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Will our armor protected? Operational combat readiness KAZ "Drozd-2" is not far off

Will our armor protected? KAZ operational combat readiness «Blackbird-2» not far away

undoubtedly, active protection complexes, as well as the complexes of mounted and built-in dynamic protection of the 2nd and 3rd generations, are an integral component of maintaining the combat stability of mechanized units of the ground forces, covering fortified areas or carrying out offensive throws in those operational directions, which are replete with dozens of enemy anti-tank missile systems, equipped with monoblock and tandem cumulative warheads with armor penetration 900+ mm behind the reactive armor elements.

Equipping Russian armored vehicles with active protection complexes "Drozd-2" in the TKB modification-0252 is able to radically change the balance of forces in the most important strategic directions of the European theater of operations

Against this background, information about the beginning of field tests of the active protection complex provided extremely serious food for thought in expert communities and at military-analytical forums. (KAZ) TKB-0252, also known under the code "Drozd-2". According to the news publication "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", referring to the test order document, hosted by the Tula JSC "Design Bureau of Instrument Making named after Academician A. D. Shipunova "on the public procurement portal 17 December 2019 of the year, "Optional package" prepared for testing KAZ "Drozd-2" will be represented by non-standard protective shells (projectiles) ZOF53, previously used in the ammunition of the first modification of the Drozd complex ("Product 1030M-01»), and promising protective interceptor shells ZOF77, now constituting the basis of the active protection complexes "Afganit".

As a result, the modernized version of "Drozd-2" (TKB-0252) will be able to boast of a number of technological advantages over the standard modification of the complex ("Drozd-2"), and in front of the modernized "brainchild" of the Kolomna research and production corporation "Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering" - the active protection complex T09-06 "Arena-M".

First of all, protective projectiles ZOF77 can boast of the presence of a "sleeve" with a more powerful propellant charge, thanks to which it is possible to intercept attacking shells at distances of more than 20-30 m (in comparison with 7-10 m for shells of the ZOF53 family of the standard KAZ "Drozd / -2"). It is logical to assume, that this feature will greatly reduce the likelihood of damage or disablement of optical-electronic sighting means (multi-channel combined gunner's sight "Sosona-U", panoramic sight of the commander) and radar guidance modules of the KAZ TKB itself-0252 "Drozd-2" of the defended unit of equipment with fragments of intercepted high-explosive fragmentation shells, ПТУРСов, multipurpose tactical air-to-surface missiles, etc..

Furthermore, interception of enemy shells at a distance of several tens of meters will significantly reduce the risk of high-speed fragments hitting the elements of 4C24 reactive armor "Relic" with further initiation and, accordingly, "exposure" of armor plates in front of armor-piercing feathered shells of kinetic action. When attacking air attack weapons are destroyed at a distance of 7-10 m from the defended unit of armored vehicles, such a risk is quite high.

Secondly, according to numerous military-technical portals, referring to competent sources, Protective projectiles ZOF77 are equipped with a non-standard high-explosive fragmentation warhead, and a warhead of the "shock core" type with spatial optimization of the "shock core" shooting sector directly in the direction of the enemy attacking projectile, which is realized thanks to the programmed initiation of a certain array of dozens of fuses, placed on the back of the container with a "shock core".

Will our armor protected? KAZ operational combat readiness «Blackbird-2» not far away

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This interception principle is similar to the concept of kinetic destruction of ballistic targets by the "hit-to-kill" method. (direct hit), where either a controlled super-maneuverable combat stage is used as a kinetic interceptor, or SAM-interceptor as a whole. In the case of ZOF77, an uncontrolled "shock core" is used as an interceptor, shaped like a pestle and a speed of the order of 2.5-5 km / s. Consequently, for its direct hit into a small high-explosive fragmentation projectile, anti-tank guided projectile, a rocket-propelled grenade or the core of an armor-piercing feathered sub-caliber projectile of the enemy requires filigree accurate target designation, transferred to the computerized control unit of the group of fuses of the protective projectile ZOF77 in hundredths of a second before the moment of critical approach with the intercepted projectile.

Based on the fact, that ZOF77 cannot be adapted to the placement of an active Ka / W-band radar seeker due to the technical impossibility of overlapping the "shock core" lining (fraught with deviation of the trajectory of its flight), The main source of target designation for the fuse initiation control module can only be the KAZ TKB radar module-0252, placed on the turret of the defended tank and having a resolution of 0.05-0.1 m, as well as the highest performance of the radar information processing device to minimize reaction time when working on the cores of armor-piercing shells and other high-speed targets. Naturally, The standard radar guidance module of the Drozd-2 complex did not previously have an element base with similar capabilities.

It's not hard to guess, that the Drozd-2 complex in the TKB version-0252 will be re-equipped with a 128-element "hard kill" -class AFAR-radar from the "Afganit" active protection complex. This product has an accuracy of the order of 0.29 ° and a high-performance radio-electronic architecture of the transmit-receive path, providing detection and tracking of ultra-small cores of armor-piercing feathered sub-caliber projectiles, approaching at speeds of the order of 1600-1700 m / s and having RCS in thousandths of a square meter, not to mention low-speed ATGMs with an effective reflective surface of about 0.05-0.08 sq.. m.

How view, in case of successful passing of control tests and gaining operational combat readiness by the active protection complex of the TKB-0252 "Drozd-2" already in the foreseeable future it is worth expecting the conclusion of large contracts between the Russian defense department and the Central Design and Research Bureau of Sports and Hunting Weapons (a subsidiary of Tula KBP JSC) for the supply of these complexes to motorized rifle and tank brigades of the Russian Army, which will dramatically increase their combat stability in the most important strategic areas of the European conventional theater of operations.

Meanwhile, the "genetic disease" of the Drozd-2 and Arena-M complexes, consisting in the impossibility of intercepting ATGM, tactical missiles and guided artillery shells, diving on defended units at angles more 45 and more degrees in the "slide" mode, still persists, since the elevated viewing area of ​​the TKB radar guidance modules-0252 is only 20 degrees, while transport and launch mortars with protective shells ZOF77 are also stationary and do not have devices for adjusting the angle of rotation. In this case, equipping both radar guidance modules can save the situation., and mortar with electromechanical drives for turning in the elevation plane.

Eugene Damantsev

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