The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation indirectly confirmed the existence of work on the creation of hypersonic strike weapons: a message appeared on the website of the military department that, within the framework of the weapons program for 2018–2025, it is planned to “complete the development and supply to the troops of fundamentally new types of hypersonic weapons, intelligent robotic systems, weapons new physical principles, as well as a number of traditional models of the next generation of military equipment.” This became a kind of commentary on Saturday’s report by the TASS agency that during testing of the newest Russian Zircon rocket, a speed of eight Machs was reached - nine thousand kilometers per hour. Neither TASS, nor even more so the Ministry of Defense, clarified the details of the tests. There are more than enough explanations for the closedness of the Zircon program. Hypersound is one of the main fetishes of the ongoing competition between Russia and the United States in the field of creating advanced military technologies. The Mach number, or M, determines the ratio local speed flow to the speed of sound – 331 m/sec. Exceeding the speed of sound by six, eight, ten times is one of the global goals for the development of modern aircraft and rocketry. From a military point of view, hypersonic aircraft are an extremely effective strike weapon. Hypersonic flight is indistinguishable to modern means radar. There is no and is not even expected to create means of intercepting such missiles. In the United States, the implementation of the “Fast” program is associated with this. global strike"(Prompt Global Strike(PGS)), which will allow the US military to carry out targeted strikes on any region of the world within 60 minutes from the moment the decision is made. For us, this is an opportunity to counter this threat with weapons that can reach any target in the World Ocean or on American territory with the same speed. In August 2014, the Americans launched the X-43A hypersonic missile from the Kodiak test site in Alaska. Having picked up a speed of about 6.5 thousand km/h, after seven seconds of operation the device burned out in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, Washington called this flight a success: the machine demonstrated the ability to achieve the required acceleration. In December 2015, NPO Mashinostroyenia, and after it the Ministry of Defense, also reported “the testing of a certain missile” at a test site near Arkhangelsk.
Which one, the managers of the Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace Limited have already announced. Taking the Russian P-800 Onyx/Yakhont supersonic missile as a basis, the company created its Indian analogue, BrahMos. Company representative Pravin Pathak said that the hypersonic BrahMos-2 has been created and is being tested in India. It is not difficult to assume that if there is an Indian, then there is also a Russian version of such a missile. This can be judged by even earlier information in the corporate newspaper of NPO Mashinostroeniya "Tribuna VPK", which reported that back in 2011, a group of chief designers was created in one of the directorates on the topic 3M22 - an interspecific missile system with a hypersonic operational anti-ship missile "Zircon" "
So what is Zircon? This can be judged from information from the same BrahMos Aerospace Limited. At one of the international exhibitions they showed a model of BrahMos-2: a flattened spade-shaped nose, chopped shapes of the hull itself. Two-stage rocket: the first is a powder accelerator, the second is a liquid jet engine. Honorary CEO and honorary general designer of JSC VPK NPO Mashinostroeniya, professor at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Herbert Efremov, in his interview with Izvestia, explained that “chopped shapes” and a “shovel-shaped nose” of the product are necessary to ensure normal speed combustion of fuel in the engine. During hypersonic flight, it is impossible to ensure this process without reducing the speed of air entering the combustion chamber to a supersonic threshold. Therefore, as the designer noted, long-term hypersonic flight can only be ensured by liquid-propellant jet engines. The TASS report and the commentary from the Ministry of Defense say nothing about the parameters of the tests, during which Mach eight were achieved. Did this flight last seconds or minutes, how far did the car fly, was this flight controlled or not? The shroud of secrecy remains over Zircon. Although it is already known that a number Russian ships got universal launchers"revolving type" 3S-14. They are intended for placement and launch of anti-ship missiles. cruise missiles 3M-55 "Onyx" and long-range 3M-54 "Caliber". “Zircon” is replacing them, from which we can conclude that in 2018 several types of Russian surface ships, submarines and coastal missile systems will receive the new missile.
These could be Project 1144 heavy nuclear cruisers of the Orlan type. The lead cruiser of this project, Admiral Nakhimov, is already undergoing modernization at the Zvezdochka enterprise in Severodvinsk. According to Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov, a decision was made to modernize four of the eight Project 949 nuclear submarines in the Navy to accommodate Onyxes and Calibers.
The work will take place at the Zvezda Far Eastern plant, located in Bolshoi Kamen Bay. The Granit supersonic anti-ship cruise missile launchers located on the sides of the submarines (NATO classification SS-N-19 Shipwreck) will be replaced with new launchers. This will allow not only to increase the ship’s ammunition from 24 to 72 missiles, but also to place new weapons on it. By analogy with surface and submarine cruisers, the Zircon will also be used in the Bastion coastal missile systems with Onyx missiles. There is no doubt that the Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace Limited will integrate the new missile into the armament of the Su-30MKI fighter. Testing of the vehicle with the BrahMos missile began last year.

Vladimir Putin's annual address to the Federal Assembly, or rather, its second part, produced the effect of a bomb exploding on military experts and all those interested in weapons.

It turned out that promising developments, which were considered unfinished and were exaggerated in Western and Russian media, according to the president, are already being tested and are about to be put into service.

And if the new intercontinental missile "Sarmat" is still somehow heard, the names of the others strategic complexes actually performed in public for the first time. And some don’t have them at all; Vladimir Putin suggested that Russians come up with them themselves.

It can be assumed that the president decided to “reveal his cards” in response to the US modernization of its nuclear weapons. And also the creation of low-power, but high-precision nuclear charges, which, in particular, are equipped with cruise missiles.

Russian leader It is no coincidence that he emphasized that any power nuclear attack on Russia or its allies will be perceived as full-fledged nuclear attack and will cause an instant response.

Putin made it clear to the United States that he will not tolerate the use of nuclear weapons of any size, including B-61-12 aerial bombs and air- and sea-launched cruise missiles. It is believed that low-yield charges lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

Vladimir Putin traditionally named the main reason for the development of new types of weapons as the US global missile defense system, which can make Russian missiles ultimately useless. As well as the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the ABM Treaty.

Now more about weapons. Judging by the video shown in Manege, the Sarmat missile actually passed throw tests, as has been repeatedly stated previously.

In the picture, a mock-up is launched from a silo, identical in size, weight and geometry to a real rocket. This is how the real start is worked out. The start of flight development tests is planned for this year, and adoption into service in 2019-2020. That is, very soon.

As the Supreme Commander-in-Chief said, a missile weighing 200 tons with hypersonic warheads will have an almost unlimited range of action and will be able to hit targets both through the Northern and South Pole. For clarity, the video showed how the rocket easily flies across the United States and falls in the Pacific Ocean.

Another project, Avangard, is directly related to Sarmat, which the president also spoke about. It is a gliding winged unit that flies at 20 times the speed of sound.

If we are talking about the Yu-71 block, the plasma trace from which was seen by residents near the Kura test site in the fall of 2016, then it is the Sarmat missile that is equipped with it. The warhead heats up to almost 2 thousand degrees and rushes towards the target “like a meteorite”, bypassing all known systems missile defense, and at the same time maneuvers. The President emphasized that mass production of such units is being prepared.

DF-ZF. Photo: wikipedia.org

By the way, Beijing is testing similar gliders - the DF-ZF project. But the video shown on Chinese television, it was only from a wind tunnel; whether it rose into the sky is unknown for sure. Perhaps Vladimir Putin's speech will encourage the Chinese to lift the veil of secrecy.

Avangard is currently undergoing testing. But hypersonic missiles, which are last years They are either buried or resurrected in the media; it turns out that Russia already has them and are even on duty. This is an aviation missile system"Dagger".

MiG-31. Photo: mil.ru

During the president's speech, a video was shown of a MiG-31 interceptor launching a heavy missile. It accelerates to a speed of Mach 10 and, according to the head of state, overcomes any missile defense shield. The missile's range is more than 2 thousand km, it can be equipped with both a nuclear and conventional warhead. The complex is already on experimental combat duty at airfields in the southern military district.

But the highlight of Vladimir Putin's speech was the nuclear power plant that powers the latest Russian cruise missiles with unlimited range.

They are similar to the existing X-101, but inside they have small-sized, super-powerful nuclear installations, which increase the flight range tens of times compared to the “101st”.

The cruise missile flies low, maneuvers and, as the designers intended, will successfully bypass any radar. At the end of 2017, successful tests were carried out at the test site new rocket. By the way, it doesn't have a name yet. President Putin invited the Russians to choose him, which has already caused a great stir in the media.

It is worth noting that under the USSR, nuclear installations were installed on military satellites, which flew successfully. However, the technology was subsequently abandoned due to the risk of an accident with radioactive contamination. Moreover, nuclear installation They were even installed on the Tu-95 strategic bomber to increase its flight range. But later the project was closed.

Meanwhile, the president did not even think about stopping. He spoke about a mysterious weapon known in the media as "Status-6".

They wrote a lot about it in the foreign press and called it the revival of the Soviet “Tsar Torpedo” T-15, which was supposed to be equipped with a thermonuclear warhead and, if necessary, wipe the United States off the face of the Earth with it.

Vladimir Putin partly confirmed the fears of Western military experts. Russia is preparing an unmanned underwater vehicle, with a nuclear power plant. It is a hundred times smaller than those found on nuclear submarines, but it accelerates the torpedo boat to enormous speeds. It is fundamentally the new kind strategic weapons, since the torpedo goes very deep and is almost impossible to detect. Its main task will be the destruction of aircraft carrier groups and naval bases enemy, which was demonstrated on the screen in the Manege.

It is extremely difficult to assess the readiness of these weapons. As the president rightly noted, there are simply no analogues in the world. All that remains is to wait until the promising units are put into service, and then more will be known about them.

Flights of the “three-mach” aircraft were accompanied by furious heating of the structure. The temperature of the edges of the air intakes and the leading edge of the wing reached 580-605 K, and the rest of the skin 470-500 K. The consequences of such heating are evidenced by the fact that already at a temperature of 370 K the organic glass used for glazing the cabins softens and the fuel begins to boil. At 400 K, the strength of duralumin decreases; at 500 K, chemical decomposition of the working fluid in the hydraulic system and destruction of seals occurs. At 800 K they lose the necessary mechanical properties titanium alloys. At temperatures above 900 K, aluminum and magnesium melt, and heat-resistant steel loses its properties.

The flights were carried out in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20,000 meters in very rarefied air. Achieving Mach 3 speed at lower altitudes was not possible: the skin temperature would reach four-digit values.

Over the next half century, a number of measures have been proposed to combat the searing fury of atmospheric heating. Beryllium alloys and new ablative materials, composites based on boron and carbon fibers, plasma spraying of refractory coatings...

Despite the progress made, the thermal barrier still remains a serious obstacle on the path to hypersound. An obligatory obstacle, but not the only one.

Supersonic flight is extremely expensive in terms of required thrust and fuel consumption. And the level of complexity of this problem rapidly increases with decreasing flight altitude.

To date, none of the existing types of aircraft and cruise missiles have been able to reach a speed of 3M at sea level.

The record holder among manned aircraft was the MiG-23. Thanks to its relatively small size, variable sweep wing and powerful R-29-300 engine, it was able to reach 1,700 km/h near the ground. More than anyone in the world!

Cruise missiles showed slightly better results, but also failed to reach the Mach 3 threshold.

Among the variety of anti-ship missiles around the world, only four anti-ship missiles can fly twice faster speed sound at sea level. Among them:

ZM80 “Mosquito”(launch weight 4 tons, maximum speed at an altitude of 14 kilometers - 2.8 M, at sea level - 2 M).

ZM55 “Onyx”(launch weight 3 tons, maximum speed at an altitude of 14 km - 2.6 M).

ZM54 “Caliber”.

And finally, Russian-Indian “BrahMos”(launch weight 3 tons, design speed at low altitude 2M).

The promising “Caliber” came closest to the treasured 3M. Thanks to the multi-stage layout, its detachable warhead (which itself is the third stage) is capable of reaching a speed of 2.9 M at the finish line. However, not for long: the separation and acceleration of the warhead is carried out in close proximity to the target. During the marching phase, the ZM54 flies at subsonic levels.

It is worth noting that there is no information about testing and testing the ZM54 separation algorithm in practice. Despite common name, the ZM54 missile has little in common with those “Calibers” that staged an unforgettable fireworks display in the sky over the Caspian Sea last fall (subsonic missile for attacks on land targets, index ZM14).

It can be stated that a rocket developing a speed of > 2M at low altitude is, in a literal sense, still only tomorrow.

You have already noticed that each of the three anti-ship missiles capable of developing 2M during the sustaining phase of flight (“Moskit”, “Onyx”, “Brahmos”) is distinguished by exceptional weight and size characteristics. The length is 8-10 meters, the launch mass is 7-8 times higher than that of subsonic anti-ship missiles. At the same time, their warheads are relatively small, accounting for about 8% of the launch mass of the rocket. And the flight range at low altitude barely reaches 100 km.

The possibility of air-launching these missiles remains questionable. Because too long length“Mosquito” and “Brahmos” do not fit into air defense systems; they require separate launchers on the decks of ships. As a result, the number of carriers of supersonic anti-ship missiles can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

At this point it is worth turning to the title topic of this article.

ZM22 “Zircon” - hypersonic sword Russian Navy. Myth or reality?

The rocket that is talked about so much, but no one has even seen its outlines. What will this superweapon look like? What are its capabilities? And the main question: how realistic are the plans to create such an anti-ship missile system at the modern technological level?

After reading the long introduction about the torment of the creators of supersonic aircraft and missiles, many of the readers probably had doubts about the realism of the existence of “Zircon”.

A fiery arrow flying on the border of supersonic and hypersonic, capable of hitting naval targets at ranges of 500 kilometers or more. Whose overall dimensions do not exceed the established restrictions when placed in UKSK cells.

A promising superweapon or another unfulfilled promise? Doubts are in vain.

The emergence of a supersonic anti-ship missile capable of reaching a speed of 4.5 M in flight is the next logical step in improvement missile weapons. It is curious that missiles with similar characteristics have been in service with the leading navies of the world for about 30 years. One index is enough to understand what we mean we're talking about.

Anti-aircraft missile 48N6E2 as part of a naval anti-aircraft system S-300FM “Fort”

The length and diameter of the body are standard for all missiles of the S-300 family.
Length = 7.5 m, diameter of the rocket with folded wings = 0.519 m. Launch weight 1.9 tons.

The warhead is a high-explosive fragmentation unit weighing 180 kg.

The estimated range of destruction of the VC is up to 200 km.

Speed ​​- up to 2100 m/s (SIX speeds of sound).

SAM 48N6E2 included land complex S-300PMU2 “Favorite”

How justified is the comparison of anti-aircraft missiles with anti-ship missiles?

There are not many conceptual differences. The anti-aircraft 48N6E2 and the promising Zircon are guided missiles with all the ensuing consequences.

Sailors are well aware of the hidden capabilities of shipborne air defense systems. Half a century ago, during the first firing of anti-aircraft missiles, an obvious discovery was made: at a line-of-sight range, missile defense systems would be the first to be used. They have a smaller warhead mass, but their reaction time is 5-10 times less compared to anti-ship missiles! This tactic was widely used in “skirmishes” at sea. The Yankees damaged an Iranian frigate with the Standard (1988). Russian sailors, with the help of the Osa, dealt with the Georgian boats.

The bottom line is that if a conventional missile defense system with a disabled proximity fuse can be used against ships, then why not create one based on it? special remedy for hitting surface targets?

The advantage will be high flight speed, at the border of hypersound. The main disadvantage is the high-altitude flight profile, which makes the missile vulnerable to breaking through enemy air defenses.

What are the main design differences between missiles and anti-ship missiles?

Guidance system.

To detect targets over the horizon anti-ship missiles an active radar seeker is required.

It is worth noting that anti-aircraft missiles with ARGSN have been used in the world for a long time. The first of them (the European Aster) was put into service over ten years ago. A similar missile was created by the Americans (Standard-6). The domestic analogues are 9M96E and E2 - anti-aircraft missiles shipborne air defense system"Redoubt".

At the same time, detecting a 100-meter ship should be easier than targeting an actively maneuvering point-sized object (an airplane or missile).

Engine.

Most anti-aircraft missiles are equipped with a solid rocket motor, whose operating time is limited to seconds. The operating time of the 48N6E2 rocket propulsion engine is only 12 s, after which the rocket flies by inertia, controlled by aerodynamic rudders. As a rule, the flight range of missiles along a quasi-ballistic trajectory, with a marching section high in the stratosphere, does not exceed 200 kilometers (the most “long-range”), which is quite enough to perform the tasks assigned to them.

Anti-ship weapons, on the contrary, are equipped with turbojet engines - for a long, tens of minutes, flight in dense layers atmosphere. At a much lower speed than is typical for anti-aircraft missiles.

The creators of the 4-mach Zircon will obviously have to abandon any turbojet or ramjet engines, using a proven technique with a powder turbojet engine.

The problem of increasing the flight range is solved by a multi-stage layout. For example: the American Standard-3 interceptor missile has a destruction range of 700 km, and the interception altitude is limited to low Earth orbit.

Standard-3 is a four-stage rocket (Mk.72 launch booster, two sustainer stages and a detachable kinetic interceptor with its own engines for trajectory correction). After separation of the third stage, the speed of the warhead reaches Mach 10!

It is noteworthy that the Standard-3 is a relatively light compact weapon, with a launch weight of ~1600 kg. The anti-missile missile is placed in a standard air defense cell on board any American destroyer.

The anti-missile missile does not have a warhead. The main and only damaging element is its fourth stage ( infrared sensor, computer and set of engines), crashing at full speed into the enemy.

Returning to the Zircon, the author does not see any fundamental obstacles to the fact that an anti-aircraft missile, which has a lower speed and a flatter trajectory than the standard-3, after passing the apogee, can safely return to the dense layers of the atmosphere. Then detect and attack the target, falling like a star onto the deck of the ship.

The development and creation of hypersonic anti-ship missiles based on existing anti-aircraft missiles is the most optimal solution from the point of view of minimizing technical risks and financial costs.

A) Shooting at moving sea targets at a distance of over 500 km. Due to the high flight speed of the Zircon, its flight time will be reduced to 10-15 minutes. Which will automatically solve the problem of data obsolescence.
Previously, as now, anti-ship missiles are launched in the direction of the probable location of the target. By the time it arrives at the specified square, the target may already go beyond its boundaries, making it impossible for the missile's seeker to detect it.

B) From the previous paragraph it follows that it is possible to fire effectively at ultra-long distances, which will make the missile “ long hand” fleet. The ability to carry out operational strikes at enormous ranges. The reaction time of such a system is tens of times less than that of an aircraft carrier wing.

B) Launching an attack from the zenith, along with unexpectedly high speed missile flight (after braking in dense layers of the atmosphere, it will be about 2M), will make most of the existing close-in defense systems ineffective (“Dirks”, “Goalkeepers”, RIM-116, etc.)

At the same time, the negative aspects will be:

1. Altitude flight path. Within a second after launch, the enemy will notice the missile launch and begin to prepare to repel the attack.

Speed ​​= 4.5M is not a panacea here. The characteristics of the domestic S-400 make it possible to intercept air targets flying at speeds of up to 10 Mach.

The new American missile system “Standard-6” has maximum height defeats 30 km. Last year, with its help, the longest-range interception of a military center in a naval environment (140+ kilometers) was carried out in practice. And the powerful radar and computing capabilities of Aegis allow destroyers to hit targets in low-Earth orbits.

The second problem is the weak warhead. Some will say that at such speeds you can do without it. But that's not true.

A Talos anti-aircraft missile without a warhead almost cut the target in half (exercises off the coast of California, 1968).

The Talos core stage weighed one and a half tons (more than any existing rocket) and was powered by a ramjet engine. When it hit the target, an unspent supply of kerosene detonated. Speed ​​at the moment of impact = 2M. The target was a WWII-era escort destroyer (1,100 tons), whose dimensions corresponded to a modern small missile ship.

Talos hitting a cruiser or destroyer (5000-10000 tons), logically, could not lead to serious consequences. IN maritime history There are many cases where ships, having received numerous through holes from armor-piercing shells, remained in service. Thus, the American aircraft carrier “Kalinin Bay” in the battle near the island. Samar was pierced through 12 times.

The Zircon anti-ship missile needs a warhead. However, due to the need to ensure a speed of 4.5 M and limited weight and dimensions when placed in an airborne missile launcher, the mass of the warhead will be no more than 200 kg (estimated based on examples of existing missiles).

Hypersonic missiles, designed to penetrate defense systems, are the latest in a long-running arms race. The Russian Zircon missile may be put into service as early as 2018. Despite numerous newspaper headlines, not enough is known about this missile so that we can definitely say whether it poses an insurmountable threat to ships at sea.

Sputnik, a Russian state-owned news outlet, touts the missile's capabilities and notes that "British carrier strike groups will be forced to stay out of range of the Zircon missile, and carrier-based aircraft will not have enough fuel to cover the required distance." .

The carrier-threatening missile is a cheap countermeasure to a deadly threat, but the threat is well known. For years, military planners have included other ships in carrier strike groups that are equipped with missile defense systems and use their own radars and interceptor missiles to protect massive aircraft carriers from currently known missiles. It's not just speed that makes hypersonic cruise missiles a serious threat.

Speed ​​is only a means, not an end in itself. What makes missiles difficult to intercept is what they can do with their speed. “In my opinion, the question regarding the Zircon missile is its characteristics - whether it can be detected at a long range and the speed at which it is able to maneuver in the final phase. These are more interesting questions than just speed,” said James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for international peace(Carnegie Endowment for International Peace).

Context

Russian missiles cannot be stopped

"Sarmat" - the killer of the American missile defense system?

New Russian rocket- it is important

"That's actually a high speed for a cruise missile, but it's not particularly fast when you think about ballistic missiles," said David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Missile defense systems designed to intercept intercontinental missiles ballistic missiles, are just beginning to show some success against practice targets. Patriot systems are used against smaller ballistic missiles and are in service with many NATO member countries, including the United States. Patriot missiles have a speed of approximately Mach 4. This is more than enough to defeat existing cruise missiles and aircraft. In addition, Patriot missiles have demonstrated some success in the fight against ballistic missiles flying along a predictable trajectory.

Interception is achieved through speed and detection.

The highest speed of a Minuteman III ICBM is Mach 20. This is three or four times faster than the estimated speed of the Zircon rocket. However, ballistic missiles fly in a fairly clear trajectory - first up, then down, and all this in the open sky, where radars and satellites can easily follow their entire flight.

“Another way to evade radar—at least to a certain extent—is for a missile to fly low. The flight profile is very important in order to complicate detection, Acton emphasized. “Even if a missile is spotted, it is unlikely to be intercepted if it is capable of evasive maneuvers.” The missiles literally dodge the anti-missile missiles trying to intercept them.

How exactly the Zircon rocket will fly will ultimately say much more about its capabilities than just data on its speed. If this missile can move along a low trajectory, and then, after a sudden and unexpected maneuver, hits a ship at the very end of its flight, then it will be exactly as deadly as everyone is trumpeting. If it is not capable of such a maneuver, then perhaps existing missile defense systems will be able to intercept it. Although it is unlikely that the designers and military planners did not endow it with such capabilities. However, this kind of information is not currently available, and therefore, in any case, it is too early to say definitively whether the Zircon missile will provide Russia with a huge advantage in naval battles.

“I take very seriously what is said about the Zircon missile and the fact that it could pose a threat to American ships,” Acton said. “However, speed alone is not the only important factor. According to funds mass media, her speed is Mach 6, which is supposedly why she can't be stopped. This is actually a pretty uninformed assumption.”

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

Flights of “three-mach” aircraft were accompanied by furious heating of the structure. The temperature of the edges of the air intakes and the leading edge of the wing reached 580-605 K, and the rest of the skin 470-500 K. The consequences of such heating are evidenced by the fact that already at a temperature of 370 K the organic glass used for glazing the cabins softens and the fuel begins to boil.

At 400 K, the strength of duralumin decreases; at 500 K, chemical decomposition of the working fluid in the hydraulic system and destruction of seals occurs. At 800 K, titanium alloys lose the necessary mechanical properties. At temperatures above 900 K, aluminum and magnesium melt, and heat-resistant steel loses its properties.

The flights were carried out in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20,000 meters in highly rarefied air. Achieving a speed of 3M at lower altitudes was not possible - the skin temperature would reach four-digit values.

Over the next half century, a number of measures have been proposed to combat the searing fury of atmospheric heating. Beryllium alloys and new ablative materials, composites based on boron and carbon fibers, plasma spraying of refractory coatings...

Despite the progress achieved, the thermal barrier still remains a serious obstacle on the path to hypersound. An obligatory obstacle, but not the only one.

Supersonic flight is extremely expensive in terms of required thrust and fuel consumption. And the level of complexity of this problem rapidly increases with decreasing flight altitude.

To date, none of the existing types of aircraft and cruise missiles have been able to reach a speed of 3M at sea level.

The record holder among manned aircraft was the MiG-23. Thanks to its relatively small size, variable sweep wing and powerful R-29-300 engine, it was able to reach 1,700 km/h near the ground. More than anyone in the world!

Cruise missiles showed slightly better results, but also failed to reach the Mach 3 level. Among all the variety of anti-ship missile weapons, worldwide, only four anti-ship missiles can fly twice the speed of sound at sea level. Among them:

— ZM80 "Mosquito"(launch weight 4 tons, maximum speed at an altitude of 14 km - 2.8M, at sea level - 2M)

— ZM55 "Onyx"(launch weight 3 tons, maximum speed at an altitude of 14 km - 2.6 M)

— ZM54 "Caliber"

- and, Russian-Indian "BrahMos"(launch weight 3 tons, design speed at low altitude 2M).

The promising “Caliber” came closest to the treasured 3M. Thanks to the multi-stage layout, its detachable warhead (which itself is the third stage) is capable of reaching a speed of 2.9 M at the finish line. However, not for long - the separation and acceleration of the warhead is carried out in close proximity to the target. During the marching phase, the ZM54 flies at subsonic levels.

It is worth noting that there is no information about testing and testing the ZM54 separation algorithm in practice. Despite the common name, the ZM54 missile has little in common with those “Calibers” that staged an unforgettable fireworks display in the sky over the Caspian Sea last fall (subsonic missile for attacks on land targets, index ZM14).

It can be stated that a rocket developing a speed of > 2M at low altitude is, in the literal sense, still only tomorrow.

You have already noticed that each of the three anti-ship missiles capable of developing 2M during the sustaining phase of flight (Moskit, Onyx, Brahmos) is distinguished by exceptional weight and size characteristics. The length is 8-10 meters, the launch mass is 7-8 times higher than that of subsonic anti-ship missiles. At the same time, their warheads are relatively small, accounting for about 8% of the launch mass of the rocket. And the flight range at low altitude barely reaches 100 km.

The possibility of air-launching these missiles remains questionable. Due to their too long length, “Mosquito” and “Brahmos” do not fit into air defense systems; they require separate launchers on the decks of ships. As a result, the number of carriers of supersonic anti-ship missiles can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

At this point it is worth turning to the title topic of this article.

ZM22 "Zircon" is a hypersonic sword of the Russian Navy. Myth or reality?

The rocket that is talked about so much, but no one has even seen its outline. What will this superweapon look like? What are its capabilities? And the main question is how realistic are the plans to create such an anti-ship missile system at the modern technological level?

After reading the long introduction about the torment of the creators of supersonic aircraft and missiles, many of the readers probably had doubts about the realism of the existence of “Zircon”.

A fiery arrow flying on the border of supersonic and hypersonic, capable of hitting naval targets at ranges of 500 kilometers or more. Whose overall dimensions do not exceed the established restrictions when placed in UKSK cells.

The 3S14 universal ship-based firing system is an 8-round below-deck vertical launcher for launching the entire range of Caliber family missiles. Max. The length of the transport and launch container with the missile is 8.9 meters. The starting weight limit is up to three tons. It is planned that ten such modules (80 launch silos) will form the basis of strike weapons on the modernized nuclear Orlans.

A promising superweapon or another unfulfilled promise? Doubts are in vain.

The appearance of a supersonic anti-ship missile capable of reaching a speed of 4.5 M in flight is the next logical step in improving missile weapons. It is curious that missiles with similar characteristics have been in service with the leading navies of the world for about 30 years. One index is enough to understand what we are talking about.

Anti-aircraft missile 48N6E2 as part of the S-300FM “Fort” naval anti-aircraft system:
The length and diameter of the body are standard for all missiles of the S-300 family.
Length = 7.5 m, diameter of the rocket with folded wings = 0.519 m.
Launch weight 1.9 tons.
The warhead is a high-explosive fragmentation unit weighing 180 kg.
The estimated range of destruction of the VC is up to 200 km.
Speed ​​- up to 2100 m/s (SIX speeds of sound).

SAM 48N6E2 as part of the S-300PMU2 “Favorit” land complex

How justified is the comparison of anti-aircraft missiles with anti-ship missiles?

There are not many conceptual differences. The anti-aircraft 48N6E2 and the promising Zircon are guided missiles with all the ensuing consequences.

Sailors are well aware of the hidden capabilities of shipborne air defense systems. Half a century ago, during the first firing of anti-aircraft missiles, an obvious discovery was made: at a line-of-sight range, missile defense systems would be the first to be used. They have a smaller warhead mass, but their reaction time is 5-10 times less compared to anti-ship missiles! This tactic was widely used in “skirmishes” at sea. The Yankees damaged an Iranian frigate with the Standard (1988). Russian sailors, with the help of the Osa, dealt with the Georgian boats.

The bottom line is that if a conventional missile defense system with a disabled proximity fuse can be used against ships, then why not create a special weapon based on it to destroy surface targets? The advantage will be high flight speed, at the border of hypersound.

The main disadvantage is the high-altitude flight profile, which makes the missile vulnerable to breaking through enemy air defenses.

What are the main design differences between missiles and anti-ship missiles?

Guidance system.

To detect targets over the horizon, anti-ship missiles require an active radar seeker.

It is worth noting that anti-aircraft missiles with ARGSN have been used in the world for a long time. The first of them (the European Aster) was put into service over ten years ago. A similar missile was created by the Americans (Standard-6). The domestic analogues are 9M96E and E2 - anti-aircraft missiles of the Redut naval air defense system.

At the same time, detecting a 100-meter ship should be easier than targeting an actively maneuvering point-sized object (an airplane or missile).

Engine.

Most anti-aircraft missiles are equipped with a solid rocket motor, whose operating time is limited to seconds. The operating time of the 48N6E2 rocket propulsion engine is only 12 s, after which the rocket flies by inertia, controlled by aerodynamic rudders. As a rule, the flight range of missiles along a quasi-ballistic trajectory, with a marching section high in the stratosphere, does not exceed 200 km (the most “long-range”), which is quite enough to perform the tasks assigned to them.

Anti-ship weapons, on the contrary, are equipped with turbojet engines for long, tens of minutes, flight in dense layers of the atmosphere. At a much lower speed than is typical for anti-aircraft missiles.

The creators of the 4-mach Zircon will obviously have to abandon any turbojet or ramjet engines, using a proven technique with a powder turbojet engine.

The problem of increasing the flight range is solved by a multi-stage layout. For example, the American Standard-3 interceptor missile has a destruction range of 700 km, and the interception altitude is limited to low Earth orbit.

Standard-3 is a four-stage rocket (Mk.72 launch booster, two sustainer stages and a detachable kinetic interceptor with its own engines for trajectory correction). After separation of the third stage, the speed of the warhead reaches Mach 10!

It is noteworthy that the Standard-3 is a relatively light compact weapon, with a launch weight of ~1600 kg. The anti-missile missile is placed in a standard air defense cell on board any American destroyer.

The anti-missile missile does not have a warhead. The main and only destructive element is its fourth stage (infrared sensor, computer and set of engines), which crashes into the enemy at full speed.

Returning to the Zircon, the author does not see any fundamental obstacles to the fact that an anti-aircraft missile, which has a lower speed and a flatter trajectory than Standard-3, after passing the apogee, can safely return to the dense layers of the atmosphere. After which, detect and attack the target, falling like a star onto the deck of the ship.

The development and creation of hypersonic anti-ship missiles based on existing anti-aircraft missiles is the most optimal solution from the point of view of minimizing technical risks and financial costs.

A) firing at moving sea targets at a distance of over 500 km. Due to the high flight speed of the Zircon, its flight time will be reduced to 10-15 minutes. Which will automatically solve the problem of data obsolescence.

Previously, as now, anti-ship missiles are launched in the direction of the probable location of the target. By the time it arrives at the specified square, the target may already go beyond its boundaries, making it impossible for the missile's seeker to detect it.

B) from the previous paragraph it follows that it is possible to effectively fire at ultra-long distances, which will make the missile the “long arm” of the fleet. The ability to carry out operational strikes at enormous ranges. The reaction time of such a system is tens of times less than that of an aircraft carrier wing.

C) launching an attack from the zenith, along with the unexpectedly high speed of the missile’s flight (after braking in dense layers of the atmosphere, it will be about 2 M), will make most of the existing close-in defense systems ineffective (“Dirks”, “Goalkeepers”, RIM-116 etc.)

At the same time, the negative aspects will be:

1. Altitude flight path. Within a second after launch, the enemy will notice the missile launch and begin to prepare to repel the attack.

Speed ​​= 4.5M is not a panacea here. The characteristics of the domestic S-400 make it possible to intercept air targets flying at speeds of up to 10 Mach.

The new American Standard-6 missile defense system has a maximum destruction altitude of 30 km. Last year, with its help, the longest-range interception of CC in naval history(140+ kilometers). And the powerful radar and computing capabilities of Aegis allow destroyers to hit targets in low-Earth orbits.

2. The second problem is the weak warhead. Some will say that at such speeds you can do without it. But that's not true.

A Talos anti-aircraft missile without a warhead almost cut the target in half (exercises off the coast of California, 1968).

The Talos core stage weighed one and a half tons (more than any existing rocket) and was powered by a ramjet engine. When it hit the target, an unspent supply of kerosene detonated. Speed ​​at the moment of impact = 2M. The target was a WWII-era escort destroyer (1,100 tons), whose dimensions corresponded to a modern small missile ship.

Talos hitting a cruiser or destroyer (5,000 - 10,000 tons), logically, could not lead to serious consequences. There are many cases in maritime history when ships, having received numerous through holes from armor-piercing shells, remained in service. Thus, the American aircraft carrier “Kalinin Bay” in the battle near the island. Samar was pierced through 12 times.

The Zircon anti-ship missile needs a warhead. However, due to the need to ensure a speed of 4.5 M and limited weight and dimensions when placed in an airborne missile launcher, the mass of the warhead will be no more than 200 kg (estimated based on examples of existing missiles).