/ world today news/ Russian drones – especially barrage munitions – have become one of the most powerful means of destroying armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the skies of a special operation. But the same devices, and of a new generation, are actively being created in the West. This threat seems to be fully realized and special anti-aircraft systems are being created in the country to deal with them. What do they look like – and how can they get even better?
At the end of June, at the International Youth Industrial Forum “Engineers of the Future-2023” in the Tula region, an extremely interesting combat machine was shown. So far apparently a prototype, if not a mockup. It is a self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system based on the BTR-82A, but with a new gun mount. The very appearance of such an armored vehicle shows that the Russian military-industrial complex as a whole has matured on the right course to create new means of combating enemy UAVs.
The war machine and the unmanned threat
First, about the installation itself. The base chassis is the BTR-82A, but the weapons are different. The vehicle is fitted with a gun mount that has two 23mm 2A7 guns previously used in a quadruple version of the Shilka air defense system, which was once a terror for low-flying aircraft. The combat vehicle is equipped with a radar, and in the front part of the turret there is a surveillance system and “NTC Ellins” in a hemispherical housing, apparently to provide the ability to detect a target without turning on the radar.
An optical-electronic aiming system of an unknown type is mounted on the tower itself. The media claim that the machine is designed to destroy unmanned aerial vehicles. It is worth looking at it from this point of view.
First, the weapons with which this ZSU is equipped are distinguished by high speed and density of fire. It can even shoot down a quadcopter. And the combined targeting through radar and optical channels allows the drone to be detected and struck from a long distance. The basic chassis of the armored personnel carrier greatly simplifies the development of the vehicle in the army, since the chassis is almost the same as that of the armored personnel carrier. Having optical detection systems allows you to “not shine” – not be detected, including radar, which can be like death in a war with an enemy that has electronic intelligence. In addition, the optical channel is insensitive to radio interference.
Does the military need an all-barrel air defense system (missile systems are now in service)? Yes, a lot. Unlike the wars of the past, small unmanned aircraft, both reconnaissance and attack, were used en masse in SVO. Quadcopters have proven to be incredibly important, primarily for reconnaissance. And these are very small items that are impractical to shoot with rockets. Machine guns do not work – the target is too small and too far.
And in the wars of the future, kamikaze drones will appear en masse, like our “Lancet”, but used many times more en masse, kamikaze helicopters like the Turkish KARGU, which are now being used en masse. And the most unpleasant thing is the autonomous kamikaze drones, working as part of a swarm, without external control. Such a swarm acts like bees – the drones are able to adapt in attack to the actions of other drones in the swarm, as a result of which the strike group is actually self-directed. While flying in an area, the drones alone, without command, mass attack anything that is recognized as a target.
Now such systems are on the threshold of mass production in SAC. They are followed by China. No amount of missiles will be enough to repel such attacks. And if they are not reflected, the number of personnel losses in the attack zone will be in hundreds of people per minute, and no trenches will save.
Today, on the anti-drone front, so-called anti-drone guns are used, actually directional emitters of electromagnetic waves that can disrupt the control of drones. The problem is that the operator of such a rifle is a visible target to the enemy’s electronic intelligence, and therefore to the artillery. There are software ways to deal with enemy drones, but their applicability is very limited.
Most likely, in the near future, the communication systems used to control drones and their future immunity to interference will make it impossible to fight them with the above methods. It’s a matter of a few years. It is artillery systems that are the only ones that can combat the future unmanned threat.
The second reason why it is necessary to return to anti-aircraft artillery are the so-called small diameter bombs. These are ordinary planning precision bombs, but small in size. Because of its small size, even a medium-sized fighter can carry dozens of such bombs and drop them simultaneously. Theoretically, air defense systems could take them down if the guidance systems allowed, but we repeat – no missiles would be enough.
There is only one way to stop them – by creating and maintaining a fragmentation field in their path of such density that they cannot pass through it. In five or six years, the commander of a company tactical group marching in column will suddenly find several hundred kamikaze drones targeting his APC or BMP, and the Russian armed forces must learn to repel such attacks now. Technically, Russia is able to prepare for this, but it must be done, the problem will not disappear by itself.
So, we actually have the first overt attempt by the Russian military-industrial complex to create an anti-aircraft system capable of withstanding a group of munitions. However, it immediately becomes clear what and how can be improved in this sense.
Drops of tar and repetition of the past
First drop. With a caliber of 23 mm and guns without programmers, this new ZSU will have a very high consumption of ammunition on target. And the smaller the target, the more you have to shoot to hit it.
With the mass use of quadcopters by the enemy, such installations will launch the ammunition almost instantly. What does it take for an anti-aircraft gunnery to be effective? First, the ability to use projectiles with programmable detonation. Then these projectiles detonate close to the target, generating a stream of fragments and do not hit the target with direct hits. This is how Rainmeter’s Skinex anti-aircraft gun works – a 35 mm automatic cannon and programmable detonating shells.
Second, in order to form a shrapnel flow, the shrapnel itself is needed, the source of which is the material of the projectile body and the explosive inside. The more metal and explosives, the more fragments, and this requires a large projectile – for example, 57 mm.
The value of developments in 30 mm caliber is, first of all, that it is theoretically possible to equip an infantry fighting vehicle or an armored personnel carrier with a data receiver, with the help of which the armored vehicle will receive target guidance for firing at an aerial target. And then a 30-mm projectile with programmable detonation will allow to shoot down drones not only for special anti-aircraft installations, but also for any armored vehicle. Including the one currently fighting. Almost everything in the Ground Forces fires 30 mm caliber – from armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles armed with cannons to the Tunguska and Pantzir.
57-mm systems Ground troops now receive only old anti-aircraft guns AZZP-57, developed back in the 1950s from the S-60 complex. These guns are used in the SVO for firing at ground targets in the absence of more modern weapons.
But there is another 57-mm system – the 2C38 combat machine of the anti-aircraft artillery system, created as part of the “Derivation-Air Defense” project. This machine has exactly such a projectile that is needed, it is assembled on the chassis of the BMP-3, it has a guidance system that is not unmasked by radars. Testing the machine is slow and difficult. But it is this installation that is closest to what will be needed in the future, and not a 23-mm ZSU based on an armored personnel carrier.
Regarding this machine, one more opportunity for its improvement is visible. In light of the nature of the threats to the new ZSU, it is worth switching from a pair of 23-mm guns to a single 30-mm, but with programmable shell detonation and increased ammunition loading. For all the inadequacy of the 30-mm projectile, such a solution would be more effective than the 23-mm.
On the other hand, JSC NTC Ellins should pay close attention to the AZP-57 guns from storage. They have much better prospects for modernization than ZU-23. Since 2C38 is in endless trials, they may try to work on AZP-57. In addition, a special vehicle for combating unmanned aircraft has long been required by the Russian armed forces. The long predicted future is almost here.
Translation: V. Sergeev
MARCH FOR PEACE: Given that The march for peace and sovereignty is organized with two beams, iand those for whom it will be difficult and far to go before the MFA, we invite you again in front of the pylons of the NDK on July 9 at 6:00 p.m. at the “Meeting for peace, against the involvement of Bulgaria in war”. The two beams will merge in front of the National Assembly.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
and for the channel in Telegram:
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages. In this way, we will overcome the limitations, and people will be able to reach the alternative point of view on the events!?
#Russians #creating #antiaircraft #systems #future #combat #drones
