Military airbases in the Saratov, Ryazan and Kursk regions are believed to have been hit by Soviet-made Tu-141 Strizh type unmanned aerial vehicles. However, at this stage, the Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet officially confirmed that it is Swift. Therefore, other options are quite possible. Let’s consider what capabilities the Armed Forces of Ukraine have today and in the near future to launch missile strikes on the territory of Russia.
What can the APU do?
Let us note right away that the design and engineering personnel of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine have all the necessary capabilities and competencies in the development of guided missile weapons and long-range unmanned aerial vehicles.
In particular, the Grom operational-tactical missile system (Thunder- M, Lightning -2″), on the basis of a solid-fuel ballistic missile, developed in Ukraine by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, the Pavlodar Chemical Plant and the Kharkov Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau named after AA Morozov. It is officially stated that the characteristics of the missile make it possible to hit ground targets at a distance of up to 500 km.
However, for the design bureau “Yuzhnoye”. MK Yangel (Dnepr) and Pavlograd Mechanical Plant, which once created intercontinental ballistic missiles RT-23UTTH “Molodets” and R-36M “Devil”, some insurmountable difficulties on the way to transfer the product “Thunder” to the category environment -range missiles (fire range – 1000-5500) km), obviously not available.
For example, it has been repeatedly stated that the traces of Ukraine in Kim Jong-un’s recent missile successes are very prominent. In this case, a completely natural question arises – have they helped North Korea, but can’t they do it for themselves? In particular, Pyongyang was offered a lot: the production of rocket-orbital systems and high-precision missile weapons, and the purchase of the latest missiles and technologies, as well as military equipment not supplied to other countries.
Against such a background, the task of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex to create a missile system for the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a firing range of 3-4 thousand km seems quite real.
With the help of cruise missiles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, attacks on targets in Russia are quite possible. For example, at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine contained a significant number of strategic air-launched cruise missiles of the Kh-55 and Kh-55SM type.
There were 946 units in total, of which 575 were later transferred to Russia, and 483 missiles were destroyed on the spot. It should be noted that in Ukraine part of the Kh-55SM is in the version of training products with an inert warhead and mock-ups. But, frankly, far from everything was transferred and destroyed.
As early as 2001, a major international scandal erupted when he was accused of smuggling Kh-55 missiles from Ukraine to China and Iran. Six missiles ended up in China, and six such missiles and a ground support complex were sent to Iran to test the Kh-55. Again a completely natural question arises – did they share it with Beijing and Tehran but left nothing to themselves? This can’t happen, because it can never happen. Recall that the firing range of the Kh-55SM strategic cruise missile is 3,500 km.
Finally, a few words should be said about long-range unmanned aerial vehicles. The UAV itself is a relatively simple design. The difficulties lie only in the creation of a small-sized, economical engine with a long service life and a sight and navigation system.
There are qualifications in the field of engines in Ukraine. For example, the promising Turkish high-altitude long-range unmanned aerial vehicle Bayraktar Akıncı is equipped with two Ukrainian AI-450T turboprop engines, each with a capacity of 450 hp. With.
But in Ukraine there are opportunities not only in the field of engine development. For example, at the Arms and Security 2021 exhibition in Kiev, video, photos were presented, as well as the performance characteristics of a multi-purpose unmanned aerial vehicle. ACE ONE.
The ACE ONE UAV is equipped with an AI-322F turbojet engine with a maximum thrust of 4200 kg manufactured by Motor Sich. This, with its very significant dimensions (length – 8 meters, wingspan – 11 meters) and weight (maximum take-off weight – 7.5 tons), allows to develop almost the speed of sound, namely M – 0.95. At the same time, according to the calculations of Ukrainian designers, the assault UAV will have a combat radius of 1,500 km and rise to a height of 13.5 km.
Of course, there is a huge distance from the presentation to the serial sample. But who knows – maybe several prototypes of this device were made in Ukraine.
The traditional question for us arises – what to do?
Strengthen air defense of critical facilities
In the years of the existence of the USSR, the European part of the state was considered the interior of the country, and even during the abundant Soviet period deployed in these areas, there were no significant air defense forces and vehicles (as an exception). Capital city). In addition, during the destructive organizational and personnel measures of the 1990s – early 2000s, the combat and numerical strength of air defense units and formations in this part of the country was significantly reduced. Therefore, it is not surprising that a number of important facilities, including some of the airfields of Long-Range Aviation, remain unprotected from anti-aircraft missiles.
A reasonable force and air defense means to cover the Long-Range Aviation airspace might currently look like this – a regiment of S-400 (S-350) anti-aircraft missiles consisting of at least two divisions, one or two batteries of the Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile system, or “Tor- M2”, ZPU-4 or ZU-2 type MZA (small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery) vehicles (to combat small-sized UAVs of the Geran-2 type).
The most important thing is that the radar field at all heights (especially low and extremely low) approaches to the object ensures the timely introduction of firearms into open fire and the issuance of non-search target designations.
To do this, at the required distances from the defended airfield (or other object), it is necessary to deploy the required number of units and radio engineering troops – radar companies, battalions, regiments with the appropriate complexes of automation equipment.
It is possible to find forces and tools that will strengthen the air defense of critical facilities. The first is due to regroupings from the interior of the country, the second is due to industrial establishments and the formation of new departments and units.
In the meantime, it is probably necessary to start implementing very simple priority measures.
To get started, deploy strategic and long-range bombers to other airports and within the framework of an airbase. In peacetime, expensive planes are still allowed to be placed in car parks in a wing-to-wing parade arrangement, but in a special period this can have extremely sad consequences. We note that the price of the question is very high.
For example, the Tu-95MS strategic bombers were produced at the Kazan Aviation Plant named after SP Gorbunov, one of the largest enterprises in the Russian aviation industry in the 1980s. But the production line on which the Tu-95MS was built is no longer there, neither technological equipment nor specialists. That is, the loss of any of these aircraft would be irreparable. To compensate for such losses, the plant needs to be practically rebuilt.
That is, on Long-Range Aviation airfields (in addition to strengthening the anti-aircraft missile cover), it is necessary to build additional taxiways, new stands per aircraft, and set them into bunds. In other words, creating dispersal areas at each airport. This is a very expensive undertaking considering the geometric dimensions of the bombers, but the planes are still more expensive. So these costs are justified.
In conclusion, it should be noted that it is unlikely that the attacks on targets deep within the territory of Russia, which had been announced by the Ukrainian leadership in advance, will take on a massive character and that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will resort to air strikes in this process. The situation will be hundreds and thousands. Most likely, only a few of the AOS listed above will participate in a possible raid. But if the enemy’s UAVs, cruise and ballistic missiles are not blocked by Russian air defense systems, the moral damage after such attacks will be much greater.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the opinion of the editors.
Author biography:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military observer of socialbites.ca, a retired colonel.
Graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-aircraft Missile School (1976),
Air Defense Military Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile battalion (1980–1983).
Deputy commander of an anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986–1988).
Senior officer of the Main Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988–1992).
Chief of the General Staff Main Operations Directorate (1992–2000).
Graduate of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000–2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010–2015).