undoubtedly, published in the news section of the Russian military-technical reference publication missilery.info (IS "Rocket technology") 7 May 2020 of the year information on the signing by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin of the decree No. 306 "On the awarding of the State Prize of the Russian Federation named after Marshal of the Soviet Union G. TO. Zhukov in 2020 year ”to highly qualified specialists of the top management level of the Tula Scientific and Production Association“ Splav ”for a significant contribution to the development of promising long-range 300-mm guided missiles for MLRS 9K515“ Tornado-S ”on the basis of adjustable RS of the 9M528 / 542 family. opinion about, that it is this military-industrial enterprise that will continue to be the key guarantor of ensuring the dominance of the rocket artillery battalions of the MFA of Russia in hypothetical counter-battery "duels" with the rocket artillery battalions of the ground forces of the NATO bloc member states, having 227-mm high-precision MLRS of the M270 MLRS line / M142 HIMARS with updated ammunition.
Excellent flight performance and promising inertial navigation units of the ProNav family turn standard corrected projectiles of the 9M528 and 9M542 families into unique instruments of aerospace attack, capable of penetrating modern anti-missile zones A2 / AD
In particular, equipped with more massive and "long-playing" solid propellant rocket charges with a high specific impulse of thrust (about 250-260 s) and a long burnout period of solid propellant charges, as well as more modern inertial navigation systems "ProNav" based on advanced high-performance on-board computers, promising modifications of 300-mm ultra-long-range guided missiles 9M528 / 542 boast, At first, the ability to maintain high supersonic flight speed (2,5—3M) on a much larger section of the marching section of the trajectory, Secondly, possibility of prolongation of high-rise (stratospheric) flight profile even on the terminal leg of the trajectory (up to the moment of declination of the missile in the direction of the battlefield and target) due to the use of more complex and verified operating modes of the inertial navigation unit "ProNav".
The above tactical and technical advantages allow the advanced missiles of the 9M528 and 9M542 line not only to hit the command and staff infrastructure, as well as mechanized enemy subunits advancing to the active sector of the theater of operations in the operational depth of the order 150 km, but also freely disable the illumination and guidance radars of the AN / MPQ-53 long-range anti-aircraft missile systems "Patriot PAC-2 GEM-T" due to the use of ballistic or quasi-ballistic flight paths, the terminal section of which will represent a dive from the upper layers of the stratosphere at angles of more than 75-83 ° (outside the elevation sector of the radar illumination and guidance MPQ-53, ranging from 1 to 73 degrees).
In these conditions, the semi-active radar seeker of the MIM-104E anti-aircraft missiles will not be able to receive from the AN / MPQ-53 radars the illumination of the advanced 9M528 / 542 rockets diving at vertical angles, while on the marching section of the trajectory, characterized by a flight altitude with an apogee of the order of 35-40 km, interceptor missiles MIM-104E GEM-T will not be able to oppose Tula rockets 9М542 absolutely nothing, since they have only aerodynamic rudders, losing efficiency in the rarefied layers of the stratosphere.
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Consequently, the only missile interceptors, posing a threat to URSs of the 9M542 family, MIM-104F PAC-3MSE anti-missiles of the Patriot PAC-3MSE complexes will remain, which are equipped with a millimeter active Ka-band radar seeker and are capable of intercepting attacking air attack weapons for target designation from AWACS E-3C / F / D / G AWACS aircraft, absolutely not needing continuous illumination from the side of the battery-operated radar illumination AN / MPQ-53/65. But here, too, there are some nuances ...
In the conditions of oversaturation of the airspace of the conventional theater of military operations with hundreds of low-altitude, inconspicuous multipurpose tactical and anti-ship missiles (X-101, X-38, Kh-59MK / 2, 3M55 "Onyx", etc.), tactical aviation, strike reconnaissance UAVs and electronic warfare aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces (including container and integrated onboard electronic warfare systems L-175V / 265M10 and KS-418E "Khibiny-10V / M" and "Himalayas", installed on front-line bombers Su-24M, multifunctional fighters Su-30SM / 1, Su-35S, as well as fighters of the 5th generation Su-57, operators of AN / APY-2 radar systems of E-3G RLDN aircraft may well be distracted by operations for detecting and tracking and issuing target designation to NATO's friendly tactical aviation against air targets with a larger effective scattering surface (EPR), rather than 300-mm rockets of the 9M528 / 542 type. Furthermore, the energy potential of the "air radars" AN / APY-2 of the AWACS system allows detecting targets with an effective reflective surface 0,1 quarter. m (corresponds to the EPR of 300-mm rockets MLRS "Smerch / Tornado-S") at a distance of no more than 170-200 km, which excludes the possibility of early detection and targeting of friendly ground-based air defense systems by means of NATO E-3C / G RLDN aircraft in case of operating the latter at a distance of more 250 km from the active area of the theater of military operations.
As a result, in the above situation, the IBCS combat control points / EOC («Engagement Operation Centers») complexes "Patriot PAC-3MSE" in general and SAM-interceptors MIM-104F PAC-3MSE in particular, may be deprived of vital target designation over protected radio channels of the tactical network "Link-16" on the missiles entering the terminal section of the trajectory 9М528 / 542, which in the end will entail the destruction of the AN / MPQ-53/65 radars and the incapacitation of either one battery, or a full-fledged anti-missile regiment "Patriot PAC-3MSE".
The most piquant moment in this situation is that, that in the absence of target designation from third-party radar reconnaissance means, the disabling of a full-fledged anti-missile battery "Patriot PAC-3MSE" can be carried out using only a couple of three (perhaps, and one) the latest Tula high-precision shells of the 9M542 family.
The conclusion suggests itself as follows: 300-mm multiple launch rocket systems of the Smerch family / Tornado-C, equipped with advanced high-precision rockets of the 9M542 line, can be used not only as tools for delivering surgical precise strikes against the enemy's remote command and staff infrastructure and achieving superiority over the enemy in "counter-battery duels", but also as highly effective operational-tactical missile systems, "Sharpened" for the implementation of anti-radar operations and tasks of suppressing enemy air defense and missile defense.
Eugene Damantsev
