LITOVKIN Dmitry
The business program of the Army-2021 forum has been completed. The Ministry of Defense reported that over the four days of the exhibition, more than 40 contracts were signed for the supply of over 1.3 thousand samples of weapons and equipment for more than 500 billion rubles. This is noticeably more modest than a year ago, when weapons were purchased for 1.16 trillion rubles (and the peak of the state program for the rearmament of the army has passed). The army has been modernized by 71.9% and is now actually buying additional equipment and machinery.
Nevertheless, this year the forum, like none of the previous ones, is rich in new items. Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, even announcing the event, promised at least 50 of them, but these are only those created by the enterprises of the Ministry of Defense. The uniqueness of the exhibition is that it is also a platform for civilian private companies wishing to become partners of the military department.
In a robust housing
The first thing that catches your eye when entering the forum is a huge amount of new technology. I counted four T-90M tanks alone, placed throughout the static exhibition area. Previously, they could only be seen in such numbers at the Victory Day parade on Red Square. But there were experimental vehicles undergoing testing, and on the “Army” – military.
On the eve of the opening of the forum, Deputy Defense Minister in charge of armaments, Alexei Krivoruchko, said that Uralvagonzavod (part of Rostec) had fulfilled its obligations undertaken several years ago and put on the army’s balance 65 of the first T-90M “Breakthrough”, as well as 20 the newest T-14 “Armata” (which are also presented at the exhibition quite a few). And if earlier the cars were on pedestals and under the protection of the military police, today they are “generally accessible”, like any other standard equipment of the Ministry of Defense. True, it will not be possible to look inside the combat vehicle – a secret, but to crawl along the hull and take a picture is quite.
For the first time this year, Arctic vehicles stand as a separate cluster. These are the northern two-link all-terrain vehicles DT-10PM, Pantsir-SA and Tor-M2DT, already remembered in Moscow parades. Next to them, there is a whole exposition of uniforms, weapons and other means of transportation through hummocks of servicemen of remote military bases, which can be touched.
For example, the Trekol Vega snow and swamp vehicle and the DGT-S ambulance, the KA-250 / 30PM arctic kitchen based on the DT-30 two-link tractor. The calculation of one such machine, by the way, can feed 250 people. Even in severe frost, the kitchen easily maintains a 300-degree temperature in the frying shop, and its deployment takes no more than 15 minutes.
Among the novelties is the newest armored personnel carrier of the High-Precision Complexes holding (part of Rostec) BT-3F. The machine is specially adapted for operations in extreme temperatures: it starts up in freezing temperatures down to -50 ° C and is equipped with special “Arctic” tracks that allow it to move through snow and swampy soils with minimal damage to the ecology of the North.
Rocket palisade
But the “Caliber” rocket is not shown live on the salon – it is presented only in the form of mock-ups of launchers. As well as the appearance of the hypersonic “Zircon” remains unknown. Nevertheless, both products are discussed at “Army-2021” like no other. The Ministry of Defense signed a contract for the supply of an additional batch of “Calibers” and bought the “Zircons” for the first time. The contract was concluded with NPO Mashinostroeniya from Reutov near Moscow (part of KTRV). This event can be considered epoch-making, because so far not a single army in the world has hypersonic weapons, and Russia is already putting them into service.
The first to receive the missile will be Project 22350 frigates and, according to TASS , Project 885M Yasen-M nuclear submarines and modernized Antey-class submarines. For example, the commander of the 11th submarine division of the Northern Fleet, Rear Admiral Alexander Zarenkov, noted that Kazan, the second ship of the Yasen series and the lead cruiser, built according to the modernized Yasen-M project, is already capable of using a promising missile. The first launch of Zircon from the Severodvinsk nuclear submarine is planned for September.
The missile is designed to destroy sea and ground targets. It is capable of reaching a speed of about Mach 9 and hitting targets at a distance of more than 1,000 km. If we translate these data into more understandable values, it turns out that to get from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don, “Zircon” will take only five minutes, while the usual journey by car, train or plane takes hours.
Rockets appear on the Army in general as a separate trend. Within the framework of the forum, a contract was signed for the repair and modernization of the carriers of the hypersonic “Daggers” of the MiG-31K high-altitude fighter-interceptors.
In addition, a state contract was signed for the repair of the MiG-31 with modernization to the level of the MiG-31BM. According to the Ministry of Defense, a squadron of vehicles with the “K” index has been on experimental combat duty in the Southern Military District since December 2017. Since April 2018, MiGs with Dagger aeroballistic hypersonic missiles have been flying regularly over the Black and Caspian Seas. Now, the Aerospace Forces will have significantly more such strike assets, which means that “Daggers” may appear not only in the South, but also in the North and the Far East.
Well, as a cherry on top of this rocket cake – a contract with the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT). The firm is known for its Yars and Bulava strategic missile systems. Neither the industry nor the military are particularly concerned with the purchase of such weapons, but here Alexei Krivoruchko said that an agreement had been signed in the interests of the Strategic Missile Forces on the supply of a set of “mobile command missile systems.”
Most likely, it is about updating the Perimeter system, or, as it is called in the West, the “Dead Hand”. The peculiarity of the system is that if the enemy succeeds in destroying the entire political leadership of the Russian Federation with the first nuclear strike, it can independently decide to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike. Until recently, the basis of the grouping of “command missiles” was the strategic missiles RT-2PM “Topol” – in the west: SS-27 Sickle (“Serp”). But recently it became known that in 2024 all of them will be removed from service – they will be replaced, as the Deputy Minister of Defense said, for the new Yars mobile complexes.
Armed and dangerous
The number of robots in Army 2021 is also unlikely to leave anyone indifferent. True, there are still no prototypes of people walking, as in the films, but there are more than enough crawling, floating and flying people. The main novelties, in my opinion, in this area are small-sized missiles. Until recently, the Russian army did not have such equipment, and today it is not only demonstrated at the exhibition, but also supplied to the troops. The Kronstadt company announced that it will hand over to the Defense Ministry five state-of-the-art unmanned systems “Inokhodets-RU” and two sets of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of the “Platform” helicopter type. These vehicles are on the forum with missiles and bombs laid out next to each other, but if you search, you can find more promising weapons.
At the stand of the High-Precision Complexes holding, behind a fleet of armored vehicles with new missile systems, the main sensation of Army-2021 was hidden – a light multipurpose guided missile (LMUR) Product 305E from the Kolomna Machine Building Design Bureau.
This 105 kg product carries a 25 kg warhead and can fly over a distance of 14.5 km. Guidance – combined, with inertial and television systems, control from a drone or a carrier helicopter is also provided.
According to the head of the Russian Helicopters holding (part of Rostec) Andrei Boginsky, the Defense Ministry signed a contract at the forum for the supply of 30 modernized Ka-52M Alligator helicopters. According to the developers, the new machines will have a radar complex with an active phased antenna array and a guided missile with an increased range. The representative of the helicopter holding did not elaborate on what exactly it was about, but by coincidence (?) I found another “Product 305E” next to the “Alligator” put on a static platform. Experts also note that the Mi-28NM attack helicopter will also be able to receive the missile as part of the unification of weapons.
The Tactical Missile Armament Corporation (KTRV, a member of the Russian Engineering Union) also showed its secret development. Among the large and long-range aircraft and sea cruise missiles, she hid a small and inconspicuous machine, outwardly very similar to the long-range “Caliber”. The product was not given a name and did not put a nameplate (intrigue?).
The head of the corporation, Boris Obnosov, only said: “Earlier, no serious UAVs were created in Russia. It was very difficult to develop weapons for them just like that, without a carrier, not knowing its capabilities. Today, serious developers have appeared on this market, including Kronstadt. UZGA PJSC “Company” Sukhoi “.
“Among the drones produced in Russia, there are strike and reconnaissance vehicles. The main direction of development of drones that do not have large payload capabilities is weight and size parameters. Taking this into account, we, with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, have for a long time led the topic of creating weapons for one of the UAVs. the elements for the rocket – the engine, the homing head, the inertial system, the warhead – were practically made, which made it possible to switch today to the manufacture of products of small-sized categories of 50 and 100 kg, “Boris Obnosov said.
Full immersion
The KTRV exposition is interesting with two more exhibits: an individual Coral towing vehicle for swimmers and an autonomous robot with variable buoyancy ANGAPP. The first product is a mini-torpedo for transporting soldiers of sabotage units; made of composites, moves with the help of an electric motor, develops a speed of 3 km / h (fast enough for an aquanaut), can travel up to 20 km.
As the deputy general designer of JSC “Concern” Marine Underwater Weapons – Gidropribor “(part of KTRV) Mikhail Kettuev told me, at present two prototypes of the device have been manufactured; the equipment has passed a cycle of tests on Ladoga.
“The modular design of the apparatus makes it easy to change it to the customer’s request, and the use of mounting systems such as the Picatinny rail (mainly used on small arms for mounting optical, collimator sights, grenade launchers, flashlights and other equipment – approx. TASS) opens up the widest scope for using any additional equipment, “- said Mikhail Kettuev. Another feature of the “Coral” is that with it a combat swimmer can go out through the torpedo tubes of any submarine. However, as the developers hope, a civilian version of the towing vehicle will also be available.
Purely visually, ANGAPP is a copy of the Caliber cruise missile. But she does not fly, but dives, and on her own.
The drone does not have a main engine, it is a so-called underwater glider, driven by a change in buoyancy. With the help of the on-board computer, a liquid moves in the body of the robot – if it is fed to the nose, the underwater glider will begin to submerge; equalize the “pressure” – it will hang in the water column; trim to the stern – will start ascent. The device is submerged up to 300 m, ANGAPP can “soar” under water for three months. According to Mikhail Kettuev, the product is capable of examining the waters of naval bases for the appearance of foreign objects, looking for bottom mines or monitoring deep-water areas of the seas and oceans.
In general, the paradox of the Army-2021 forum, in my opinion, is that, despite the reduction in purchases of weapons and military equipment, the military-industrial complex increases the number of proposals from year to year, conducts development and testing at its own expense, offering the military is practically ready, or, more simply, the basic solution. This applies to both armored vehicles, drones, and radio equipment. Moreover, most of these products have a dual purpose – that is, if they do not fit the military, then it will be possible to offer civilians. All this suggests that the Ministry of Defense has chosen the correct format for communicating with the industry: today it will not work to sell a “pig in a poke” created for the state account.
Courtesy: (TASS)
