Posted on 08/08/2013 4:24:05 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Russian supersonic missiles behave like wolves
August 8, 2013 Viktor Litovkin, special to RBTH
Yakhont anti-ship cruise missile at the 3rd International Airspace Show in Moscow. Source: RIA Novosti
Large-scale construction of the next-generation Project 885 Yasen-class submarine armed with Onyx supersonic missiles is starting in Russia. These ships will compete with the latest American Seawolf-class nuclear submarines and will be world leaders in terms of fire power.
Large-scale construction of the next-generation Project 885 Yasen-class multi-purpose nuclear attack submarine, armed with Onyx supersonic cruise missiles, is starting in Russia. The ships will compete with the latest American Seawolf-class nuclear submarines in terms of their noise profile and will be world leaders in terms of fire power.
Moscow plans to acquire at least 10 of these boats by 2020. The fourth submarine in this class was laid down in Severodvinsk on the eve of Navy Day, which was celebrated on July 28.
The Project 885 nuclear submarine is the quintessence of everything the Russian military industrial complex has achieved in over half a century of building submarines.
The vessel has a hull made from high-resilience, low-magnetic steel, and can dive to a depth of more than 1,968.5 feet (conventional boats cannot go deeper than 984.2 feet), which effectively puts it out of reach of all types of modern anti-submarine weapons. Its maximum speed is more than 30 knots (about 34.5 miles per hour). The nuclear submarine is equipped with an escape pod for the whole crew.
The Russian designers say that the Yasen is not only quieter than the quietest Russian nuclear submarine (the Project 971 Akula - 'Shark'), but also quieter than the latest American Seawolf nuclear submarine.
Moreover, unlike those vessels, the new missile submarine will be more functional, thanks to the weapons at its disposal (several types of cruise missiles and torpedoes). It will be able to fulfil a wide range of roles at sea.
Formidable
The Akula nuclear submarine currently forms the basis of the Russian group of multi-purpose attack submarines designed for raiding operations against sea lanes. Virtually inaudible in the depths of the ocean, they are equally effective against transport vessels and warships, and can also hit the enemy’s coastal infrastructure with cruise missiles.
Akula submarines were recently reported within the 200-mile zone of the coasts of the United States and Canada, which caused a serious commotion among the countries’ respective militaries. Having discovered the presence of these “guests,” neither of them was able to track their movement, which naturally caused serious concern.
After all, the Akula carries 28 Kh-55 Granat cruise missiles on board — the equivalent of the American Tomahawk, which can fly 1,864.1 miles and deliver 200-kiloton nuclear warheads to their targets.
Invulnerable
The main attack system on the Yasen is the P-800 Onyx — the latest Russian supersonic cruise missile. The missile is the basis for two absolutely identical export versions: The Russian Yakhont and the Indian BrahMos have a similar appearance to the Onyx, but with significantly reduced combat characteristics.
The Onyx devices are capable of being fired from underwater, and they fly at a speed of 2,460 feet per second, carrying a devastating, high-explosive warhead weighing half a ton. The missiles have a range of more than 372.8 miles.
The Onyx is guided to its target by a navigational system that operates on target designation data provisionally input to the missile before it is launched. At a predetermined point in the trajectory (15–50 miles), the missile’s homing device is briefly activated and determines the precise location of the target.
The next time the homing device is activated is after a sharp reduction in altitude to 15–50 feet, just seconds before it hits the enemy. This is to ensure that, when the enemy detects the missile’s launch, it cannot “jam” the missile with electronic countermeasures.
Wolf pack
It is not the missile’s high speed or the protection of its homing device against electronic countermeasures that makes the Onyx a super-modern weapon.
Once it is launched from the submarine, the missile finds the target by itself. After determining their coordinates, the missiles “wait” until the last one is out of the launch tubes and then line up, just like a wolf pack, and begin to “home in on their prey.”
The designers are not really advertising this point, but it is the missiles themselves that decide which missile attacks, which target and how. The missile “pack” decides these targets, classifies them in terms of importance, and selects the tactics for the attack and the plan for its execution.
In order to prevent mistakes, the missile’s onboard computer system is programmed with electronic data on all modern classes of ship. This is purely tactical information—for example, on the class of vessel.
This enables the missiles to determine what they are up against — whether it be an aircraft-carrier or landing group—and then to attack the main targets within the group. The Onyx missile’s onboard computer also holds data on how to counter the enemy’s electronic warfare systems, which can divert a missile from its target, and systems for evading anti-aircraft defense systems.
At the same time, like wolves in a real pack, the missiles themselves decide which one of them is the main attacker and which must take the role of the decoy to lure the enemy’s aircraft and air defense systems away.
Once the main selected target has been destroyed, the other missiles immediately redistribute the combat assignments between themselves and begin to destroy other vessels. There is no ship in the world that can dodge an attack by Onyx missiles.
Yes, ship-borne radar systems can detect that they have been launched, but then further resistance is useless. The speed of these missiles and the way they constantly maneuver above the surface of the sea makes it practically impossible to intercept them with air defense systems or aircraft.
Universal
Another advantage of the Onyx missile is that it can be used with various types of carriers. In Russia, it is installed not only in submarines but also on surface vessels and mobile land-based platforms — the Bastion shore-based missile systems. It is the presence of these systems in Syria that so worries Washington today.
Onyx will also be included in the weaponry of the Su-30MK family of fighters and the latest Su-34 frontline bombers. Still, the most important thing is that the next generation following the Onyx is already on its way. This is the Zircon — the first hypersonic combat missile system, which is due to start testing next year.
ping
I would agree not to underestimate any enemy, but the word is the Chinese sub fleet is inferior, operationally and materially as well as poorly trained.
But they have a boatload of money to throw at stuff, and I would not underestimate the power of gobs of money.
You mean like, they pee on trees and howl at the Moon?
>> Russian supersonic missiles behave like wolves
So they launch a pack at a time... with a dominant leader missile?
>>>Can we jam then from launch? Can CIWS deal with multiple fast-moving targets?<<<
I think CIWS is not any effective against supersonic missiles.
It may only be useful against aircraft or slow Tomahawk-style targets.
Those numbers are not correct, except for Australia.
Here’s what is currently available to each of the nations you listed:
Russian:
SSBN (Borei): 2
SSBN (Delta IV): 10
SSGN (Oscar): 8
SSN (Yasen):2
SSN (Akula): 8
SSN (Sierra): 4
SSK (Lada): 2
SSK (Kilo): 22
Total Nuclear: 34
Total Diesel/Electric: 24
Total Russian Subs: 58
Chinese:
SSBN (Jin): 2
SSBN (Xia): 1
SSGN: 0
SSN: (Han): 3
SSN (Shang): 4
SSK (Quing): 2
SSK (Yuan): 8
SSK (Song): 13
SSK (Kilo): 12
Total Nuclear: 10
Total Diesel Electric: 35
Total Chinese Submarines: 45
(Note: The Chinese still operate approximately 15 old, Ming class diesel electrics, so with those the total goes to 60)
US Navy Submarines:
SSBN (Ohio): 14
SSGN (Ohio): 4
SSN (Virginia): 10
SSN (Sea Wolf): 3
SSN (Los Angeles): 42
Total US Submarines 73 (All nuclear)
Japanese:
SSK (Soryu): 5
SSK (Oyashio): 11
Total Japanese Submarines: 16 (All diesel electric)
Australia Submarines:
SSK (Collins): 6
Total Australian Submarines: 6 (All diesel electric)
And lets throw in India and South Korea as well since they figure heavily into the western Pacific and have modern forces of their own.
South Korean Submarines:
SSK (Chang Bobo): 9
SSK (Sohn Wonyil): 3
Total Korean submarines: 12 (All diesel electric)
Indian Submarines
SSBN (Arihant): 1
SSN (Chakra): 1
SSK (Sindhughosh): 10
SSK (Shishumar): 4
Total Nuclear: 2
Total Diesel Electric: 14
Total Indian Submarines: 16
The answer is no to both your questions. The navy has had these problems for decades.
Navy jamming effort has most always been concentrated on air to air combat to neutralize incoming hostile fighters with no capability against missile threats.
Surface jamming has to wait until the threat is over the visual horizon, too close for comfort at multiple mach closing velocity.
From what I remember of the EA6 pods, no reason they could not be reconfigured to the surface missile jamming mission. Just getting the thumb out of the USN to do it would be the problem.
Getting them onto the threat axis to do much good would be a problem as well, but they knew how to do that with the old Russian Backfire ASM threat a long time ago.
Could we have ships that launch drones with jammer pods for longer range?
Thanks...I was hoping you would jump in. I figured you had all those at your fingertips, I had to look around...:)
“Shkval rocket torpedo is the fastest on
the planet.”
I wouldn’t get too impressed. Supercavitation torpedoes are unguided weapons last I heard. They are straight runners, like WWII torpedoes
True but they run very very fast, kinda like a bullet, hard to dodge.
The Phalanx CIWS has been continually upgraded since the late 1980s to protect against increasingly faster and more maneuverable supersonic missile threats.
Onyx, now you're a supersonic Miss-ile.
You can see that Ivan has learned from his history.
5.56mm
LOL.
I hope I can help the Cruz Missile!
BUMP
This really comes down to a numbers game. The Russkies know how many SAMs we have aboard our cruisers/destroyers. Say we have 300 SAMs in a carrier battle group.
The Russkies only have to launch around 400-450 missiles to destroy the battle group. This would assume our SAMs have a 100% effectiveness rate. Their requirement would drop, or their chances of success increase, depending on the effectiveness of our missiles.
They learned from the kamikazies in WWII. No matter how good the defences...some will get through.
400-600 of their missiles is a heck of a lot cheaper than our carrier battle group.
All those submarines listed, and the greatest Sub power of the last century is omitted? Have the Germans stopped building them? I know they turned many of them over to the English at the end of the war, and apparently forgot to tell them they were leaking badly.
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