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There Will Be No 'Desert Storm' Over Russia: 'Triumf' System Will Be a Worthy Response to Foreign Aircraft Development

Moscow Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye No 6 (129) 19-25 Feb 99 p 6
by Sergey Sokut

The new-generation Triumf SAM system (the press sometimes calls it the S-400) executed firings within the scope of development testing [konstruktorskiye ispytaniya] at the RF Armed Forces Kapustin Yar interbranch range (Astrakhan Oblast) on 12 February. This weapon essentially is Russia's answer to military challenges of the 21st century in the conventional arms area. Events of the last decade, above all the clashes in the Persian Gulf, showed that offensive air weapons can decide the outcome of a local war independently. It became clear that an air defense system based on first and second generation complexes (S-75, S-125 and so on) is incapable of disrupting massive air strikes. An analysis of development trends of air-delivered weapons (ASP) shows that the leading world military powers are placing long-range air-to-surface missiles in service. In the early 1990's the United States placed the AGM-84E SLAM missile with a range of 200 km in service. The French Air Force arsenal has medium-range ASMP missiles with a nuclear warhead and Apache missiles with a conventional warhead. The S-300PMU1 and Favorit SAM systems support the destruction of missile platforms at ranges of 150-200 km (i.e., ahead of the air-delivered weapon release points) and destruction of attacking missiles within the entire kill zone. But the range of the next generation of air- delivered weapons (the U.S. JASSM, German-Swedish KEPD350 and so on) will increase to 300-350 km or more. The new missiles will be made according to stealth technology, which reduces their detection and engagement lines.

It also is impossible not to take into account the expected appearance in 20-30 years of hypersonic reconnaissance-strike aircraft with flight altitudes of tens of kilometers.

That situation forces the military to order equipment with substantially greater reach in range and altitude and fundamentally new capabilities for combating fast, low-flying, low-signature offensive air weapons, including medium-range ballistic missiles.

The Triumf SAM system represents the new generation of air defense and nonstrategic ABM defense weapons. The military categorizes it in the "four plus" generation. Developed in Almaz Central Design Bureau, it is an evolution at a new technical level of systems of the S-300PMU family created for the National Air Defense Troops, which nowadays are part of the Air Force.

The 12 February launch was conducted in a closed missile-control loop. The purpose of the test was to check the functioning of new electronic equipment and combat software of ground equipment and to assess missile guidance accuracy. A 48N6Ye missile (used in the S-300PMU1 SAM system) was launched and it hit a conditional target in the sky. The accuracy of system operation was assessed by range measurement equipment. Specialists evaluated launch results as fully successful.

RF Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev, who was present at the launch, stated that it was impossible to sum up the results of designers' work until after government acceptance testing, but he emphasized that "we must put funds into this development, because in terms of cost-effectiveness it is providing a gain of 2.5 times over existing equipment." The minister noted that under today's conditions of a scarcity of funds, the military leadership deems it necessary to take part in tests of the complex in the plant test stage in order to "understand the essence of this complex, evaluate its advantages, cost and effectiveness, and influence the program/methods documentation, which will be checked within the scope of government acceptance testing."

Almaz Central Design Bureau General Designer Aleksandr Lemanskiy assesses the SAM system's readiness at the 80 percent level and emphasizes that all basic system components with the exception of the missile were absolutely new in the work that had been done. In his words, the capabilities ordered by the military and put into the system "have been realized to a considerable extent." Lemanskiy notes that the system is being created based on fundamentally new S&T solutions in radar, electronics, missile building and computer equipment. In his opinion, Triumf's development testing stage can be completed in late 1999 with the planned funding.

System Capabilities

In the words of CINC Air Force Anatoliy Kornukov, the new SAM system should detect and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 km (2- 2.5 times greater than for the previous generation of systems). A fundamental feature of Triumf is the capability of combating the entire possible range of offensive weapons. In particular, energy capabilities of the radars permit detecting and destroying low-signature targets. The anti-missile potential of the SAM system has been increased to limits established by agreements on the demarcation of ABM systems--it can intercept warheads flying at a speed of 4.8 km/sec, which corresponds to a ballistic missile range of fire of 3,500 km.

Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye (No 4, 1999) already has told about certain design features of the Triumf SAM system, particularly about implementation of interbranch and intercomplex standardization principles. The system is being created within the scope of developers' cooperation which has formed, which includes Almaz Central Design Bureau, Fakel Machine Building Design Bureau, Novosibirsk Scientific Research Institute of Instruments, St. Petersburg Design Bureau of Special Machine Building and other enterprises.

In the words of Fakel MKB [Machine Building Design Bureau] General Designer Vladimir Svetlov, his enterprise presently is developing two new missiles for Triumf. One of them, the designation and characteristics of which are classified for now, underwent autonomous tests. It has a range of fire up to 400 km and will be able to destroy aircraft beyond limits of the radar line of sight of ground guidance radars. The need for engaging over- the-horizon [OTH] targets required installing a fundamentally new homing head on the missile developed by Almaz Central Design Bureau, which can operate both in a semiactive as well as an active mode. In the latter case, after climbing, the missile is switched over to a search mode at a command from the ground and, on detecting the target, homes on it independently.

All existing and future medium-range air-to-surface guided missile platforms will be forced to enter the Triumf SAM system's engagement zone. Other very important targets for the SAM system with the "big" missile will be airborne early warning and control aircraft as well as jammers. These are the components of U.S. Air Force combat might that gave the Americans absolute superiority in the skies over Iraq. Reliably destroying them or forcing them beyond the radar horizon can nullify the effectiveness of Western air forces.

The second missile, 9M96, will be able to destroy aircraft and air- delivered weapons in the middle zone. A mockup of the missile was set up at an Athens arms exhibition in October 1998 (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, No 40, 1998). It was reported that the range of fire of its export modification was 120 km. According to Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye information, the Russian Air Force version will engage targets at a somewhat greater distance. The missile is equipped with an active homing head and has a very small lower kill zone limit of 5 m and a high probability of destroying targets in one launch (0.9 for manned flying craft and 0.8 for unmanned maneuvering flying craft). It is noteworthy that one 9M96 modification will become the basic long-range weapon of Air Force combat aircraft.

Gas-dynamic control on the flight path has been realized in the 9M96 missile. As a result, it can maneuver at an altitude up to 35 km with positive g forces over 20, which will permit effectively engaging non- strategic ballistic missiles. We will note that such "supermaneuverability" is unattainable for French Aster and U.S. ERINT (Patriot PAC-3 complex) missiles.

In fulfilling the standardization requirement, the designers put in the capability of accommodating new missiles on existing SAM system launchers of the S-300PMU family. And a container with four 9M96's can be installed in place of one container with the 5V55 or 48N6 missiles. Inasmuch as Triumf also can use weapons of the S-300PMU family of systems, it creates a base for constructing an echeloned defense, penetration of which will force the enemy to pay an unacceptable price. In the words of the CINC Air Force, already now the enemy can lose up to 30 percent of the aircraft in the course of one air strike. The appearance of Triumf can substantially increase this proportion.

The Air Force Is Updating Technical Policy

In combination with advanced means of airspace reconnaissance, Triumf represents a response to the sharply increased strike capabilities of aviation of the leading world powers that is adequate to the threat and that conforms to Russia's present military-political situation and economic capacities. The new system can introduce revolutionary changes to the tactics of Air Force and air defense combat operations. Its appearance will sharply lower the effectiveness of enemy radar early warning and control aircraft, which are the key to winning air superiority within the scope of the present concept of employing western air forces.

By breaking this key link and moving air-to-surface missile launch lines 300-400 km away from protected installations, the Air Force will accomplish a fundamentally important mission: it will not allow the engagement of mobile targets on the battlefield and in the operational depth. Under these conditions long-range cruise missiles will remain the only effective means of attack, and they are incapable of combating mobile targets and have limited capabilities for penetrating the air defense of vital fixed installations.

An analysis shows that it was the air defense assets (both fire-delivery as well as reconnaissance) that were the object of priority attention of heads of the Air Force in 1998. Having received no new combat aircraft, the Air Force procured several radars from industry. In mid-1998 there was an announcement about new long-range and medium-range radar complexes soon to be placed in service. In addition to them, the Air Force will have low-altitude radars and radars of the close-in zone. Previously it was reported that on condition of normal funding, OTH radars with an acquisition range of 500-600 km should become operational by 2002-2003.

At the present time the Air Force is studying the problem of reducing the number of types of air defense fire-delivery weapons. It is not excluded that Triumf will become the only system being developed, which, thanks to a broad range of missiles used, will provide a defense both in the close-in and middle zones as well as the distant zone.

In a speech by CINC Air Force Kornukov in Akhtubinsk on the eve of the Triumf tests, points also were heard involving the creation of advanced aircraft. In particular, he stated that the Air Force was working on "two or three" projects in this area. Previously it was a question of two programs, among which, in the opinion of experts (see Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, No 31, 1998), are the Su-27IB multifunctional fighter and a light front fighter. The key to understanding the meaning of what General Kornukov said was the phrase that the Air Force "ordered a new aircraft" for Long-Range Aviation. The CINC announced that preliminary specifications for it "are imprecisely formulated for now, but we already submitted our proposals."

General Kornukov also did not sidestep the topic of the MFI. In his words, the attacks on this project are the "conjectures of enemies who wanted to besmirch the developers and prospects of aviation." The machine shown at Zhukovskiy is an "aircraft, not a plaster cast," which may take off even before 8 March.

The Air Force defined its attitude toward the advanced Ground Troops Army Aviation helicopter--there must be one of them, with modifications for combat and troop support. Kornukov hopes that the opinion of the Air Force, the general client of all aircraft for the RF Armed Forces, will be considered when the appropriate decision is made.

In the current year is planned to place modified medium-range missiles in operation and begin work to modernize the Tu-160 and Tu-95. The appearance of a new air-launched strategic cruise missile also is not precluded.

The CINC called 1999 "the year of a decisive change in attitude toward quality indicators and combat potential of the Air Force." Having reduced the volume of RDT&E by approximately 20 times, the Air Force is focusing efforts on projects which will permit increasing efficiency by 3-4 times with minimum expenditure of funds. Work that is in maximum technical readiness will enjoy the priority. In the next 2-3 years, according to Kornukov, "we should see a qualitatively new look of the Air Force," which today numbers 75 air regiments in which 45 percent of the fleet consists of fourth-generation aircraft. In his estimation, the directions of development that were mentioned will be realized if the Air Force receives the 15 percent of all budgetary funds of the military department allocated for it this year.

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