In the outgoing year, there was an intensive rearmament of the Russian army.
The Arsenal of the RF Armed Forces has been replenished with several types of new generation weapons and deeply modernized models of equipment, which have already gained popularity among the troops.
"Technical equipment"
The experts interviewed by RT called the completion of state tests and the delivery of the first samples of the S-500 Prometheus anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) to the troops as the most important event in the field of rearmament of the Russian army.
The newest defense system was received by the air defense-missile defense association deployed in the Moscow region, which provides protection for Moscow and the Central Industrial Region.
The capabilities of the S-500 make it possible to intercept a wide range of enemy aerospace attack weapons.
However, the main "specialization" of the air defense missile system is the defeat of medium-range ballistic missiles and warheads of intercontinental missiles at the final stage of the flight trajectory.
The estimated range of the Prometheus missiles is about 600 km, which is significantly greater than that of the S-400 Triumph air defense system.
Another important feature of the S-500 is the integration of the principle of separate solution of tasks for the destruction of aerodynamic and ballistic targets.
"The characteristics laid down in the S-500 air defense system, which make it possible to destroy, in addition to aerodynamic and ballistic targets, hypersonic weapons of all modifications, including in near space, make it possible to say with confidence that this system simply does not exist," he said in an interview in July To Krasnaya Zvezda, Sergei Babakov, chief of the anti-aircraft missile forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
In a commentary on RT, a military expert, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin, noted that the supply of the S-500 will significantly strengthen the potential of the Russian air defense-missile defense system.
“The appearance of“ Prometheus ”in the army is a truly long-awaited event.
The Almaz-Antey specialists have endowed the S-500 with a number of qualities that allow us to conclude that this system will be a reliable means of protection against missile attacks, hypersonic weapons and will be able to intercept objects in near space, ”Litovkin explained.
Speaking in a conversation with RT on the topic of the new products that the Russian army received this year, the editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, Viktor Murakhovsky, noted the great importance of transferring the modernized A-50U long-range radar surveillance system (AWACS) to the troops.
A-50U long-range radar aircraft complex
© United Aircraft Corporation
At the end of December 2021, the delivery of this aircraft was announced by the press service of Rostec.
This is the seventh such vehicle that was transferred to the Aerospace Forces.
The Aerospace Forces should receive the eighth board in 2023.
The developers of the A-50U are the Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex (TANTK) named after Beriev and JSC "Concern of Radio Engineering" Vega "(part of the" Roselectronics "of the" Rostec "corporation).
“The modernized A-50U received new electronics with higher performance and speed, which made it possible to increase the capabilities of the functional software.
The system for displaying the situation at the operator's workplaces has been improved - new LCD monitors of large dimensions and resolution have been installed, ”the Rostec website says.
The modernization carried out allowed the AWACS aircraft to detect fundamentally new types of aircraft, as well as simultaneously accompany a larger number of targets and guided fighters than the previous modification, add to the state corporation.
Along with this, the use of modern on-board equipment made it possible to reduce the weight of the aircraft, which in turn led to an increase in the flight range and the time to complete tasks.
As Vyacheslav Mikheev, General Director of the Vega Concern, said, AWACS aircraft "are flying radars with the functionality of a command post."
"The speed of detection and counteraction to air targets of a potential enemy depends on their technical equipment, the performance of the installed electronic systems and flight characteristics, which is confirmed by the combat experience gained," Mikheev said.
Officials did not disclose the specific characteristics of the A-50U.
However, in open sources you can find information that the modernized aircraft is able to accompany several times more targets.
Depending on the type of the observed object, the monitoring range of the vehicle can reach 300, 400 and 600 km.
Commenting on the progress of rearmament of the Ground Forces, Murakhovsky noted the importance of new supplies and expansion of the use of robotic systems (RTK) "Uran-9".
The production of the machine is deployed in Nakhabino, near Moscow, at OJSC 766 Production and Technological Completion Management (UPTK).
Robotic complex "Uran-9" at the Mulino training ground in the exercise "West-2021"
© mil.ru
In 2021, "Uran-9" was first used in the combat formations of combined arms units.
The debut took place during the main stage of the joint strategic exercise (SSU) "West-2021" in mid-September in the Nizhny Novgorod region at the Mulino training ground.
In particular, the RTK provided a change in the positions of motorized rifle units in the conduct of a mobile defense.
"Thanks to powerful universal weapons, the Uran-9 robotic complex is capable of destroying enemy firing points and fortifications, fighting tanks, armored combat vehicles and manpower, while not endangering the lives of personnel," the Defense Ministry's press service explained RF.
The impact robot is mounted on a tracked platform.
Its curb weight does not exceed 12 tons. The length of the RTK is 5.6 m, width - 2.5 m, height - 3.1 m, maximum speed - at least 35 km / h, cruising range - 200 km.
"Uran-9" is controlled by radio channel at a distance of at least 4 km.
The RTK is designed on a modular basis, which allows it to be equipped with various types of weapons.
In the basic version, the vehicle is equipped with a 30-mm automatic cannon 2A72, a 7.62-mm modernized Kalashnikov machine gun (PKTM), launch containers for "Attack" guided missiles and RPO PDM-A "Shmel-M" rocket-propelled infantry flamethrowers.
The target hitting range depends on the time of day.
During the day, "Uran-9" can strike at a distance of up to 5 km, at night - up to 3.5 km.
In the field of naval weapons, experts interviewed by RT called the tests of the Zircon hypersonic missile modification for surface ships that passed this year as a key event.
In 2022, the Navy will receive the first production samples of this unique ammunition.
The Russian Defense Ministry plans to equip the ships of projects 22350, 23560, 20385 and the cruiser of project 1144.2 Admiral Nakhimov with Zircons, which, after modernization, will become the most powerful surface platform in the world.
The flight speed of the ammunition is Mach 9, the range is over 1,000 km.
The missile is capable of striking both sea and ground targets.
“We can say that this year we actually received a surface-based Zircon hypersonic missile.
In December, a salvo launch took place, which confirmed the possibility of the combat use of this missile against enemy ship groupings with a developed air and anti-missile defense system, ”Murakhovsky explained.
"At the required level"
According to experts, the success of the rearmament of the Russian army in the outgoing year was ensured due to the high-quality implementation of the state defense order (GOZ).
The level of its fulfillment for procurement was 99.4%, for repair and modernization - 99.7%.
This was announced by the head of the military department Sergei Shoigu at an expanded meeting of the collegium of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Commenting on the progress of the rearmament of the RF Armed Forces, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in 2021 "work was continued on a large-scale modernization of the army and navy."
“As a result, the share of modern weapons in the troops has exceeded 71%, and in the strategic nuclear forces - 89%.
The development of the latest types of weapons proceeded at an active pace.
Some of them - (hypersonic. -
RT
) Avangard and Dagger complexes - have been put on alert, "the head of state emphasized.
Fighter MiG-31 with a hypersonic missile "Dagger"
© RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev
Viktor Murakhovsky believes that in 2021, the military department and the defense industry managed to ensure "the combat readiness of the Armed Forces at the required level at a relatively low financial cost."
The founder of the Military Russia portal Dmitry Kornev adheres to a similar point of view.
In a commentary on RT, he stated that the planned pace of rearmament has not changed, despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The defense potential of our country has continued to strengthen.
All types and types of troops received a fairly large number of new and modernized equipment.
Naturally, replacing old-generation equipment with a modern one always leads to a qualitative improvement in the state of the country's defense capability.
In addition, I would like to draw your attention to the successes in the digitalization of the army.
The RF Armed Forces began to receive information systems and control systems that improve the quality of command and control of troops, "Kornev summed up.