According to him, the goals that the developers set for themselves have been fully achieved. The army will receive weapons that will significantly increase the country's defensive potential.
Having accepted the report, the Belarusian leader expressed special gratitude to the Chinese side. True, at the same time, he did not fail to reproach his Russian partners: “Our ally, Russia, is not so active in supporting our aspirations. We will talk about this separately with the President of Russia. But thanks to the People’s Republic of China and its leadership for this support.”
Thus, the skepticism of those experts, primarily Russian, who expressed serious doubts about the ability of the Belarusian industry “to develop and master the production of weapons with such high characteristics” was dispelled. As well as the ability of Belarus to conduct full tests of new weapons with full-range missile launches. The country simply does not have training grounds of suitable sizes, which will not allow confirming the declared technical data of the new weapon.
At the same time, we received almost 100% confirmation of the assumptions of a number of analysts that China took and continues to take an active part in the creation of the Belarusian MLRS, called Polonaise. And yet, the first domestic heavy multiple launch rocket system still remains a mystery for both ordinary citizens and experts.
All that is known from official sources is that the combat and transport-loading vehicles of the system are placed on a chassis manufactured at the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant - MZKT-7930 "Astrologer", and the technical capabilities of the Polonaise MLRS make it possible to deliver a pinpoint missile strike simultaneously against 8 targets on range more than 200 km.
And again speculation
Everything else, including the range of ammunition used, their equipment and power (not to mention the fire control and missile guidance systems), is completely unknown and provides a vast field for a wide variety of guesses and conjectures. True, the appearance of the combat and transport-loading MLRS vehicles that took place at the parade on May 9, 2015 became another serious (although not decisive) argument in favor of the version that the prototype of the Polonaise was the Chinese NORINCO AR3 multiple launch rocket system.
Thus, the Chinese MLRS, like its Belarusian counterpart, do not have the usual tubular guides on launchers (PUs) in such cases. In both cases, their basis is a rotating platform on which a support frame is attached. The platform and frame drives allow for guidance in horizontal and vertical planes. The support frame has fastenings for standard module packages with transport and launch containers (TPC).
When loading, these modules are reloaded from the transport-loading vehicle to the combat vehicle using a crane-manipulator and secured to the launcher support frame (after the missiles are launched, the module is removed and sent to the manufacturer for reloading or disposed of). According to experts, this technology not only makes it possible to speed up the reloading of a combat vehicle and its preparation for a new salvo, which in itself is very important, but most importantly, it makes it possible to use rockets of several calibers and types. For example, 370 mm and 300 mm caliber rockets have been developed for the AR3 MLRS.
The first are represented by FD220 ammunition with a maximum firing range of 220 km and FD280 with a maximum firing range of 280 km. The abbreviation FD stands for Fire Dragon, and the subsequent number stands for the maximum range of the missile.
The weight of 370 mm ammunition is 1,000-1,100 kg, and the mass of the warhead (warhead) reaches 250-300 kg. This family of missiles allows the AR3 MLRS to destroy targets at distances from 20 to 280 km. The circular probable deviation from the target declared by the manufacturer is 30 meters.
This allows experts to assert that AR3 MLRS guided missiles with a caliber of 370 mm have properties characteristic of operational-tactical ballistic missiles with an inclined launch type: their range is from 100 to 280 km, the accuracy of the QUO is about 30-50 m,
Beating eight in one fell swoop
And this presupposes that they have fairly advanced guidance systems (according to some sources, inertial with satellite correction). However, even their capabilities are unlikely to be sufficient to ensure simultaneous shelling and destruction of 8 point targets, as was stated when the Polonez MLRS was presented by Gosvoenprom specialists and the military.
Therefore, it is highly probable that the navigation unit of these missiles is equipped with an inertial guidance system with an optical-electronic correlator. Its similar structure is explained by the fact that the use of only an autonomous inertial control system when launching missiles at long ranges leads to the accumulation of navigation errors during the flight, as a result of which the circular probable deviation of the missile from the target exceeds the warhead's affected area.
Therefore, there is a need to correct the results of the inertial control system using a system based on an optical-electronic comparison of the terrain display with its reference digital image. To record the underlying surface in the optical range, a special camera is used, the information from which is compared with a digital terrain standard (digital map) obtained using satellites or aerial reconnaissance and stored in the memory of the missile's on-board computer.
This technology makes it possible to very accurately determine the location of the missile and correct navigation errors accumulated in previous stages of the process. True, it is not free from shortcomings associated with changes in the visual characteristics of the area and weather conditions. In this connection, this control system can be supplemented with a navigation complex based on the GLONASS/GPS system.
This version of the guidance system is supported by the fact that on November 14, 2008, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Alexander Lukashenko stated that “even if Russia does not provide us with these promising missiles (Iskander-type operational-tactical systems), We'll buy them ourselves." Moreover, the technologies underlying the Iskander guidance systems are Belarusian.
The technologies underlying the Iskander guidance systems are Belarusian
There is every reason to believe that the discussion then was about technologies for creating one of the most important elements of cruise and ballistic missile guidance systems - reference digital terrain maps. The initial information for such maps is satellite images obtained using special satellite equipment. One of the few global producers is the Republic of Belarus.
This is exactly the equipment installed on board the Belarusian spacecraft (BKA), which is currently in orbit. For reference, Belarusians have been involved in space programs since the times of the Soviet Union, producing equipment for optical sensing of the earth's surface. Its manufacturer is Minsk OJSC Peleng.
In order not to let "Smerch" go to waste
As noted above, an important feature of the AR3 is the ability to use, along with 370 mm ammunition, guided and unguided missiles of 300 mm caliber, which are loaded in packages of 5 TPK, and each launcher can carry two such packages. It can be assumed that Polonaise also inherited this valuable property.
Several types of 300-mm unguided and guided missiles with cluster and high-explosive fragmentation warheads with a range from 70 to 140 km have been developed for the AR3. The range of warheads includes cluster warheads, homing warheads and anti-tank mines, high-explosive fragmentation warheads and volumetric detonating warheads. 300 mm caliber missiles have a launch weight of 840-850 kg and carry a warhead weighing about 200 kg.
At the same time, the design features of the Polonaise MLRS inherited from the AR3 (the modular nature of the ammunition rack) make it possible to use not only 300-mm ammunition made in China, but also rockets for the Soviet-made Smerch MLRS, which are available in abundance in the warehouses of the Belarusian army. It is also important that Russia continues to produce improved ammunition of this type, both for its own needs and for export.
Thus, already at this stage of the project, it can be said without exaggeration that the Belarusian Polonaise multiple launch rocket system may well become a weapon capable of intimidating any potential aggressor.
Until 2015, military specialists from different countries laughed at the Belarusian defense industry when they offered them cooperation in creating new missile systems. Moreover, until recently, the Belarusian military-industrial complex completely lacked such a high-tech industry as rocketry. And in June of this year, as part of the transfer of the Polonaise missile system to the Armed Forces, live firing was carried out at a training ground in the Gomel region...
“Polonaise” is designed to destroy openly located and hidden enemy personnel, command posts, armored and unarmored military equipment, artillery, missile and anti-aircraft missile systems, aircraft at home airfields and other objects. The range is from 50 to 200 kilometers. Targets are hit with very high accuracy. According to available information, one Polonaise battery (four combat vehicles) can carry out two missile salvoes, each of which will consist of 32 rockets, hitting enemy targets in an area of almost 100 hectares with a missile deviation from the target of no more than 30 m.
This accuracy, combined with other advantages, allows this missile system to solve many combat missions typical of operational-tactical missile systems. By the way, there may soon be many more potential targets in the region. They may well become locations for the deployment of new NATO battalions being created in the Baltic countries and Poland, or storage sites for military equipment that the Alliance is placing in violation of the Russia-NATO Treaty. In addition, the other day, the commander of the ground units of the German Air Force, Brigadier General Michael Gschosman, said that Germany and the Netherlands plan to test a common Patriot air and missile defense system in October, which in the future could become a model for deploying these missile systems in Poland or the Baltic states.
In turn, the first division of the Polonaise complex should become part of the 336th rocket artillery brigade in September of this year. Open sources report that the missile system launches 301-mm rockets 7.26 m long with a stabilizer span of 0.62 m, the flight of which is corrected using GLONASS/GPS. The unprecedented shooting accuracy shown by the Polonaise during testing indicates the presence of an optical-electronic correlator.
The latter compares the display of the terrain being flown with its reference digital image. To record the underlying surface in the optical range, a special camera is used, the information from which is compared with a digital map obtained using satellites or aircraft and stored in the memory of the on-board computer of the rocket. The initial information for such maps is satellite images obtained using special equipment. By the way, Belarus is one of the few global producers of it. This is exactly the equipment installed on board the Belarusian spacecraft, which is in orbit. With a total weight of up to 46 tons, the Polonaise MLRS combat vehicle is easy to control. It takes no more than 10 minutes to deploy it from a traveling position to a combat position.
The time for loading two launch containers onto the BM using a transport-loading machine is no more than 20 minutes. Launchers, equipment for charging/recharging BM, are located on the platform of the four-axle all-terrain chassis "Astrologer" - diesel engine power 500 hp. The brainchild of MZKT is not only powerful, but also fast - capable of moving at a speed of 70 km/h. Shooting from the Polonaise BM is carried out from a place, on four stabilizers.
Weapons with similar high characteristics of accuracy, maneuverability and destruction range are not produced anywhere else in the post-Soviet space. Currently, specialists from the Belarusian military-industrial complex are working on creating a missile with a range of 300 km. This limitation is due to the missile technology control regime, which was signed between the USSR and the USA. According to this document, participating countries must refrain from exporting missile weapons systems with a launch range of more than 300 km and a warhead weight of more than 500 kg (except for joint developments). At the same time, many experts agree that the Polonaise MLRS is only an intermediate step towards the creation by Minsk of its own operational-tactical missile system, equipped, among other things, with its own Aist cruise missiles.
The Aist missile launcher is equipped with an MS-400 turbojet engine, developed by the Ukrainian company Motor Sich. It should be noted that a similar engine is used in the Chinese DF-10 (CJ-10) and the Pakistani Hatf-VII Babur. It is also interesting that, for example, the Pakistani missile defense system “Babur” also has an airborne counterpart - “Raad ALCM”, which has a range of 350 km.
The carriers of missiles of this type are fighters such as F-16, JF-17 (for example, as in the image, which is illusory). This allows us to count on the possibility of integrating Belarusian missile systems into the MiG-29 weapons complex, and even more so into the Su-30 planned for purchase. And if the acquisition of the Su-30 is announced by 2020, then the MiG-29 of various versions in the Air Force and Air Defense of Belarus currently numbers more than 30 units.
Thus, the Belarusian defense industry has enormous opportunities and prospects for implementing their developments, which will significantly increase the potential of the Armed Forces, increase the security of the state, and, in addition, loudly declare themselves on the global arms market.
Belarusian military experts, analyzing the state of the military-industrial complex of Belarus, concluded that the army and military infrastructure of the republic are in a catastrophic situation. In 2017, 924 million rubles (about $500 million) will be spent from the country's budget on defense. Security experts say the money is barely enough to maintain the military-industrial complex, but not enough to rearm the army. At the same time, the July decisions of the country's leadership make it possible to predict an increase in the military budget and funding for the military-industrial complex.
The army rearmament program is postponed due to insufficient funding
A striking example is the state of the republic's military aircraft fleet. If in the early 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, it consisted of more than a hundred good aircraft at that time, now the country can boast of several Yak-130 trainers, which were recently purchased from Russia. Everything else is yesterday's aviation.
The main combat vehicles of the Belarusian Air Force, Mig-29 and Su-27, were decided to be replaced 2 years ago. One Russian Su-30 costs $30 million, there is no money in the budget even to recruit a squadron, therefore, plans to switch to the Su-30 were postponed indefinitely.
The current head of the State Military Industry of Belarus, Major General Oleg Dvigalev, who was previously the commander of the Air Force and Air Defense Forces of the armed forces of the republic, clarified in February 2017 that the purchase of the Su-30 is planned to be completed before the end of 2020, but for now the military aircraft fleet is coping with the carrying of combat missions. duties, and with the training of flight personnel. (Note: O. Dvigalev was appointed to a new position on July 18, 2017. According to military observer A. Alesin, his appointment shows the vector of development of the military-industrial complex of Belarus: there will be a bias towards the development and improvement of anti-aircraft missile systems and aircraft.)
In April 2017, during a meeting between A. Lukashenko and V. Putin in St. Petersburg, the issue of purchasing Su-30s for 50% of their cost was raised again, but so far the deal has not taken place.
70% of the Belarusian military-industrial complex's products are exported
Information about how much the republic’s budget receives from this activity is closed; According to experts, about $300 million per year. Belarus is mainly selling off old stocks.
For comparison. In 1998-2001 Belarus sold $1 billion worth of weapons and ranked 11th in the world by this indicator. In 2005, the republic was among the world's twenty most active arms sellers. Sales of airplanes, helicopters, armored personnel carriers, tanks and other equipment to Iran, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, Peru, and Uganda were officially confirmed.
Over the past 12 years, the structure of Belarusian arms exports has changed. On the global arms market, the republic began to specialize in the supply of automated control systems for air defense and aviation; guidance systems for tanks and artillery. In addition, Belarus is currently actively modernizing military equipment and selling dual-use technologies.
Military experts on the defense budget of Belarus
Belarusian journalist, economic and military observer A. Alesin confirms that no more than 1% of the country’s total budget is spent on defense. There has been no real increase in spending for these purposes in the last 3 years. The increase that the state demonstrates is, first of all, “jumps in the exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble relative to the dollar.” The budget “increased” within the limits of inflation.
What then does the country export? Perhaps “the so-called surplus military equipment: what is left of the USSR; ammunition that is about to expire; other military property; piece by piece old tanks; retired Su-24, possibly Su-27.”
At the same time, the expert believes that the announced $300 million does not include income from trade in various electronic systems, electronic intelligence equipment, radars, software, drones, etc. In reality, the proceeds from the sale could reach $1 billion.
How much is spent on rearmament is unknown. Most of it goes to the military-industrial complex’s own needs: salaries, taxes, and so on.
The head of the Belarus Security Blog analytical project, Andrei Porotnikov, believes that the funds allocated for defense in the budget are not even enough to properly maintain the personnel of the armed forces, not to mention the purchase of new military equipment and training of army personnel. In his opinion, the size of the country's defense budget needs to be increased to at least 3% of GDP. This can be done by redistributing budget expenditures and by combining all extra-budgetary funds.
Prospects for increasing funding for the Belarusian military-industrial complex
Already in July of this year. New expert reports have appeared on the websites of Belarusian think tanks, describing a number of trends: strengthening the influence of the Belarusian army through new personnel appointments; improving the system of managing the security bloc by the country's top political leadership; the need for a speedy solution to the problem of rational use of military-industrial complex resources, security and defense of Belarus. A separate line was reported about the expansion of security cooperation with the PRC.
Thus, on July 25, 2017, a protocol of intent to expand cooperation in the fight against terrorism was signed between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus and the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China. Cooperation includes information exchange, joint operations and technical assistance from China.
On July 27, 2017, President of Belarus A. Lukashenko, at a meeting with the leadership of the State Secretariat of the Security Council, pointed out the need to optimize the management system of the country’s security bloc, and to develop a new mechanism for the work of the head of state with the State Secretariat of the Security Council and security agencies. During 2017, the maximum number and amount of funding for each department should be determined, as well as the areas of work clarified. It is assumed that the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense will be able to redistribute material and human resources, following current priorities.
According to experts, this is due to the changed diplomatic strategy of the Belarusian authorities towards Russia. Russia is no longer considered as a guarantor of internal stability and external security of the republic; therefore, it is necessary to look for new points of support in the field of internal and external security. Expanding security cooperation with China is one of the manifestations of the new foreign policy strategy.
The fact that the influence of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus is growing is evidenced by the increase in the share of expenditures in the country’s state budget for the needs of the military-industrial complex.
On July 17, 2017, the law “On approval of the report on the execution of the republican budget for 2016” was adopted. Expenditures under the item “Defense and Armed Forces” were initially approved in the amount of 834.6 million Belarusian rubles, then the figure was clarified to 988.6 million, and in total at the end of the year almost 983 million were used. (In the public domain of the document, on the basis of which the Ministry of Defense received additional funding, no.)
Experts have suggested where the additional funding was directed. In their opinion, this is the development of the Polonaise MLRS in terms of increasing the range to 300 km and integrating the Chinese M-20 operational-tactical missile into the weapons complex, including the supply of weapons to the troops; modernization of the tank fleet, including to the T-72B3 level, by the Russian Uralvagonzavod; purchase of vehicles, including armored vehicles "Cayman", V-1, CS/VN3 "Dragon"; acquisition of an additional batch of unmanned aircraft systems for various purposes, as well as new communication equipment, including the Belintersat satellite system.
In addition, commenting on the appointment of Major General Oleg Dvigalev as chairman of the State Military-Industrial Committee, experts concluded that the status of the State Military-Industrial Complex had been downgraded and that it was directly subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. The President of Belarus decided to oblige the State Military-Industrial Complex to provide for the army’s requests, i.e. improve quality, reduce product costs and meet project deadlines.
Thus, Belarusian think tanks conclude that for the first time in 26 years there are prospects for resuming funding for the military-industrial complex in the proper amount. This is due to the security crisis in Eastern Europe and the change in the priority of threats to the national security of Belarus from domestic political and socio-economic to external ones.
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The Zapad 2017 strategic exercises attracted an unprecedented level of attention. A huge number of the most incredible rumors were spread around this event. Let's try to understand the course of the armed conflict between the “Northern” (Russia and Belarus) and the “Western” (Veyshnoria, Lubenia, Vesbaria), the military-technical innovations used, the main accents and main successes in protecting the sovereignty of the Union State of Russia and Belarus.
Various groups of forces and assets of the Union State were involved in the combat situation: ground forces, including a variety of cannon and rocket artillery, as well as missile systems, airborne troops (Airborne Forces), navy (Navy), air force forces (Air Force) and air defense units (Air Defense).
The key comprehensive objectives of the exercise were:
Improving the interoperability of headquarters at various levels;
Interfacing of advanced command and control systems;
Approbation of new statutory documents.
The last point is of interest - obviously, the combat manuals of the types and branches of the military are undergoing changes in the light of the experience of the Syrian conflict.
Events
Let us restore the main tactical episodes of the “strategic exercise”. At the first stage, localization, suppression of subversive activities and destruction of illegal armed groups of “Veyshnoria” were carried out, as well as strengthening the border of the Union State, including with the involvement of Special Operations Forces.
After the full inclusion of conditional foreign sponsors of the intrastate conflict, Russian and Belarusian units conducted a joint maneuverable defensive operation, after which they went on the offensive and defeated the enemy on land, in the air and at sea.
The main emphasis during combat training was placed on the following elements:
Compatibility and interaction of reconnaissance, electronic warfare (EW), air defense systems of the armed forces of the Union State;
The use of high-precision weapons with practical launches of anti-aircraft missile systems, operational-tactical and coastal missile systems;
Practical application of reconnaissance and strike (reconnaissance and fire) contours (RUK\ROK): integrated detection of targets by military reconnaissance means, automated target designation and escort of aviation, missile forces and artillery units at the command post of a regional grouping in an automated mode of fire destruction of designated objects on a scale real time;
Conducting territorial defense, transition measures and organizing the activities of enterprises and organizations under martial law.
People
On the Russian side, units of the revived First Guards Tank Army, paratroopers from Pskov, Tula and Ivanovo, separate missile brigades, a “wide range” of aerospace forces (VKS) and air defense of the Western Military District (ZVO), as well as parts of engineering, transport and psychological support. Much attention was paid to the Baltic Fleet, including its ground units. The Russian National Guard did not stand aside either.
The work of the signal troops should also be noted: new lines and communication centers were created, and control points were equipped. In addition, the exercise tested the functioning of the high-speed multi-service data transmission network of the Russian armed forces. As part of the exercise, Belarusian colleagues tested a new command and staff vehicle (CSV), equipped with modern digital communications equipment and a new digital radio relay station. The communications troops provided effective and secure video conferencing channels and high-speed data transmission networks.
Exercises "Zapad-2017". Source: mil.by.
There was no official information on the participation of the 12th Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which is responsible for nuclear support. However, taking into account the testing of the use of a wide range of missile and anti-missile weapons, there is little doubt about this.
A variety of units also took part from the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus: paratroopers, ground forces, aviation, territorial defense forces and special operations forces.
Technique
The defense-industrial complexes of Russia and Belarus used Zapad-2017 to effectively demonstrate promising models of weapons and military equipment (W&M), including those existing in single copies.
Thus, at the Luzhsky training ground in the Leningrad Region, in the presence of the President of the Russian Federation, a simulated enemy was hit by a modernized T-90M main battle tank and a tank support combat vehicle (BMPT), which had recently returned from Syria. Moreover, as a result of the “business trip” within the framework of the Army-2017 forum, the first contract was signed for the supply of a batch of such armored vehicles for the Russian armed forces. Unfortunately, there is no official information on the combat use of BMPTs yet.
As for more serial solutions, it is worth noting the large-scale use by the Russian Airborne Forces of the new BMD-4M airborne combat vehicles, as well as serious anti-tank weapons - “Octopus” and “Kornet”.
The Belarusian allies did not lag behind: they showed “in the field” the Cayman vehicle with a four-barreled machine gun module, the Hornet anti-tank missile system, the Moskit unmanned aerial system and an “electronic gun” for combating multicopters (Groza-R product » JSC "KB Radar"), long-range multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) "Polonaise".
Exercises "Zapad-2017". Source: multimedia.Ministry of Defense.rf.
Let us dwell on the last elements further: the use of UAVs and counteraction to their use is a key element of any recent military clashes, and one of the main tasks of UAV operators is effective target designation for their artillery, missile forces and aviation within the framework of a single reconnaissance and fire contour. At the same time, the fight against them also did not remain outside the scope of the exercises - during the exercises, the Russian Airborne Forces hit up to 40 UAV targets using man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) and ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns placed on airborne armored personnel carriers.
The most powerful systems used within the framework of the RUK during the exercises were the Iskander-M OTRK, including the one that demonstrated the ability to launch a cruise missile at a maximum (however, corresponding to the INF Treaty restrictions) range of 480 km, as well as the Polonaise MLRS, which is one one of the world's best systems in its class (by the way, with Chinese genes).
For tankers of both countries, the main “workhorse” is gradually becoming the T-72B3 “2016 model with additional protection.” This is a striking example of the growing integration of the armed forces of the Union State, as well as the defense-industrial complexes of our countries. This tank also uses products from the Belarusian radio-electronic and optical industries.
Exercises "Zapad-2017".
In recent years, the Belarusian military-industrial complex has been more and more persistently (though with varying success so far) promoting its latest developments in the field of anti-tank weapons to the international market. These include the third generation anti-tank missile system (ATGM) “Hornet”.
Being a further development of the Belarusian-Ukrainian anti-tank complex “Skif”, the “Shershen” anti-tank missile system, due to the use of original technical solutions, surpasses it in a number of important parameters.
Thus, the use, along with the RK-2 missile of 130 mm caliber, of the more powerful B-2M missile of 152 mm caliber (both developed by the Kiev State Design Bureau "Luch" and produced by the Kiev plant "Artem") allows the "Shershen" ATGM, according to the developers, to be guaranteed to hit everything at a range of up to 5000 mg modern armored targets, regardless of the point of impact (projection).
The armor penetration of a tandem cumulative warhead behind dynamic protection at an impact angle of 60± is: with a 130 mm caliber rocket - at least 800 mm, with a 152 mm caliber rocket - at least 1100 mm.
The Hornet ATGM can be used not only to destroy armored vehicles, but also (due to the presence of ammunition with high-explosive fragmentation and thermobaric warheads) to destroy buried protected objects (such as a bunker, pillbox, bunker) and low-flying low-speed targets (helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles devices). And the use of the extended R-2B missile (in the Hornet-Q version) increases the maximum firing range to 7500 m, which significantly increases the chances of successful combat against surface targets during coastal defense.
High accuracy in hitting all types of targets is ensured by the use of a noise-resistant laser guidance system, which is implemented in the PN-S guidance device, developed and manufactured by Minsk OJSC Peleng.
This device has television and thermal imaging channels with wide and narrow fields of view. The first mode is used to search for a target, and the second is used to capture it. In addition to the PN-S guidance device, a thermal imaging camera can be installed, which allows detection and identification of targets at a greater range in difficult weather conditions.
Today, PN-S is the only ATGM guidance device that has a built-in laser rangefinder, which ensures fast and accurate guidance. In addition, PN-S can be used as an autonomous means of reconnaissance and target designation (measuring ranges up to 9 km with an error of 5 m is provided).
The device can also be used to control anti-tank missiles, guided by a laser beam and fired not only from a launch container, but also from an artillery gun or tank gun. This allows the device to be used for guidance of other missiles developed by Luch Design Bureau, including 100-, 105-, 115-, 120- and 125-mm ammunition.
After the missile is launched, the operator’s task is reduced to monitoring the flight path and, if necessary, correcting the aiming point using the joystick on the remote control panel.
Thus, although the Hornet ATGM actually implements the “fire and forget” principle, it also has the ability to redirect the missile to a more important or dangerous target.
An important feature of this ATGM is the ability to direct a missile at a target from closed positions and from shelters, which significantly reduces the risk of the operator being hit by a retaliatory fire strike from the enemy and significantly reduces the psychophysical impact on him.
The remote control panel can be placed at a distance of up to 100 m from the launcher when using a wired communication channel and up to 300 m when using wireless control. To date, the wireless remote control function is implemented only in the Hornet ATGM.
Moreover, from one remote control you can control several launchers and/or combat modules (up to four). The possibility of operating a complex (several complexes) as part of a unified control system with automation of the process of reconnaissance, target designation and target distribution is also provided.
Today we can talk about four modifications of the Hornet ATGM:
— Basic version consists of a universal combat module mounted on a tripod, a transport and launch container with one missile, a PN-S guidance device and a remote control. The deployment time of the complex by a combat crew of two people does not exceed two minutes;
— “Hornet-L” is a lightweight option for shooting from the shoulder at a range of no more than 2.5 km;
— “Hornet-D”- modification with two firing channels, possibility of installation on a vehicle;
— “Hornet-Q” is a modification with four firing channels and an automatic lift (or without it). Installed as a combat module on a vehicle.
Let us add that, despite the undeniable advantages of the Hornet ATGM over similar developments, information in open sources about mass sales of these weapons has not yet been published.
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