Parting 

Flight altitude of a modern Russian cruise missile. Military review and politics. Did the US use cruise missiles?

Which led to confusion). The term "cruise missile" is often mistakenly considered equivalent to the narrower English-language term cruise missile, however, the latter applies only to guided missiles, in which most of the flight to the target takes place at a constant speed.

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Comparison with other types of rockets

Advantages

  • The ability to set an arbitrary missile course, including a winding trajectory, which creates difficulties for enemy missile defense.
  • The ability to move at low altitude while following the terrain, which makes it difficult to detect the missile by radar.
  • Modern cruise missiles designed to hit a target with high accuracy.

Flaws

  • Relatively low speeds (on the order of the speed of sound ~1150 km/h).
  • High cost compared to other ammunition.
  • Relatively low power of all explosive charges, with the exception of nuclear ones.

Comparison with airplanes

At the same time, in Britain, at the request of the military, Archibald Lowe was working on a radio-controlled “flying bomb” to destroy airships and ground targets. The first flight attempt was made on March 21, 1917 and ended in an accident. A similar project was developed Henry Folland. The aircraft is about 6-7 meters long, weighs about 230 kg and has a 35 hp engine. With. was manufactured by the Aircraft Establishment Royal Aircraft Factory. As a result of three unsuccessful flight attempts, the project was closed in July 1917.

In 1920, in England, the standard Bristol F.2B fighter aircraft was equipped with radio control and flew successfully. For insurance purposes, there was a pilot in the cockpit of the plane. However, a year later, a radio-controlled aircraft without a pilot was tested.

In 1924, the journal “Technology and Life” published F. A. Zander’s work “Flights to Other Planets,” in which it was proposed to use wings on rocket aircraft.

In 1927, an aviation torpedo (according to the terminology of that time) “Laryng” was created - a small aircraft with a piston star engine and a gyroscopic control system, equipped with a warhead weighing 113 kg. After extensive testing of the design from ships and in the deserts of Iraq, production was deemed impractical.

In 1931, the British created the Queen radio-controlled aerial target. A total of three prototypes were built, based on successful tests of which in 1935 a series of radio-controlled targets was launched under the designation DH.82B “Queen Bee” (queen bee, queen bee) in the amount of 420 copies (it is believed that from that time to drones have got a slang name Drone(drone)). Queen Bee drones were used at the initial stage of the Second World War as reconnaissance aircraft. Characteristics: maximum speed - 175 km/h, service ceiling - 4267 m, flight duration - up to three hours.

In the USSR, work on telemechanical aircraft were carried out from the 20s until 1942. The TB-1 bomber was chosen as the projectile aircraft, for which the Daedalus telemechanical system was developed. Subsequently, these works spurred the development of various domestic autopilots. The program considered various options projectile aircraft: SB, I-16, UT-2. In 1940, the TB-3RN radio-controlled aircraft was being developed in two versions: in the first, the bomber was filled with explosives and controlled by an operator from an escort aircraft; in the second, a remote-controlled bomber was being developed, which, after completing the bombing mission, had to return to base and land. The only combat use of the TB-3 aircraft was in 1942, when a plane filled with four tons of TNT was supposed to hit the railway junction in Vyazma. However, when approaching the target, due to problems with the transmitter on the DB-3F escort aircraft, the projectile fell, missing the target.

Also in the USSR at the end of the 30s, a composite aircraft-projectile was developed. The charge carrier was a radio-controlled TB-3 with 3.5 tons of explosives, on the back of which a KR-6 control aircraft was attached. The range of action of the coupling reached 1200 km.

In 1941, in the USA, the General Motors company developed a projectile aircraft coded A-1, which was a radio-controlled monoplane launched from a trolley. The combat load of the aircraft was bombs weighing up to 225 kg. A large number of prototypes were built, but the program was canceled in 1943. In 1942, research began on Project Option, which resulted in the construction of the TDN-1 series of devices, which were used for training and evaluation tests. Then a batch of 189 TDR-1 projectile aircraft was built. Combat use by the American Navy against the Japanese attacking drones TDR-1 took place in the Solomon Islands in 1944. Of the total 46 launched, 29 reached the target, which was assessed negatively by the fleet commander, Admiral Chester Nimitz.

In Germany, the program for developing projectile aircraft for various purposes began in 1941 and reached its peak of development towards the end of the war. In 1942, a practical study of the aerodynamics of the combination of the DFS-230 airframe and control aircraft such as Kl-35, Fw-56 and Bf-109 began. As a result, it was decided to use a combination of the J-88A and Bf-109F projectile aircraft (Beethoven program). In 1943, an order was issued for the construction of a pilot batch of 15 copies of the system, conventionally called “Mistelle-1” ( sled with manure). In the spring of 1944, a training group was formed as part of the 4th group of the KG101 bomber squadron. On the night of June 24, 1944, the squadron first attacked a group of Allied ships at the mouth of the Seine River. Based on the results of the strike, the development of the Mistel-2 and Mistel-3 systems began. In October of this year, the group, which was armed with 60 Mistels, was transferred to the experimental KG200. In the spring of 1945, the Misteli was partially re-equipped with the KG30; there is no reliable data on the effectiveness of their work. Also mass-produced were the Mistel-4, which was a combination of the J-88G-7 and the Ta-152H fighter. By the end of the war, 250 copies were made, up to 50 were captured by the Allies. The Mistel-5 project was a combination of the lower Ta-154A projectile aircraft and the Fw190A-8 upper control aircraft. In the course of the work, they reached the point of converting the first batch into four bundles, then the conversion was cancelled. The Germans also developed other projects for composite aircraft, including those with jet engines. In particular, the 5th squadron of the KG200 squadron dealt with the use of a towed projectile aircraft based on the Me-328B jet

On the night of June 4-5, 1944, an unmanned radio-controlled aircraft S.M.79 of the Italian Social Republic Air Force made the first and only combat sortie in the direction of Gibraltar, with the aim of attacking the British ships stationed there. After the pilot bailed out, control was carried out from the Cant Z.1007-II escort aircraft. Due to a control defect, the projectile did not reach the target and fell.

In July 1944 Air Force The United States adopted the Aphrodite program. The purpose of the program was to convert worn-out B-17 bombers into projectile aircraft controlled by radio from an escort aircraft. Just like the Soviet TB-3RN, the plane was lifted into the air by a crew of a pilot and a flight engineer, guided it to the target manually, then activated the remote control, combat unit(9070 kg of Torpex explosives) and was thrown out with parachutes (the top of the aircraft cabin was cut off). The projectile aircraft continued to fly towards the target, controlled by radio, and the crew was picked up by the evacuation team. Converted B-17s, designated BQ-7, and B-17 escort aircraft, designated CQ-4, entered the 562nd Bomb Squadron. Projectile aircraft were involved several times in combat operations (in August and October 1944) against German V-1 missile positions. Operations using projectile aircraft against heavily defended targets were considered ineffective, so it was decided to use them against large industrial targets. The BQ-7 was used several more times in raids without special success. The program was considered unsuccessful, and the BQ-7 missile aircraft were more dangerous for their crews than for the enemy. However, a further development of the program was the conversion of B-24 bombers into BQ-8 projectile aircraft. The principle of application remains the same. The US Navy began its own program to convert the RB4Y-1 (the patrol version of the B-24). However, due to low accuracy, reliability and high complexity of application, the program was closed.

The world's first classical cruise missile, mass-produced and used in real combat operations, was the V-1 (Fi-103), developed by Germany. It was first tested on December 21, 1942. It was first used in combat conditions at the end of the Second World War against Great Britain. However, due to the low accuracy of the missile guidance system, the 5th squadron was formed as part of the KG200 experimental squadron, which seriously tested, among other things, the possibility of controlling the Fi-103 missile by a pilot who, in theory, should have jumped out with a parachute at the final section of the trajectory .

In September 1944, fragments of the V-1 were delivered to the Moscow design bureau, and later missile samples and drawings captured at Peenemünde. The Soviet authorities decided to create their own “aircraft-projectiles”. The development of the project was entrusted to Vladimir Chelomey. 9 years later, in parallel with Chelomey, A. I. Mikoyan began development.

In 1947, work began in the USSR on the Comet cruise missile. The missile was designed in a special KB-1, the missile airframe was created in OKB-155 on the basis of the MiG-15 fighter. The missile was supplied to the troops for many years and was produced in air-launched (KS-1) and ground-launched (S-2 Sopka, Strela, FKR-1) versions. To test missile systems and train personnel, a manned “Kometa backup aircraft” (SDK) was designed on the basis of the MiG-17 aircraft, which was mass-produced.

In the 1950s, the development of cruise missiles was envisaged as a strategic intercontinental means of delivering nuclear warheads. The Lavochkin Design Bureau was developing a two-stage cruise missile "Storm", work was stopped for economic reasons and due to successes in the development of ballistic missiles. The only intercontinental-class cruise missile system in service was the SM-62 Snark, developed in the USA, which was on combat duty for a very short time (in 1961).

At the end of the 50s of the last century, cruise missiles with powerful liquid rocket engines began to be developed, making it possible to achieve a significant increase in the characteristics of the rocket.

Classification

Cruise missiles fission

  • by charge type:
    • with nuclear equipment
    • with normal equipment
  • according to the tasks to be solved (purpose):
    • strategic
    • tactical
    • operational-tactical (most often anti-ship)
  • by type of base:
    • ground
    • air
    • sea

Currently, ships, missile boats and submarines are equipped with sea-launched cruise missiles (see anti-ship missile).

Existing systems

Production in different countries

USSR and Russia

  • 10XH
  • 16X is an experimental air-launched cruise missile with a pulsating air-breathing engine.
  • KS-1 is the first production subsonic air-launched anti-ship cruise missile, medium range.
  • KSR-2
  • KSR-5 - supersonic air-launched anti-ship cruise missile, long range, with a high-explosive cumulative or nuclear warhead.
  • KSR-11 is a long-range supersonic air-launched anti-radar cruise missile with a high-explosive or high-explosive fragmentation warhead.
  • K-10S is a long-range supersonic air-launched anti-ship cruise missile with a high-explosive penetrating or nuclear warhead.
  • X-20 is a long-range supersonic air-launched cruise missile with a thermonuclear warhead.
  • Kh-22 is a long-range supersonic air-launched anti-ship cruise missile with a high-explosive penetrating or nuclear warhead.

The Syrian campaign was marked by a demonstration of the new capabilities of the Russian armed forces, in particular in the field of modern high-precision weapons. And if “Caliber” was well-known, its aviation brothers undeservedly found themselves in the shadows.

Long-range aviation cruise missiles (LCRCMs) of the modern type were formed in the 1970s, when, taking advantage of the latest achievements of science and technology, the USA and the USSR began work on creating fundamentally new aviation means of delivering nuclear charges. By that time, it became clear that continuing the race for speed or altitude of the aircraft no longer provided a guarantee of an air defense breakthrough.

Of course, at that time such CRBDs were already in service, such as, for example, the AGM-28 “Hound Dog” or the X-20. However, along with high speed and a good flight range, they also had a number of disadvantages, primarily their significant weight and dimensions, which limited the combat load to only a few products. When flying at high altitude and speed of 2 M, such missiles were vulnerable to air defense, where there was no fundamental difference in intercepting a high-speed bomber with a nuclear bomb or a large-sized missile.

Under the influence of the inertia of thinking, they tried to increase the survivability of missiles traditionally - by increasing the speed and altitude of flight. If we give examples from Soviet developments, these are the Meteorit-A and X-45 programs. At the same time, the disadvantage in the form of dimensions and weight only worsened: for example, the future Tu-160 was supposed to carry only two X-45 missiles in its internal compartments with a range of up to 1,500 km. Against the background of parallel development ballistic missiles ground and sea based, increasing their accuracy and equipping them with multiple independently targetable warheads, the very feasibility of maintaining strategic aviation as a component of the nuclear triad became controversial.

The answer was found in the United States in the form of the creation of small-sized and light subsonic missiles equipped with economical turbojet engines. We came to this idea almost by accident - after thinking about the possibility of arming promising decoys with nuclear charges. The new missiles were supposed to break through air defense covertly, due to flight at ultra-low altitudes and reduced visibility of the missile itself. The main advantage was its small size, which allowed each missile carrier to attack many targets. Other advantages included the high accuracy of the new missiles, which should have been ensured by the latest advances in the field of inertial navigation systems and the miniaturization of computer technology.

A few years before active funding for the creation of the future AGM-86 ALCM began in the United States, in the USSR the Raduga design bureau, having conducted independent theoretical research, proposed to begin work on such a weapon, but this did not arouse interest among the military, obsessed with high speeds. The opinion changed only when the plans of their overseas “colleagues” became clear. The American AGM-86B and the Soviet X-55 were adopted almost simultaneously - at the end of 1982 and 1983, respectively. At the same time, in the USA, the existing B-52G and B-52H were modernized for new missiles, initially as simply as possible (only the B-52H received a drum launcher in the internal compartment, and only since 1988), while in the USSR new missiles were equipped with new missile carriers Tu-95MS and Tu-160.

Both American and Soviet designers managed to create weapons with similar characteristics - both the AGM-86B and X-55 had a flight range of about 2500 km, a cruising speed of about 800 km/h and high accuracy: the circular probable deviation from the target was less than 100 m. Satellite navigation was not used and worked the most accurate inertial navigation systems (INS) and radio altimeter correction using digital terrain maps. Considering that the missiles are equipped with small-sized thermonuclear warheads (warheads) with an explosion power of up to 150 kT (AGM-86B) or up to 200 kT (X-55), one could talk about ensuring the guaranteed destruction of even the most fortified targets.

As part of the ongoing race nuclear weapons further work focused primarily on increasing the range of missiles in order to move their launch line far beyond the range of air defense interceptors. The USA created the AGM-129 ACM missile with a range, according to various estimates, of up to 3400–3700 km. Another difference from its predecessor was the maximum introduction of visibility reduction technologies. However, the new missile proved to be more expensive and difficult to maintain, was not produced in sufficient numbers to replace the AGM-86B, and was withdrawn from service in 2012. The only US CRBD with a nuclear warhead now remains the AGM-86B.

In Russia, they took a simpler and more economical path to modernizing the X-55 by equipping it with overhead, conformal fuel tanks. With them, the range of the Kh-55SM reached 3500 km. Based on numerical indicators, the Kh-55SM remains today the main nuclear weapon of the air part of the Russian nuclear triad.

From carriers of nuclear charges to carriers of democracy

The unique qualities of the new weapon forced us to take a closer look at it not only as a means of delivering a nuclear charge, but also as a new airborne weapon for conventional conflicts. In their original version, CRBDs already had good accuracy, which was significantly increased through the use of satellite navigation. In the United States, in the second half of the 1980s, a program began to convert the AGM-86B into non-nuclear AGM-86C CALCM with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead instead of a nuclear one. Due to the heavier charge, the range dropped significantly - to about 1200 km.

Initially, the program was conducted in strict secrecy; for the US Air Force, the new weapon was supposed to be a delicate tool for operations like El Dorado Canyon. . The baptism of fire for these CBBMs was the 1991 Gulf War, when seven B-52Gs made a non-stop 35-hour flight from the United States to Iraq and back and fired 35 AGM-86C missiles at targets, almost their entire stock at that time (another four missiles did not launch due to problems). According to various estimates, 31 or 33 missiles successfully hit targets. By the way, the secrecy led to the fact that their use was officially recognized only a year later, despite the fact that the naval Tomahawk became one of the media “stars” of that war.

Success in the Iraq War led to an explosion of interest in CRBMs as the most important weapon in local conflicts. Amid nuclear weapons reductions, many AGM-86Bs were converted to "tactical" variants, the last fifty to the AGM-86D standard, with penetrating warheads and the ability to hit targets in a dive with an accuracy of several meters. Considering the smaller mass of a penetrating warhead than a high-explosive warhead, it is possible that the range of these missiles is higher.

The logical next stage in development was the creation of new non-nuclear cruise missiles. The fundamental innovation was that they were considered primarily as carriers. multi-role fighters. Although the size and weight restrictions were more serious than those of missiles designed for strategic bombers. Coupled with the greater mass of non-nuclear warheads, this resulted in a range measured in hundreds rather than thousands of kilometers, but still far beyond the air defense coverage area. Tactical aviation acquired fundamentally new capabilities, previously available only to strategic aviation.

The most common high-precision tactical cruise missiles today are the American AGM-158 JASSM, produced in large quantities for the US Air Force and purchased by Australia, Finland and Poland. The basic version of the AGM-158A has a range of about 370 km, the upgraded AGM-158B JASSM-ER with the same external dimensions, but with a more economical engine and, probably, a reduced warhead - about 1000 km. Thanks to being equipped with a rich set of navigation and targeting equipment, from INS and GPS to infrared seeker, the missile has high noise immunity and potentially the highest accuracy, up to only two meters of deviation from the target.

Based on the JASSM-ER with minimal changes (an additional radar seeker was installed), the AGM-158C LRASM anti-ship missile system was created and is being tested, maintaining the range of the original and the ability to use ground targets. Considering the range that is excessive for subsonic anti-ship missiles, it can be assumed that in this way the US Navy, which at one time refused to purchase JASSM, now wants to get it for carrier-based aircraft. The closest analogue currently in service with the fleet is the AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER with a range of about 270 km.

The last two decades have seen a real boom in this area. The German-Swedish Taurus KEPD and the French-English SCALP EG/Storm Shadow are in the series and are actively exported. The Norwegian-American JSM, Turkish SOM and others are in development. The French high-speed (up to 3M) ASMP stands apart, in its latest modification with a range of up to 500 km. Unlike the others, it is equipped exclusively with a thermonuclear warhead and is a weapon of the air component of the French strategic nuclear forces. In the United States, a promising dual-use CRBD (with a nuclear or conventional warhead) LRSO is being developed to replace ALCM and JASSM. Until recently, Russia did not seem to be invited to this competition.

Spear for the Russian Aerospace Forces

However, Soviet military officers and engineers recognized the potential of precision-guided weapons. In the second half of the 1980s, work began on creating both non-nuclear versions of existing missiles and a new generation missile, a response to the American AGM-129. Unfortunately, these works were dealt a heavy blow by the period of chronic underfunding of the defense industry in the 1990s, and the implementation of the idea was delayed for at least a decade.

Since 2000, it began flight tests of the X-555 - a non-nuclear version of the X-55SM with a guidance system that provides increased accuracy (CEP - 20 m) compared to the original due to the equipment with optical-electronic and satellite guidance systems. Can be equipped with a high-explosive, penetrating or cassette warhead. The range of a missile with conformal tanks reaches 2000 km, that is, it exceeds its main foreign analogue, the AGM-86B, by one and a half to two times. In the mid-2000s, the X-555 passed state tests and began to enter service with Russian long-range aviation. Similar to the Kh-55SM, they are used from the Tu-95MS missile carriers (six missiles on one drum launcher, external hardpoints are not used) and Tu-160 (12 missiles on two drum launchers). For the first time in a combat situation, like the domestic missile-carrying strategic aviation in general, they were used in November 2015, when Tu-95MS carried out strikes against militant targets in Syria, and the missiles along the way crossed the territory of Iran and Iraq “under their own power” - for them this is not a distance.

The creation and development of the X-555 was relatively simple and in a fast way get a non-nuclear missile launcher. In parallel with this, work was carried out on a rocket of a qualitatively new level. Before its demonstrative use on the same November day, the X-101 had a semi-mythical status - there was not even confidence that it had been adopted for service, due to the lack of evidence of the presence of “live” products in the units. But what " long arm» Russian videoconferencing is completely ready for use, it was demonstrated in detailed video reports. And the fact that such strikes were repeated more than once showed that, unlike the United States in 1991, Russia did not shoot off its entire arsenal in one day.

The Kh-101/102 missiles (Kh-102 - with a nuclear warhead) are the most technically advanced and long-range modern CRBDs. High accuracy is ensured by an optical-electronic guidance system at the final section. The range, according to various estimates, reaches 4500–5500 km (perhaps the upper limit refers to the X-102) and, thus, approaches intercontinental, even without taking into account the large flight radius of the strategic missile carrier. To increase survivability, visibility reduction devices have been massively introduced, and often an excess supply of fuel allows most of the flight to be carried out at ultra-low altitudes . The new missiles are carried by the modernized Tu-95MSM (up to eight missiles on external hardpoints) and Tu-160 (up to 12 missiles on two drum launchers).

Although with some lag behind the priority rearmament of long-range aviation, active work is also underway on lighter missiles. The X-50 missile, created on the basis of the X-101, is being tested - the most unified shortened version. Due to its smaller weight and dimensions, it can be used from a smaller drum launcher located in the weapons compartment of the modernized Tu-22M3M, and the Tu-95MSM will be able to carry, in addition to eight missiles on an external sling, six more on the “drum”. In addition, the Kh-50 will likely be able to use tactical aircraft such as the Su-34. Its range is estimated at at least 1,500 km, which significantly exceeds the capabilities of JASSM-ER. The Tu-22M3M will also be able to use heavy Kh-32 cruise missiles, whose characteristics are close to hypersonic (range up to 1000 km, speed more than 4 Mach) and intended primarily for the destruction of ships. However, their significant mass and dimensions limit the typical load to two such missiles (if overloaded, three).

If with missiles such as the Kh-101 and Kh-50, Russia was significantly behind in time, but also significantly superior in performance foreign analogues, then at the next stage of development aviation weapons she was determined to get ahead. By the beginning of the next decade, it is planned to adopt first an operational-tactical hypersonic missile with a range of about 1,500 km and a speed of up to 6 M, and later strategic, even faster products.

In the new century, after traditional ballistic missiles increasingly begin to be threatened by missile defense systems, aviation is ready to play the “faster-higher-further” game again, and only time will tell what the results of this round will be.

1986 air raid by a group of bombers F-111 from UK on Tripoli, in response to a series of terrorist attacks by Islamist groups believed to be backed by Libya.

R the consumption is significantly higher, and, as a rule, in safe areas of the Kyrgyz Republic they try to fly at altitudes of several kilometers.

Half a century ago, at the height of the Cold War, cruise missiles were completely outmatched by ballistic missiles on the field strategic weapons long range. But perhaps in future conflicts the main argument will not be the ballistic club, but the swift and insidious winged dagger.

MBDA CVS PERSEUS (France) Advanced supersonic cruise missile. Speed ​​– Mach 3. Length - 5 m. Warhead weight - 200 kg. Launch from sea and air platforms. Has detachable warheads. Range – 300 km

When the Space Shuttle program was officially closed on July 21, 2011, not only did the era of manned orbital shuttles end, but also, in a sense, the entire era of “winged romance,” known for the many attempts to make an airplane something more than just an airplane. Early experiments with the installation of a rocket engine on a winged vehicle date back to the late 20s of the last century. The X-1 (1947) was also a rocket plane - the first manned aircraft in history to overcome the speed of sound. Its fuselage was shaped like a scaled-up 12.7mm machine gun bullet, and its rocket engine burned ordinary alcohol in its chamber with the help of liquid oxygen.


MBDA CVS Perseus (France). Promising supersonic cruise missile. Speed ​​Mach 3. Length 5 m. Warhead weight - 200 kg. Launch from sea and air platforms. Has detachable warheads. Range 300 km.

Engineers in Nazi Germany worked not only on the ballistic V-2, but also on the “mother” of all cruise missiles, the pulse-jet V-1. Eugen Senger dreamed of an ultra-long-range “antipodean” rocket plane-bomber “Silbervogel”, and Wolf Trommsdorff dreamed of a strategic cruise missile with a ramjet engine (see). At the end of the war, the former allies - the USSR and the USA - began to actively study the German heritage in order to use it to create weapons, this time against each other. And although both V-1 and V-2 were copied on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the Americans were always closer to the “aviation” approach, which ultimately became one of the reasons for America’s initial lag in the field of ballistic technology (despite the possession of Wernher von Braun).


Hypersonic vehicle X-43. The forerunner of the X-51 cruise missile. It was the third stage of the system: B-52 bomber - booster cruise missile - X-43. Equipped with a scramjet engine. Set a speed record of Mach 9.8.

With a bomb on the Snark

And therefore, it was in the United States that the first and only cruise missile with an intercontinental (more than 10,000 km) range of action - the SM-62 Snark - was built. It was created within the walls of the Northrop corporation, and in fact it was an unmanned aircraft, made (which is very typical for Northrop) according to the “tailless” design, so that the elevons on the wings were used as elevators for this projectile. This “plane” could even be returned from a mission if necessary (if the warhead had not yet been shot off) and landed at the airfield, and then used again. Snark was launched using rocket boosters, then the Pratt & Whitney J57 aircraft turbojet engine was turned on, and the rocket began its path to the target. 80 km before it, at an altitude of 18 km from the projectile, a warhead (which normally contained a 4-megaton thermonuclear ammunition) was fired using squibs. Then the warhead followed a ballistic trajectory to the target, and the rest of the missile was destroyed and turned into a cloud of debris, which, at least theoretically, could serve as decoys for air defense.

Hypersound in Russia

About plans to create hypersonic cruise missiles in lately announced representatives of the domestic defense industry. In particular, he shared such plans General manager Reutov NPO "Mashinostroeniya" Alexander Leonov. As you know, it was this enterprise, together with Indian specialists, that developed the Brahmos anti-ship supersonic missile, which is considered the fastest cruise missile put into service today. Also, the head of the Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation, Boris Obnosov, announced his intention to begin work on creating a hypersonic missile at the enterprise. These works were entrusted to the State Medical Clinical Hospital "Raduga" in Dubna.

The independent flight of the projectile was ensured by an innovative for that time, but very imperfect astro-correction system, based on three telescopes aimed at different stars. When in 1961, US President Kennedy ordered the Snarks, which had barely entered combat duty, to be removed from service, these weapons were already obsolete. The military was not satisfied with the ceiling of 17,000 m that could be reached by Soviet air defense, nor, of course, with the speed, which did not exceed the average speed of a modern airliner, so the journey to the distant target would take many hours. Somewhat earlier, another project was buried, which did not survive to be put into service. It's about about the North American SM-64 Navaho - a supersonic cruise missile, also intercontinental range (up to 6500 km), which used launch rocket boosters and a ramjet engine to achieve a speed of 3700 km/h. The projectile was designed for a thermonuclear warhead.


The X-51 rocket uses JP-7 fuel in its scramjet engine, which has a high ignition temperature and thermal stability. It is designed specifically for supersonic aircraft and was used in the Lockheed SR-71 engines.

Life after ICBM

The Soviet response to Navaho was the “Storm” (Lavochkin Design Bureau) and “Buran” (Myasishchev Design Bureau) projects, also developed in the 1950s. Based on the same ideology (rocket accelerator plus ramjet), these projects were distinguished by the weight of the warhead (Buran was created as a heavier carrier), and also by the fact that Buran had successful launches, while Buran never flew.

Both Soviet and American intercontinental “winged” projects sank into oblivion for the same reason - in the second half of the 1950s, the seeds sown by von Braun bore fruit, and serious progress was made in ballistic technology. It became clear that it is easier, more efficient and cheaper to use ballistic missiles both as an intercontinental carrier of nuclear charges and for space exploration. The theme of manned orbital and suborbital rocket planes gradually faded away, represented by the Americans with the Dyna Soar project, which partly realized the dream of Eugen Zenger, and the X-15, and in the USSR with similar developments by the design bureaus of Myasishchev, Chelomey and Tupolev, including the famous “Spiral” "


Fired air heater developed by the research group “Experimental Combustion Research” at the Moscow Aviation Institute as part of the LEA project. Fired air heater, which allows you to simulate in laboratory conditions the parameters of the air flow at the outlet of the air intake of the main propulsion engine. Such a heater was designed at the Moscow Aviation Institute as part of a project to prepare a test flight of a hypersonic aircraft. The project was called LEA, and was initiated by the French companies Onera and MBDA, and Russian scientists and designers also took part in it.

But everything comes back one day. And if the ideas and developments on early rocket planes were partly embodied in the Space Shuttle and its analogue “Buran” (whose century, however, has also passed), then we continue to see a return of interest in non-ballistic missile weapons with an intercontinental range today.

The disadvantage of ICBMs is not only that their trajectory is easily calculable (which requires trickery with maneuverable warheads), but also that their use under the existing world order and the current strategic arms control regime is practically impossible, even if they carry non-nuclear ammunition. Vehicles such as cruise missiles are capable of performing complex maneuvers in the atmosphere and are not subject to such severe restrictions, but, unfortunately, they fly too slowly and not very far. If you create a guided projectile that can cover intercontinental distances in at least an hour and a half, it would be an ideal tool for modern global military operations. Such weapons have recently been often discussed in connection with American concept Global Prompt Strike. Its essence is well known: the American military and politicians expect to get their hands on the means of delivering a strike with a non-nuclear warhead anywhere in the world, and no more than an hour should pass from the decision to strike to hitting the target. In particular, the use of non-nuclear Trident II missiles deployed on submarines was discussed, but the very fact of launching such a missile could lead to extremely unpleasant consequences - for example, in the form of a retaliatory strike, but this time nuclear. Therefore, the use of conventional Tridents may pose a serious political problem.


Disguise as missile defense

But the Americans are not going to subject all new types of non-nuclear weapons, even with strategic objectives, to any restrictions and are actively working to create a Global Prompt Strike arsenal. As an alternative to ballistic missiles, hypersonic aircraft (HSAVs) are being considered, which can have the design of a cruise missile, that is, have their own engine (usually a hypersonic ramjet engine, scramjet engine), or a glide projectile, the hypersonic speed of which is imparted by sustainer stages. conventional ballistic missiles.

The SM-3 Block IIA missile defense system, currently being developed in the United States, is most often mentioned in connection with the modernization of the American missile defense system. It, like previous modifications of the SM-3, will be used in service with the Aegis sea-based missile defense system. A special feature of BlockII is the declared ability to intercept ICBMs in a certain section of the trajectory, which will allow the Aegis system to be included in the US strategic missile defense system. However, in 2010, the US military announced that a long-range strike system codenamed ArcLight would also be created based on the SM-3 Block IIA. As planned, the cruise missile defense stages will bring the gliding vehicle to hypersonic speed, which will be capable of flying up to 600 km and delivering a warhead weighing 50-100 kg to the target. The total flight range of the entire system will be up to 3,800 km, and at the stage of independent flight, the hypersonic glider will not fly along a ballistic trajectory and will have the ability to maneuver for high-precision targeting of the target. The real highlight of this project is the fact that, thanks to unification with the SM-3, the ArcLight missile system can be placed in the same vertical launchers that are designed for anti-missile missiles. There are 8,500 such “nests” at the disposal of the US Navy, and no one except the American military will know whether a given ship is equipped with anti-missile missiles or “global instant strike” weapons.


North American XB-70 Valkyrie is one of the most exotic projects of the American aircraft industry. This high-altitude bomber, designed to fly at Mach 3, first flew in 1964. In addition to the experimental X-51 cruise missile, the Valkyrie is believed to be an aircraft that had the characteristics of a waverider. Thanks to its downward-sloping wingtips, the bomber used the compressional lift produced by the shock waves.

Striking "falcon"

In addition to the development of “advanced” acceleration stages, a separate engineering problem is the design of the airframe itself, due to the specificity of the aerodynamic processes occurring during hypersonic flight. However, it seems that some progress has been made in this direction.

First test

The world's first flight test of a scramjet engine was carried out by our scientists and took place in last days existence of the USSR.
Despite the obvious leadership of the United States in the field of designing aircraft with scramjet engines, we should not forget that the palm in creating a working model of this type of engine belongs to our country. In 1979, the Commission of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the USSR approved a comprehensive plan for research work on the use of cryogenic fuel for aircraft engines. A special place in this plan was given to the creation of a scramjet engine. The bulk of the work in this area was carried out by CIAM named after. L. I. Baranova. The flying laboratory for testing scramjet engines was created on the basis of the 5V28 anti-aircraft missile of the S-200 air defense system and was named “Cold”. Instead of a warhead, a tank for liquid hydrogen, control systems and the E-57 engine itself were built into the rocket. The first test took place on November 28, 1991 at the Sary-Shagan training ground in Kazakhstan. During the tests, the maximum operating time of the scramjet was 77 s, and a speed of 1855 m/s was achieved. In 1998, the flight laboratory tests were carried out under a contract with NASA.

Back in 2003, the main brain trust of the American defense industry, the DARPA agency, in collaboration with the US Air Force, announced the FALCON program. This word, translated from English as “falcon,” is also an acronym that stands for “Applying force when launched from the continental United States.” The program included the development of both upper stages and a hypersonic airframe in the interests of Global Prompt Strike. Part of this program also included the creation of an unmanned aircraft, the HTV-3X, powered by hypersonic ramjet engines, but funding was subsequently discontinued. But the airframe, designated Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 (HTV-2), was embodied in metal and had the appearance of a cone cut in half (vertically). The airframe was tested in April 2010 and August 2011, and both flights were somewhat disappointing. During the first launch, HTV-2 took off with with the help of the lung Minotaur IV carrier from Vandenberg Air Force Base. He had to fly 7,700 km to Kwajelein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in Pacific Ocean. However, after nine minutes, contact with him was lost. The automatic flight termination system was activated, believed to be the result of the device “tumbling.” Obviously, the designers at that time were unable to solve the problem of maintaining flight stability when changing the position of the steering aerodynamic surfaces. The second flight also aborted at the ninth minute (out of 30). At the same time, it is reported that the HTV-2 managed to develop a completely “ballistic” speed of Mach 20. However, the lessons of failure were apparently quickly learned. On November 17, 2011, another device called the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) was tested successfully. The AHW was not a complete analogue of the HTV-2 and was designed for a shorter range, but had a similar design. It launched as part of a three-stage booster system from a launch pad on the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian archipelago and reached test site them. Reagan on Kwajelein Atoll.


Heavy breathing

In parallel with the theme of the hypersonic glider, American designers are developing self-propelled vehicles for the Global Prompt Strike or, simply put, hypersonic cruise missiles. The X-51 rocket developed by Boeing is also known as the Waverider. Thanks to its design, the device uses the energy of shock waves generated in the air during hypersonic flight to obtain additional lift. Despite the fact that the adoption of this missile into service was planned for 2017, today it is still an experimental device that has made only a few flights with the scramjet engine turned on. On May 26, 2010, the X-51 accelerated to Mach 5, but the engine worked for only 200 seconds out of 300. The second launch took place on June 13, 2011 and ended in failure as a result of surging of the ramjet engine at hypersonic speed. Be that as it may, it is clear that experiments with scramjet engines will continue both in the United States and in other countries, and, apparently, reliable working technologies will still be created in the foreseeable future.

1) Family of guided missiles "Caliber" Cruise missiles became widely known after they were used to strike terrorist positions in Syria. Work on this project was carried out in the 1980s on the basis of two products: the 3M10 strategic nuclear cruise missile with a combat radius of 2500 km and the complex anti-ship missiles"Alpha" (OCR "Turquoise"). The Caliber missiles were first presented at the MAKS-1993 air show. NATO received the codification Sizzler (“Incinerator”). The range of action against sea targets is up to 350 km, against coastal targets - up to 2600 km. 2) Strategic air-to-ground cruise missile X-101 The X-101 strategic air-to-ground cruise missile (X-102 with a nuclear warhead), using radar signature reduction technologies, also received its first combat use in Syria, where they were used to strike terrorist positions. The main carriers are Tu-22 and Tu-160 bombers. Product development was carried out design bureau"Rainbow" (1995-2013). Exact Specifications are not disclosed. According to some reports, the launch range reaches 9000 km, and the probable circular deviation is 5 m at a range of 5500 km. 3) Anti-ship missile P-270 “Moskit” P-270 Mosquito (according to NATO codification SS-N-22 Sunburn, literally “Sunburn”) is an anti-ship missile developed in the 1970s in the USSR. Capable of destroying ships with a displacement of up to 20 thousand tons, in particular, those from naval strike groups, landing formations, convoys and single ships. Firing range - from 10 to 120 km along a low-altitude trajectory, 250 km - with a high-altitude flight profile. When approaching a target, the Mosquito moves at a height of 7 m, moving “above the crest of the waves,” and in order to break through air defenses, the missile is capable of performing an anti-aircraft “snake” maneuver with rotation angles of up to 60 degrees and an overload of more than 10 g. 4) Strategic aviation cruise missile X-55 The Kh-55 missile is a cruise missile for strategic bombers. After launch, it travels at subsonic speed, skirting the terrain, which makes its interception extremely difficult. The Kh-55 carriers are the Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers, while the latter can carry up to 12 such missiles. The mass of the warhead of each of them is 200 kt, which is more than 20 times greater than the explosion power of the Little Boy bomb dropped by the United States on Hiromima in 1945. 5) P-700 “Granit” - long-range anti-ship cruise missile The P-700 “Granit” was created primarily to combat powerful naval groups, including aviation ones. When creating the complex, an approach was used for the first time, the basis of which is the mutual linkage of three elements: target designation means (in the form of spacecraft), a carrier and anti-ship missiles. Range of action - 550 km along a combined trajectory. These missiles are also in service with the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov.

Emerged (or rather, revived) in the late 1970s. In the USSR and the USA, as an independent class of strategic offensive weapons, long-range aviation and naval cruise missiles (CR) have been considered since the second half of the 1980s and as high-precision weapons (HPT), designed to destroy particularly important small-sized targets with conventional (non-nuclear) warheads. The AGM-86C (CALCM) and AGM-109C Tomahawk cruise missiles equipped with high-power (weight about 450 kg) non-nuclear warheads (WU) were demonstrated high efficiency in combat operations against Iraq (continuously ongoing since 1991), as well as in the Balkans (1999) and in other parts of the world. At the same time, tactical (non-nuclear) missiles of the first generation had relatively low flexibility combat use- entering the flight mission into the missile guidance system was carried out on the ground, before the bomber took off or the ship left the base, and took more than a day (later it was reduced to several hours).


In addition, the missile launchers had a relatively high cost (more than $1 million), low hit accuracy (circular probable deviation - CEP - from tens to hundreds of meters) and a combat range several times smaller than that of their strategic prototypes (respectively , 900-1100 and 2400-3000 km), which was due to the use of a heavier non-nuclear warhead, which “displaced” part of the fuel from the rocket body. The carriers of the AGM-86C missile launcher (launch weight 1460 kg, warhead weight 450 kg, range 900-1100 km) are currently only the B-52N strategic missile-carrying bombers, and the AGM-109C is equipped with surface ships of the destroyer and cruiser class ", equipped with universal vertical container launchers, as well as multi-purpose nuclear submarines (NPS) that use missiles from an underwater position.

Based on the experience of combat operations in Iraq (1991), American missile systems of both types were modernized in the direction of increasing the flexibility of their combat use (now the input of a flight mission can be carried out remotely, directly on board the aircraft or carrier ship, in the process of solving a combat mission) . Due to the introduction of an optical correlation system for final homing, as well as equipping with a satellite navigation unit (GPS), the accuracy characteristics of the weapon were significantly increased (COE -8-10 m), which made it possible to hit not just a specific target, but a specific area of ​​it.

In the 1970-1990s, up to 3,400 AGM-109 missiles and more than 1,700 AGM-86 missiles were produced. Currently, the AGM-109 missile launchers of early modifications (both “strategic” and anti-ship) are being massively modified into the tactical version of the AGM-109C Block 111C, equipped with an improved guidance system and having an increased combat range from 1100 to 1800 km, as well as reduced CEP (8-10 m). At the same time, the mass (1450 kg) of the rocket and its speed characteristics (M = 0.7) remained practically unchanged.

Since the late 1990s, work has been ongoing in parallel to create a simplified, cheaper version of the Tactical Tomahawk missile launcher, intended exclusively for use on board surface ships. This made it possible to reduce the requirements for the strength of the airframe, to abandon a number of other elements that ensure the launch of a missile in an underwater position from the torpedo tubes of a nuclear submarine, and thereby improve the weight efficiency of the aircraft and increase its performance characteristics (primarily, the range, which should increase to 2000 km ).

In the longer term, due to the reduction in the weight of avionics and the use of more economical engines, the maximum range of the modernized AGM-86C and AGM-109C missile launchers will increase to 2000-3000 km (while maintaining the same efficiency of non-nuclear warheads).


AGM-86B cruise missile

However, the process of transforming the AGM-86 aircraft missile launcher into a non-nuclear version in the early 2000s slowed down significantly due to the lack of “extra” missiles of this type in the US Air Force (unlike the Tomahawk missile launcher in the nuclear version, which, in accordance with Russian-American agreements, removed from the ships' ammunition loads and transferred to coastal storage, the AGM-86 continues to be included in the nuclear classification, being the basis of the strategic armament of the US Air Force B-52 bombers). For the same reason, the transformation into a non-nuclear version of the AGM-129A strategic stealth missile system, which is also exclusively equipped with B-52H aircraft, has not begun. In this regard, the issue of resuming serial production of an improved version of the AGM-86 missile system has been repeatedly raised, but a decision on this has not been made.

For the foreseeable future, the US Air Force is considering the subsonic (M = 0.7) Lockheed Martin AGM-158 JASSM missile, flight tests of which began in 1999. The missile has dimensions and weight (1100 kg) approximately corresponding to the AGM-158 JASSM. 86, is capable of hitting targets with high accuracy (CEP - several meters) at a range of up to 350 km. Unlike the AGM-86, it is equipped with a more powerful warhead and has less radar signature.

Other important advantage AGM-158 - carrier versatility: it can be equipped with almost all types of air force, navy and air force combat aircraft Marine Corps USA (B-52N, B-1B, B-2A, F-15E, F-16C, F/A-18, F-35).

The JASSM missile launcher is equipped with a combined autonomous guidance system - inertial-satellite during the cruising phase of the flight and thermal imaging (with target self-recognition mode) at the final stage. It can be assumed that a number of improvements being introduced (or planned for implementation) on the AGM-86C and AGM-109C missile systems will also be used on the missile, in particular, the transmission of a “receipt” of target destruction to the ground control command and the in-flight retargeting mode.

The first small-scale batch of the JASSM missile launcher includes 95 missiles (its production began in mid-2000), the next two batches will amount to 100 products each (deliveries begin in 2002). The maximum production rate will reach 360 missiles per year. Serial production of the cruise missile is expected to continue at least until 2010. Within seven years, it is expected to produce at least 2,400 cruise missiles with a unit cost of each product of at least 0.3 million dollars.

Lockheed Martin, together with the Air Force, is considering the possibility of creating a version of the JASSM missile with an extended body and a more fuel-efficient engine, which will increase the range to 2,800 km.

At the same time, the US Navy, in parallel with its rather “formal” participation in the JASSM program, in the 1990s continued work on further improving the AGM-84E SLAM tactical aviation missile, which, in turn, is a modification of the Boeing Harpoon AGM anti-ship missile -84, created in the 1970s. In 1999, the US Navy's carrier-based aircraft received the Boeing AGM-84H SLAM-ER tactical cruise missile with a range of about 280 km - the first American weapon system with the ability to automatically recognize targets (ATR - Automatic Target Recognition mode). Giving the SLAM-ER guidance system the ability to autonomously identify targets is a major step in the field of improving high-precision technology. Compared to the Automatic Target Acquisition (ATA) mode, already implemented in a number of aircraft weapons, in the ATR mode, the “picture” of a potential target received by on-board sensors is compared with its digital image stored in the on-board computer’s memory, which allows autonomous search for an attack target, its identification and missile targeting in the presence of only approximate data on the location of the target.

The SLAM-ER missile is equipped with carrier-based multi-role fighters F/A-18B/C, F/A-18E/F, and in the future - F-35A. SLAM-ER is a “domestic” competitor of the JASSM cruise missile (purchases of the latter by the US fleet to date seem problematic).

Thus, until the beginning of the 2010s, in the arsenal of the US Air Force and Navy, in the class of non-nuclear cruise missiles with a range of 300-3000 km, there will be only low-altitude subsonic (M = 0.7-0.8) missile launchers with sustainer turbofan engines, having low and ultra-low radar signature (RCS = 0.1-0.01 sq.m) and high accuracy (CEP - less than 10 m).

In the longer term (2010-2030s), the United States plans to create a new generation of long-range missile systems designed to fly at high supersonic and hypersonic (M = 4 or more) speeds, which should significantly reduce the reaction time of weapons, as well as , combined with low radar signature, the degree of its vulnerability from existing and future enemy missile defense systems.

The US Navy is considering the possibility of developing a high-speed universal cruise missile JSCM (Joint Supersonic Cruise Missile), designed to combat advanced air defense systems. The missile launcher should have a range of about 900 km and a maximum speed corresponding to M = 4.5-5.0. It is assumed that it will carry a unitary armor-piercing unit or a cluster warhead equipped with several submunitions. The deployment of the KPJSMC, according to the most optimistic forecasts, can begin in 2012. The cost of the missile development program is estimated at $1 billion.

It is assumed that the JSMC missile will be able to be launched from surface ships equipped with universal vertical launchers Mk 41. In addition, its carriers can be multi-role carrier-based fighters such as F/A-18E/F and F-35A/B (in the aviation version, the missile is considered as replacement of the subsonic missile launcher SLAM-ER). It is planned that the first decisions on the JSCM program will be made in 2003, and full-scale funding for work may begin in the 2006-2007 fiscal year.

According to the director of naval programs at Lockheed, Martin E. Carney (AI Carney), although government funding for the JSCM program has not yet been provided, in 2002 it is planned to finance work on the ACTD (Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator) research program. If the groundwork for the ACTD program is used as the basis for the JSMC missile concept, Lockheed Martin will likely become the main contractor for the creation of a new missile launcher.

The development of the experimental ACTD rocket is carried out jointly by Orbital Science and the US Navy Naval Weapons Center (Chine Lake Air Force Base, California). The rocket is supposed to be powered by a liquid-propellant ramjet engine, research on which has been underway at China Lake for the past 10 years.

The main "sponsor" of the JSMC program is Pacific Fleet USA, interested primarily in effective means fight against rapidly improving Chinese air defense systems.

In the 1990s, the US Navy began implementing a program to create advanced ALAM missile weapons, intended for use by surface ships against coastal targets. Further development This program in 2002 became the project of the FLAM (Future Land Attack Missile) complex, which should fill the “range niche” between the adjustable active-reactive artillery 155-mm ERGM guided projectile (capable of hitting targets with high accuracy at a range of more than 100 km) and CR "Tomahawk". The missile must have increased accuracy. Funding for its creation will begin in 2004. It is planned that the FLAM missile will be equipped with new generation destroyers of the DD(X) type, which will begin to be commissioned in 2010.

The final design of the FLAM rocket has not yet been determined. According to one of the options, it is possible to create a hypersonic aircraft with a liquid ramjet based on the JSCM rocket.

Lockheed Martin, together with the French center ONR, is working on the creation of a solid-fuelled air-breathing engine SERJ (Solid-Fuelled RamJet), which can also be used on the ALAM/FLAM rocket (although it seems more likely that such an engine will be installed on rockets of later development, which may appear after 2012, or on the ALAM/FLAM missile system in the process of its modernization), Since the ramjet engine is less economical than the turbofan engine, a supersonic (hypersonic) missile with a SERJ engine is estimated to have a shorter range (about 500 km), than subsonic missile launchers of similar mass and dimensions.

Boeing, together with the US Air Force, is considering the concept of a hypersonic missile launcher with a lattice wing, designed to deliver two to four subminiature autonomous subsonic missile launchers of the LOCAADS type to the target area. The main task of the system should be to defeat modern mobile ballistic missiles, which have a pre-launch preparation time (the beginning of which can be detected by reconnaissance means after the missile is raised to a vertical position) of about 10 minutes. Based on this, a hypersonic cruise missile should reach the target area within 6-7 minutes. after receiving target designation. No more than 3 minutes can be allocated to search for and engage a target with submunitions (LOCAADS mini-KR or BAT-type gliding ammunition).

As part of this program, the possibility of creating a hypersonic demonstration missile ARRMD (Advanced Rapid Response Missile Demonstrator) is being explored. The missile launcher must perform cruising flight at a speed corresponding to M=6. At M=4, submunitions should be released. The ARRMD hypersonic missile with a launch mass of 1045 kg and a maximum range of 1200 km will carry a payload weighing 114 kg.

In the 1990s. work on the creation of operational-tactical class missiles (with a range of about 250-350 km) began in Western Europe. France and Great Britain, on the basis of the French Apache tactical missile with a range of 140 km, designed to destroy railway rolling stock (the introduction of this missile into service with the French Air Force began in 2001), created a family of cruise missiles with a range of about 250-300 km SCALP-EG /""CTopM Shadow", designed to equip the strike aircraft "Mirage" 20000, "Mirage" 2000-5, "Harrier GR.7 and "Tornado" GR.4 (and in the future - "Rafal" and EF2000 "Lancer") . The features of missiles equipped with turbofan engines and retractable aerodynamic surfaces include subsonic (M = 0.8) speed, low-altitude flight profile and low radar signature (achieved, in particular, by finning the airframe surfaces).

The rocket flies along a pre-selected “corridor” in terrain following mode. It has high maneuverability, which allows it to implement a number of programmed maneuvers to evade air defense fire. There is a GPS system receiver (American NAVSTAR system). At the final section, a combined (thermal imaging/microwave) homing system with a target self-recognition mode should be used. Before approaching the target, the missile performs a slide followed by a dive towards the target. In this case, the dive angle can be set depending on the characteristics of the target. On approach, the BROACH tandem-type warhead “shoots” the head submunition at the target, which punches a hole in the protective structure into which the main ammunition flies, exploding inside the object with some deceleration (the degree of deceleration is set depending on the specific characteristics of the target assigned to hit).

It is assumed that the Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG missiles will enter service with the aviation of Great Britain, France, Italy and the UAE. According to estimates, the cost of one serial missile launcher (with a total order volume of 2000 missiles) will be approximately $1.4 million. (however, the order volume of 2000 KR seems very optimistic, so we can expect that the real cost of one missile will be much higher).

In the future, on the basis of the Storm Shadow missile, it is planned to create a smaller export version of the Black Shaheen, which can be equipped with Mirage 2000-5/9 type aircraft.

The international French-English concern MBD (Matra/BAe Dynamics) is studying new modifications of the Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missile. One of the promising options is an all-weather, all-day, ship-based missile system designed to destroy coastal targets. According to the developers, the new European missile with a range of more than 400 km can be considered as an alternative to the American Tomahawk naval missile, equipped with a non-nuclear warhead, compared to which it will have higher accuracy.

The missile launcher must be equipped with an inertial-satellite guidance system with an extreme correlation correction system for the earth's surface (TERPROM). At the final stage of the flight, it is planned to use a thermal imaging system for autonomous homing to a contrasting target. For guidance the missile system will be used European system space navigation GNSS, which is under development and is similar in its characteristics to the American NAVSTAR system and the Russian GLONASS.

The EADS concern is working on the creation of another subsonic aviation missile KEPD 350 "Taurus" with a launch weight of 1400 kg, very close to the SCALP-EG / "Storm Shadow" missile. The missile with a maximum combat range of about 300-350 km is designed for low-altitude flight at a speed corresponding to M=0.8. It should enter service with German Tornado fighter-bombers after 2002. In the future, it is also planned to equip EF2000 Typhoon aircraft with it. In addition, it is planned to supply the new missile for export, where it will seriously compete with the French-British tactical cruise missile Matra/BAe Dynamics Storm Shadow and, probably, the American AGM-158.

Based on the KEPD 350 missile, a project is being developed for the KEPD 150SL anti-ship missile with a range of 270 km, intended to replace the Harpoon missile. Anti-ship missiles of this type are expected to equip future German frigates and destroyers. The missile should be placed in deck containers of rectangular cross-section, grouped into four-container blocks.

The air-launched KEPD 150 variant (having a launch weight of 1060 kg and a range of 150 km) has been selected by the Swedish Air Force to equip the JAS39 Gripen multi-role fighter. In addition, this missile is offered to the Air Forces of Australia, Spain and Italy.

Thus, European cruise missiles in terms of speed characteristics (M = 0.8) approximately correspond to their American counterparts, they also fly along a low-altitude profile and have a range that is significantly shorter than the range of the tactical variants of the AGM-86 and AGM-109 cruise missiles and approximately equal to the AGM range -158 (JASSM). Just like American missile launchers, they have low (RCS of the order of 0.1 sq.m) radar signature and high accuracy.

The scale of production of European CDs is significantly smaller than that of American ones (the volume of their purchases is estimated at several hundred units). At the same time, the cost characteristics of American and European subsonic missiles are approximately comparable.

It can be expected that until the beginning of the 2010s, the Western European aviation and missile industry in the class of tactical (non-nuclear) missile launchers will produce only products such as SCALP/Storm Shadow and KEPD 350, as well as their modifications. With a view to a more distant future (2010s and later), Western Europe (primarily France), as well as the United States, is conducting research in the field of long-range hypersonic strike missiles. During 2002-2003, flight tests of a new hypersonic experimental cruise missile with a ramjet "Vestra", created by EADS and the French arms agency DGA, should begin.

The Vestra program was launched by the DGA in September 1996. The goal was “to help define the design of a multi-purpose long-range high-altitude (combat) missile.” The program made it possible to test the aerodynamics, power plant and elements of the control system of a promising missile launcher. Research conducted by DGA specialists led to the conclusion that a promising high-speed rocket should perform final stage flight at low altitude (initially it was assumed that the entire flight would take place only at high altitude).

On the basis of the Vestra missile launcher, an air-launched combat hypersonic missile FASMP-A should be created, designed to replace the KPASMP. Its entry into service is expected at the end of 2006. The carriers of the FASMP-A missile, equipped with a thermonuclear warhead, should be Dassault Mirage N fighter-bombers and Rafale multirole fighters. In addition to the strategic version of the CD, it is also possible to create an anti-ship version with a conventional warhead and a final homing system.

France is currently the only foreign country armed with a long-range cruise missile with a nuclear warhead. Back in the 1970s, work began on the creation of a new generation of aviation nuclear weapons - the Aerospatiale ASMP supersonic cruise missile. On July 17, 1974, the TN-80 nuclear warhead with a power of 300 Kt, intended to equip this missile, was tested. Testing was completed in 1980 and the first ASMP missiles with the TN-80 entered service with the French Air Force in September 1985.

The ASMP missile (part of the armament of the Mirage 2000M fighter-bombers and the Super Etandar carrier-based attack aircraft) is equipped with a ramjet engine (kerosene is used as fuel) and a starting solid propellant accelerator. Maximum speed at high altitude it corresponds to M=3, at the ground - M=2. The launch range is 90-350 km. The launch weight of the launch vehicle is 840 kg. A total of 90 ASMP missiles and 80 nuclear warheads for them were manufactured.

Since 1977, China has been implementing national programs to create its own long-range cruise missiles. The first Chinese missile, known as the X-600 or Hong Nyao-1 (XN-1), was adopted by the ground forces in 1992. It has a maximum range of 600 km and carries a nuclear warhead with a yield of 90 kT. A small-sized turbofan engine was developed for the cruise missile, flight tests of which began in 1985. The X-600 is equipped with an inertial-correlation guidance system, probably supplemented by a satellite correction unit. The final homing system is believed to use a television camera. According to one source, the QUO of the X-600 missile is 5 m. However, this information is apparently too optimistic. The radio altimeter installed on board the Kyrgyz Republic ensures flight at an altitude of about 20 m (obviously above the sea surface).

In 1992, a new, more economical engine was tested for the Chinese Republic. This made it possible to increase the maximum launch range to 1500-2000 km. A modernized version of the cruise missile under the designation KhN-2 was put into service in 1996. The KhN-Z modification being developed should have a range of about 2500 m.

The KhN-1, KhN-2 and KhN-Z missiles are ground-based weapons. They are placed on "ground mobile" wheeled launchers. However, variants of the missile launcher are also being developed for placement on board surface ships, submarines or on aircraft.

In particular, the new Chinese multi-purpose nuclear submarines of Project 093 are being considered as potential missile carriers. The missiles should be launched from a submerged position through 533-mm torpedo tubes. The carriers of the aviation version of the Kyrgyz Republic can be the new tactical bombers JH-7A, as well as multi-role fighters J-8-IIM and J-11 (Su-27SK).

In 1995, it was reported that the PRC had begun flight tests of a supersonic unmanned aircraft, which can be considered as a prototype of a promising cruise missile.

Initially, work on the creation of cruise missiles was carried out in China by the Hain Electromechanical Academy and led to the creation of tactical anti-ship missiles "Hain-1" (a version of the Soviet anti-ship missile P-15) and "Hain-2". Later, the supersonic anti-ship missile "Hain-Z" with a ramjet engine and "Hain-4" with a turbojet engine were developed.

In the mid-1980s, Research Institute 8359, as well as the “Chinese Institute of Cruise Missiles” (however, the latter may be the renamed Hain Electromechanical Academy) were established to work in the field of creating cruise missiles in the PRC.

We should also focus on work to improve the warheads of cruise missiles. In addition to traditional combat units, American missile launchers began to be equipped with fundamentally new types of warheads. During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, CDs carrying thin copper wire fibers scattered over the target were used for the first time. Such weapons, which later received the unofficial name “I-bomb,” served to disable power lines and power plants , substations and other energy facilities: hanging on wires, the wire caused a short circuit, depriving the enemy’s military, industrial and communications centers of electricity.

During the fighting against Yugoslavia, a new generation of these weapons was used, where thinner carbon fibers were used instead of copper wire. At the same time, not only missile launchers, but also free-falling aerial bombs are used to deliver new “anti-energy” warheads to targets.

Another promising type of combat units of American missile systems is an explosive magnetic warhead, which, when triggered, generates a powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that “burns out” the enemy’s radio-electronic equipment. At the same time, the radius of the damaging effect of the EMR generated by an explosive magnetic warhead is several times greater than the radius of destruction of a conventional high-explosive fragmentation warhead of the same mass. According to a number of media reports mass media, explosive magnetic warheads have already been used by the United States in real combat conditions.

Of course, the role and importance of long-range cruise missiles in non-nuclear warheads will increase in the foreseeable future. However, the effective use of these weapons is possible only if there is a global space navigation system (the United States and Russia currently have similar systems, and United Europe will soon join them), a high-precision geographic information system of combat areas, as well as a multi-level aviation and space system reconnaissance, providing data on the position of targets with their precise (on the order of several meters) geographic location. Therefore, the creation of modern long-range high-precision weapons is the destiny of only relatively technically developed countries capable of developing and maintaining in working order the entire information and intelligence infrastructure that ensures the use of such weapons.