simultaneously flying objects fired - 6.
- The number of missiles for each target is 2.
- The probability of destroying a target (ballistic missile) is from 80 to 93%.
- The time between starts is from 3 to 5 seconds.
Interception of low-flying and super-high targets
In the seventies, the most urgent task of air defense was the ability to destroy aircraft flat trajectory and warheads of ballistic missiles located on the final section of the trajectory. For these purposes, the S-300 Favorit air defense system was created, but its development took into account the prospects for the development of ammunition delivery vehicles. The progress of offensive weapons is inevitable, which means that such an expensive project - in order to avoid imminent obsolescence - should be able to shoot down objects flying faster than modern ones and above them. Below 25 meters? It is possible, but then, in the 70s, it was simply impossible to imagine the possibility of creating an apparatus capable of this, and today it is difficult. The S-300 Favorit systems had a high modification potential, they are not outdated even today - they are mainly based on the Russian air defense system, although the S-400 Triumphs with advanced features have already appeared. On the way and the S-500.
Division Structure
The divisional principle of building an air defense system involves an appropriate management structure of units.
The composition of the complex complex S-300 "Favorite" includes several movable launchers, which make up a kind of group, in which one machine is considered the main, and two more - additional. In addition to them, the radar target designation and means of ensuring combat effectiveness (loading transport vehicles) participate in the division. Management is carried out from a mobile command post equipped with a backlight and guidance locator. Target detection on low altitude trajectories is carried out using a low-altitude HBO detector located on a special retractable trailer tower.
Rocket 5V55R
The complex is equipped with different missiles, currently it is most often 5V55P developed by KB Fakel. It is built according to the classical scheme with folding rotary rudders. In the transport position until the start, the 5V55P is in a strong hermetically sealed cylindrical container. For a decade, it does not need to monitor its condition, as it is equipped with a solid-fuel engine. The rocket compartments contain control devices, direction finders and other hardware systems. The S-300 Favorit launcher can launch from almost any hidden position, including the most complex ones, thanks to the design feature that provides an ejection start. The side in which the target is located is not important. The rocket is pushed out of the container to a height of 20 meters, then it starts the engine, and it turns itself to where it is needed.
Explosive force
The action of the high-explosive fragmentation is devastating: the explosion of a vector action creates a directed flow of damaging elements in the form of an expanding funnel. The 5V55R S-300 Favorit missile has a main fighting compartment with an explosive mass of 133 kg, 48N6 - 143 kg, and the most powerful 48N6M - 180 kg. The charge is initiated non-contact (that is, it is not necessary to touch the body of the target aircraft) with a fuse of radar action. The striking elements are made in the form of metal cubes.
Electronics
Only the most lazy citizens did not talk about the backwardness of Soviet electronic technology in the seventies. Japanese or German tape recorders, televisions and radios were indeed better, but no one could compare the capabilities of military equipment, except for specialists. So, the team led by V. S. Burtsev already then developed a control computer, which became the basis of the 5E26 complex, capable of solving very complex algorithmic problems and generalizing fragmentary information obtained from several sources (onboard and external locators). And besides this, the S-300 Favorite combat systems were given the ability to distinguish between true and false data. They generate the necessary actions in automatic mode with a high degree of noise immunity. In the eighties, the equipment was repeatedly improved, and this process continued in the XXI century using the most modern elemental base.
How many “Favorites” are there in Ukraine?
Until 1991, these and other complexes were on alert around the entire perimeter of the state border of the Soviet Union, and after its collapse, some of them were inherited by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The S-300 Favorit requires qualified service: a quarter century has passed since the production of even the newest “Ukrainian” missiles, which is twice the established guaranteed shelf life. Only one complex was renovated in 2012 with a five-year extension of the resource. They were going to be withdrawn from service in 2013, but events in the East prevented these plans. Ukraine’s air defense is currently represented by sixty divisions of various types of systems (S-200, Buk-M1, and others.) How many “Favorites” among them are not reported to the general public. They are made in Russia, at the machine-building plant named after M.I. Kalinina, and for obvious reasons, are not sold to countries pursuing an unfriendly policy.
Prospects
Be that as it may, there are still many “Favorites” in the Ukrainian army. True, their resource is almost exhausted, but given the tremendous survivability and reliability of Soviet technology, we can assume that today most systems are in a combat-ready state. With all this, the pro-Western course of the current Kiev administration suggests that the modernization of air defense will be carried out by Western models. It will take money that is not enough, so you should not expect a quick update. However, what can be put on alert after the cancellation of the last “Favorite?” The latest systems should not be expected, Ukraine’s foreign policy is not so clearly predicted that the leading NATO countries risked supplying them not only for nothing, but also for big money. The question arises as to how American, British or French air defense missile systems will prove to be an effective means in the event of a real development of the conflict in the “hot” phase? The most common anti-aircraft missile systems in the Western world are Patriots made in the USA. Maybe they are going to change missile systems of the APU S-300 Favorit?
