Perenosnoy Zenitnye Raketnye Kompleksy
[Portable Anti-aircraft Rocket Complex]
More than 90% of all aircraft lost in armed conflict over the past 25 years have been downed by heat-seeking missiles, primarily those launched from man-portable Air Defense (MANPADS) shoulder-fired launchers. These highly mobile, low-tech, point-and-shoot weapons are used by the militaries across the world, as well as by many terrorist groups. Conventional infrared countermeasures, including flares and lamp-based directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM), have little to no effect against the latest MANPADS designs. Only laser-based electro-optical countermeasures provide reliable and effective protection against current and future heat-seeking threats.
Combat units equipped with air defense systems are the last frontier of air defense. Their task is to destroy targets that have broken through the barriers of long-range S-300 and S-400, as well as medium and short-range missile systems of the Buk and Tor families. The easiest way to overcome the first echelons of air defense is drones and missiles, especially during a massive attack. However, Verba is able to easily cope with these goals. In seconds, it is transferred to a combat position and captures an object. It is enough for the operator to wait for the corresponding signal and start.
The advantage of portable systems is not only in maneuverability, but also in the fact that a fighter with MANPADS is very difficult to detect by electronic means. And this gives great tactical opportunities - for example, for organizing an ambush behind enemy lines. Because MANPADS are intended to be carried and deployed rapidly by ground forces, they are low cost, light, compact and mobile. They require only a single operator to use, and can be very effective against low or slow aircraft. MANPADS—along with anti-aircraft artillery —were amongst the most effective anti-aircraft weapons deployed by Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War.
Anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) and systems are the most complex, from an engineering point of view, the latest weapons: aerial reconnaissance, guidance and tracking means are being developed for it; laser and radio equipment is placed on it. The Russian army is armed with advanced integrated ground tactical air defense systems.
Mobile air defense systems play an important role on the battlefield. They do not allow enemy helicopters and front-line aviation to “iron” advanced positions and cover important military installations in tactical depth. In many respects, the success of units in defense and attack, as well as the actions of paratroopers who work deep behind enemy lines and cannot count on the help of military air defense, depend on them. The inclusion of calculations with new MANPADS in a single information system will allow to correctly select the most important targets, destroying which, can easily thwart a massive attack from the air.
Russian MANPADS (MANPADS "Strela", MANPADS "Igla", "Verba", "Tunguska" and "Tor"), in their opinion, are significantly superior to the American MANPADS Stinger and "Patriot". The first generation of MANPADS appeared in the USA and the USSR in 1967. For the USSR it was the Strela MANPADS, in America it was the Stinger MANPADS. Russian MANPADS are far behind the American ones, because the Russians are weak in electronics. When it entered service in the late 1960s, early Russian MANPADS proved inferior to their US equivalents. However, later models (the SA–7b) were significantly improved. The Strela series was replaced by the more capable Igla series (SA–16, SA–18 and SA–24). Like their western counterparts, later Russian MANPADS can be used to engage aircraft from all aspects.
- First generation shoulder-fired SAMs, such as the U.S. Redeye, early versions of the Soviet SA-7, and the Chinese HN-5 (copy of Soviet Strela-2), are considered "tail-chase weapons" as their seekers can only acquire and engage a high performance aircraft after it has passed the missile's firing position. They essentially chase the hottest item in the sky such as the thermal signature from the exhaust and hot sections of the aircraft. Because of this, they are highly susceptible to interference from background sources such as the sun, flares, and various directed energy countermeasures. The first Soviet-designed MANPADS is known as the 9K32 Strela–2 (also known as the SA–7). The first MANPADS - "Strela-2" - the army received in 1968. A year later, the new weapon passed the baptism of fire. During the "War of Attrition" on August 19, 1969, the Egyptians shot down an Israeli A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft near the city of Suez with it. This was the first successful use of a man-portable air defense system in history.
- Second generation infrared missiles, such as early versions of the U.S. Stinger, the Soviet SA-14, and the Chinese FN-6, use improved coolants to cool the seeker head, which enables the seeker to filter out most interfering background IR sources as well as permitting head-on and side engagement profiles. These second generation missiles are effective against traditional flares and use a cross-scan or rosette-scan “two-color” targeting capability. This enables the seeker to use IR as a primary and UV as a secondary emissions source for target acquisition.
- Third generation infrared shoulder-fired SAMs, such as the French Mistral, the Russian SA-18, and the U.S. Stinger B, use single or multiple detectors to produce a quasi-image of the target and also have the ability to recognize and reject flares dispensed from aircraft.
- Fourth generation missiles, such as the cancelled American FIM-92 Stinger Block 2, and missiles under development in Russia, Japan, France, and Israel could incorporate focal plane array guidance systems and other advanced sensor systems, which will permit engagement at greater ranges.
A MANPADS typically consists of three components: a disposable carriage and launch tube, containing a single missile; a disposable thermal battery or battery-coolant unit, which provides electrical power to the system prior to firing; and a re-useable gripstock assembly—also known as the trigger, or firing unit. Fully assembled, a MANPADS typically weighs 15–20 kg, and is less than 2 metres in length. These factors make the weapon relatively easy to transport and conceal.
The amount of explosive in a MANPADS missile is quite small. However a combination of effects, including blast, fragmentation and the energy of the missile hitting the aircraft at a high speed, can have a significant destructive impact. In military usage, MANPADS are usually the short-range component of a wider air defence system, providing the ‘last-ditch’ defence against attacking aircraft. They are effective only over ranges less than about seven kilometres, and are used against aircraft that are within view of the operator. Against aircraft that are further away, military forces can employ additional systems incorporating radar for detection and targeting and one or more long range surface-to-air missile systems.
Russian MANPADS have been exported widely and licensed for production in a number of countries. They are the most common MANPADS on the world market.6 They have been used in a number of conflicts, including the Vietnam War and various Middle East conflicts. They have also been used by insurgent groups in Africa and elsewhere. The Iraqi insurgency has used the 9K34 Strela–3 (also known as the SA–14) to attack aircraft around Baghdad.
Heat-seeking MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) missiles such as the FIM-92 Stinger, shoulder launched anti-aircraft missile and various similar foreign versions present a critical and pressing terrorist threat to commercial air transport aircraft. The most vulnerable phases of flight are during landing approach and immediately after takeoff. Many landing approach profiles require prolonged flight at low altitudes over populated areas. Nevertheless, although the stakes are high, the probability that any particular transport would ever be attacked is very low. For society, this situation produces a cost-effectiveness conundrum. A desirable missile defense system for transports must operate continuously, effectively, reliably, and economically. During the battle, information about targets is transmitted by an external detection and target designation system or a calculation number that monitors the airspace. After the target is detected, the operator-shooter puts the MANPADS on his shoulder, starting pointing at the selected target. After capturing the target of the missile's seeker, an audible signal is triggered, and the optical sight begins to vibrate using a device adjacent to the operator's cheek. After that, by pressing the button, the gyroscope is turned on. In addition, before starting, the shooter must enter the necessary lead angles.
As a rule, MANPADS crews during combat operations perform tasks independently or as part of a unit. The fire of the calculation is controlled by its commander. It is possible to select a target autonomously, as well as using commands transmitted by the commander. The fire crew performs visual detection of an air target, determines whether it belongs to the enemy. After that, if the target reaches the calculated range and the command to destroy is given, the calculation launches the rocket.
In the current instructions for the conduct of combat, there are methods of firing for the calculations of MANPADS. For example, to destroy single piston aircraft and helicopters, a method called “launch-observation-launch” is used, for a single jet aircraft “two launches-observation-launch”. In this case, both the shooter and the crew commander simultaneously shoot at the target. At in large numbers air targets, the fire crew selects the most dangerous targets, and the gunner and the commander fire at different targets using the “launch-new target-launch” method. The following distribution of the functions of the members of the calculation occurs - the commander fires at the target or the target flying to his left, and the shooter attacks the leading or rightmost object. The fire is carried out until the ammunition is completely consumed.
Various systems have been proposed to defeat infrared (IR) missile threats. Pyrotechnic flares are traditionally used for this purpose, but have short effective time durations. Routinely dispensing flares to draw possible MANPADS missiles away from a transport is clearly unacceptable. Dispensing flares or recoverable decoys when an attack is detected requires a sophisticated and costly missile attack sensing system. Recurring false alarms would likely cause unacceptable hazards from flares to people and property.
The proliferation of man-portable air defence systems (MANPADs) and man-portable anti-tank systems (MANPATs) poses a particular threat. Those types of weapons pose enormous risks to international civil aviation and rail transport. That is why its circulation is strictly regulated at the international level. NATO countries are well aware of this. In the 2000s, the Alliance spent a considerable sum of money to destroy excess MANPADS components in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Montenegro and several other countries as part of the Partnership for Peace program. The United States, having realized the danger of the MANPADS they delivered to Afghanistan in the 1980s, also went at great length to buy back these systems.
The latest Russian 9K333 Verba (SA-29) portable anti-aircraft missile systems entered service with the Russian army in 2014. The main thing that distinguishes the Verba from the previous generation of Russian air defense systems is the multispectral thermal optical homing head, thanks to which the missile can distinguish a given target from passive thermal traps. "Verba" is able to see the target in three frequency ranges, so it can find drones and missiles emitting weak thermal radiation even when the enemy uses searchlights and laser blinding light sources.
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