Beyond fantasy - guided hypersonic weapons

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

On Sunday, June 14, it became known that a weapon capable of intercepting hypersonic missiles would appear in Russia. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the air of Vesti Nedeli: “I think that we will be able to pleasantly surprise our partners with the fact that when they have this (hypersonic) weapon, with a high degree of probability we will have a means of fighting these weapons , - said the head of state.

What new systems was the President talking about? For an answer, we turned to the leading military expert, reserve colonel Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine

- We have a program for the development of anti-aircraft missile systems for hypersonic interception. In principle, there is already a military system, which is known as the S-300 "B", which includes a hypersonic intercept missile, but it will, of course, need to be modified and modernized so that it can intercept maneuvering targets.

There is a hypersonic interceptor missile in the A-135 Moscow missile defense system, but it will also need to be improved so that it can effectively operate against maneuvering hypersonic targets.

If we are talking about the A-135 system, then this is the interception of intercontinental ballistic missiles, or rather, warheads. If we are talking about the S-300 B4 system, then this is work on medium-range missiles. And, in all likelihood, for the S-400 complex, a missile will also be developed that can intercept maneuvering hypersonic targets of also operational-tactical range. The need to have such a weapon is dictated by life. Following us, the United States of America has come close to creating its own hypersonic systems. Four such programs are currently underway. The closest to adoption is the AGM-183A ARRW hypersonic air-launched missile. The Air Force has already purchased eight units of these missiles, and is now carrying out what we call state tests. AGM-183A ARRW, apparently, will be put into service next year. And behind it will appear both army systems and naval ones. This is about three or four years from now.

In general, this is not the first phenomenon of hypersonic weapons. It all started back in the 70s. Then an extensive network of research projects was launched in response to the possible implementation by the Americans of the SDI program, known as "Star Wars". Including work was carried out on hypersound. And even then there were systems with such speed parameters. We, for example, had hypersonic spacecraft launched to earth. The same "Buran", for example, entered the atmosphere at a speed of twenty "swings". And the warheads of intercontinental missiles, they also enter the atmosphere at a speed of about seven kilometers per second, also almost twenty "swings". Therefore, we have accumulated a huge scientific and technical reserve for ballistic hypersonic objects. Well, according to the so-called "motor" hypersound - when the rocket accelerates to hypersonic speeds with its engine, and not due to deorbiting, there was also a start. This product "42-02" is still Soviet. The Americans also had a number of research programs in this area - both civilian and military. But they were far behind us.

In general, hypersound is a very broad concept that includes many systems. In the overwhelming part, this is uncontrolled ballistics - the actual fall, accelerated to the hypersonic speed of a projectile along a ballistic trajectory. Everything is clear here - pure mathematics - trajectory calculation. Controlled hypersound is another matter. Here the most complex technical and technological problems immediately arise. Imagine you are entering a sharp turn in a car at a speed of 60 kilometers, and now try to imagine the same thing, but at a speed of 160! Now imagine that the rocket needs to make a turn at a speed of ten "swings", which is approximately 3600 meters per second, 3.6 kilometers per second. In this case, transverse loads are such that not all materials can withstand, not all electronics. In addition, at such speeds, if there are air molecules around, then the formation of plasma begins instantly, and the plasma is a barrier that prevents the passage of both optical and radio waves, and in general the electromagnetic spectrum. The question immediately arises - how to make a control system, how to make a homing system? Therefore, maneuvering hypersound has always been a problem that we have been able to solve only in recent years.

Again, if we talk about the acceleration of the projectile, then throw it behind the "Carmen line" - the border where space begins, that is, above a hundred kilometers, closer to the orbit, from where this system will enter the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds - we have been able to do this for a long time … This is a normal ballistic missile launch. But to launch from an air carrier in rather dense layers of the atmosphere, and accelerate with its own engine to hypersonic speeds and make a controlled flight - no one has been able to do this for decades. Nobody but us! We already have such a complex of operational-tactical range, and it has been put into service. It is called "Dagger" and is based on the 9 M 723 ballistic missile of the Iskander-M missile system. Today, another Zircon hypersonic cruise missile is undergoing state tests. It must be understood that she was also not born out of the blue, this is a powerful Soviet scientific and technical groundwork.

If we talk about means of intercepting hypersound, then the main problem here is a matter of time to detect, aim and intercept such a target. And here the requirements for the detection and guidance system and for the hypersonic interceptor missile are simply outrageous. Judge for yourself, if a target has a speed of twenty swings, which is about 7, 2 kilometers per second, and you found it in 50 kilometers, then you have much less than 10 seconds to destroy it. And if for 150 kilometers, then less than 20 seconds for everything. The most trained operator here simply will not have time to do anything. Therefore, the system must be fully automated and the person in this case only transfers it to the combat mode during the threatened period, and then sits and watches how it works. This is already a weapon from science fiction films. But we are on the verge of creating it.