Electronic warfare equipment. The latest Russian electronic warfare complex

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Strategic planning of military operations is carried out by army headquarters based on several fundamental assumptions. These include an indispensable condition for the command's awareness of the operational situation and the uninterrupted exchange of information. If any of these two criteria is not met, even the most powerful army in the world, armed with a huge amount of modern equipment and manned by selected soldiers, turns into a helpless crowd, burdened with piles of scrap metal. The receipt and transmission of information is currently carried out by means of reconnaissance, detection and communication. Every strategist dreams of disabling the enemy's radar and destroying his communications. This can be done by means and methods of electronic warfare (EW).

Early methods of electronic countermeasures

As soon as electronics appeared, it began to be used by the defense departments. Advantages of wireless communication inventedPopov, instantly appreciated the Imperial Russian Fleet. During the First World War, broadcast reception and transmission of information became commonplace. At the same time, the first methods of electronic warfare appeared, which were still timid and not very effective. To create interference, airplanes and airships dropped cut aluminum foil from a height, which created obstacles for the passage of radio waves. Of course, this method had many drawbacks, it did not last long and did not completely block the communication channel. In 1914-1918, another important method of electronic warfare, which is also widespread in our time, became widespread. The tasks of signalmen and scouts included the interception of enemy broadcast messages. They learned to encrypt information very quickly, but even an assessment of the degree of intensity of radio traffic allowed staff analysts to judge a lot.

The role of information in World War II

After the outbreak of World War II, electronic warfare entered a new phase of development. The power of submarines and aviation of Nazi Germany required effective confrontation. In Britain and the United States, countries that are faced with the problem of the security of Atlantic communications, serious work has begun on the creation of means of early detection of surface and air objects, in particular, bombers and FAA missiles. There was also an acute question about the possibility of deciphering the messages of German submariners. Despite the impressive work of mathematical analysts and the presence of some achievements, electronic warfare became effective only after the capture of the (accidental) secret Engim machine. The real value of research in the field of disinformation and interruption of the information structure of Germany during the Second World War was not found, but experience was accumulating.

Army as a living organism

During the Cold War, electronic warfare began to take shape close to the modern idea of them. The armed forces, if we compare them to a living organism, have sense organs, a brain and power organs that directly carry out a fire effect on the enemy. The "ears" and "eyes" of the army are means of observation, detection and recognition of objects that can pose a security threat at a tactical or strategic level. The function of the brain is performed by the headquarters. From it, through the thin "nerves" of communication channels, orders are sent to military units that are mandatory for execution. Various measures are being taken to protect this entire complex system, but it remains vulnerable. First, the enemy always seeks to disrupt control by destroying headquarters. Its second goal is to hit the means of information support (radar and early warning posts). Thirdly, if the communication channels are disrupted, the control system loses its functionality. The modern electronic warfare system goes beyond these three tasks and often works much more difficult.

Defense asymmetry

It's no secret that the US military budget in monetary terms is many times greater than the Russian one. To successfully counter a possible threat, our country has to take asymmetric measures, ensuring the proper level of security.less costly means. The effectiveness of protective equipment is determined by high-tech solutions that create the technical conditions for causing the greatest damage to the aggressor by concentrating efforts on its vulnerable areas.

In the Russian Federation, one of the leading organizations involved in the development of electronic warfare equipment is KRET (Radioelectronic Technologies Concern). A certain philosophical concept serves as the basis for creating means of suppressing the activity of a potential adversary. For successful operation, the system must determine priority areas of work at various stages of the development of a military conflict.

What is non-energy interference

At the present stage, the creation of a universal interference that completely excludes information exchange is practically impossible. A much more effective countermeasure can be the interception of the signal, its decoding and transmission to the enemy in a distorted form. Such an electronic warfare system creates an effect that has received the name "non-energy interference" from specialists. Its action can lead to a complete disorganization of the command and control of hostile armed forces, and, as a result, to their complete defeat. This method, according to some reports, has already been used during the Middle East conflicts, but in the late sixties and early seventies, the element base of electronic warfare equipment did not allow achieving high efficiency. Intervention in the process of command and control of enemy military units was carried out "in manual mode." Today atRussian electronic warfare units have digital technology at their disposal.

Tactical equipment

In addition to strategic issues, troops at the forefront are forced to solve tactical problems. Aircraft must fly over enemy positions protected by air defense systems. Is it possible to provide them with unimpeded passage over the defensive lines? The episode that took place during naval exercises in the Black Sea (April 2014) practically proves that modern Russian electronic warfare systems provide a high probability of aircraft invulnerability, even if their characteristics are no longer among the most progressive today.

The Department of Defense modestly refrains from comment, but the reaction of the American side speaks volumes. The usual - in the conditions of maneuvers - overflight of the Donald Cook ship by an unarmed Su-24 bomber led to the failure of all guidance equipment. This is how the Khibiny small-sized electronic warfare complex operates.

Khibiny Complex

This system, named after a mountain range on the Kola Peninsula, looks like a cylindrical container suspended from a standard military aircraft pylon. The idea of creating a means of information countermeasures arose in the second half of the seventies. The defense theme was received by KNIRTI (Kaluga Research Radio Engineering Institute). The electronic warfare complex conceptually consisted of two blocks, one ofwhich ("Proran") was responsible for reconnaissance functions, and the other ("Regatta") exposed active jamming. The work was successfully completed in 1980.

The modules were intended for installation on the Su-27 front-line fighter. The Russian electronic warfare complex "Khibiny" was the result of combining the functions of both blocks and ensuring their coordinated work together with the on-board equipment of the aircraft.

Purpose of the complex

The L-175V (“Khibiny”) device is designed to perform several functions, collectively defined as electronic suppression of enemy air defense activity.

The first task that he had to solve in combat conditions was to locate the probing signal of the radiation source. Then the received signal is distorted in order to make it difficult to detect the carrier aircraft. In addition, the device creates conditions for the appearance of false targets on the radar screen, complicates the determination of range and coordinates, and worsens other recognition indicators.

The problems with enemy air defense systems are becoming so massive that it is not necessary to talk about their effectiveness.

Modernization of the Khibiny complex

During the time that has passed since the adoption of the L-175V product, the design of the device has undergone numerous changes, which aimed to increase technical parameters and reduce weight and size. Improvement continues today, the subtleties are kept insecret, but it is known that the latest electronic warfare complex can carry out group protection of aircraft from the effects of anti-aircraft missile systems of a potential enemy, both existing today and promising. The modular design implies the possibility of increasing power and information capabilities depending on the requirements of the tactical situation. When developing the device, not only the current state of the potential enemy’s air defense systems was taken into account, but also the anticipation of the possibilities of their development in the near future (for the period until 2025).

Mysterious "Krasuha"

The electronic warfare troops of the Russian Federation have recently received four Krasukha-4 mobile electronic warfare systems. They are secret, despite the fact that ground-based stationary systems of a similar purpose "Krasukha-2" have already been operated in military units since 2009.

It is known that the mobile complexes were created by the Rostov Scientific Research Institute "Gradient", produced by the Nizhny Novgorod NPO "Kvant" and mounted on the chassis BAZ-6910-022 (four-axle, off-road). According to its principle of operation, the latest Russian electronic warfare complex Krasukha is an active-passive system that combines the ability to re-radiate electromagnetic fields created by early warning antennas (including AWACS) and the creation of active directional interference. The lack of technical details did not prevent the media from leaking information about the amazing capabilities of the electronic warfare complex, whose work is “crazy”control systems for unmanned aerial vehicles and missile guidance units of a potential enemy.

What lies behind the veil of mystery

For obvious reasons, information about the technical characteristics of the latest Russian electronic countermeasures systems is kept secret. Other countries are also in no hurry to share secrets in the field of such developments, which, of course, are underway. However, it is still possible to judge the degree of combat readiness of a particular defense equipment by indirect signs. Unlike nuclear strategic missiles, the effectiveness of which can only be guessed at and speculatively analyzed, electronic warfare equipment can be tested under conditions closest to combat, and even against very real, albeit probable, opponents, as happened in April 2014. So far, there is reason to believe that the Russian electronic warfare troops will not let you down if something happens.