Guided missile "Vikhr-1": performance characteristics. OJSC "Concern "Kalashnikov""

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

Tanks, having barely appeared for the first time on the battlefield, had a tremendous impact on the entire military thought of that time. Anti-tank rifles, special ammunition appeared instantly, regimental artillery experienced a rebirth.

Today, "tank fear" no longer manifests itself in such a vivid form, because the troops have at their disposal a lot of effective means that help to effectively deal with enemy armored vehicles. For example, these include the Vikhr-1 guided missile.

Basic information

The development of the rocket began in the early 80s of the last century. Initially, it was intended to equip the Ka-50 helicopters, as well as the Su-25T. The latter was a modification of the famous Rook, designed specifically to deal with heavy armored vehicles of a potential enemy.

Layout difficulties

The developers immediately faced a severe limitation in diameter, since it was necessary to place at least 12 missiles on the Ka-50 pylons, and at least 16 missiles on the Su-25T pylons. It is because of this that the Vikhr-1 guided missile has a record lengthened body. This not only made it possible to "squeeze" into the desired diameter, but also ensured the maximum possible range and flight speed, since the aerodynamic characteristics of such a scheme are as optimal as possible.

The rocket was made according to the "duck" design scheme, its wings are folded in the stowed position. To ensure the most stable directional stability, the designers "awarded" her with the ability to longitudinal rotation in flight.

Design features

In front of the hull, there is traditionally a compartment with a tandem warhead, as well as "wings" hidden in niches, that is, stabilizers. In addition, there is also a proximity fuse, which was used in the design to increase the effectiveness of the missile for its possible use against enemy air targets. The entire middle part is occupied by a simple fragmentation-tandem warhead.

The rest of the volume is occupied by a solid propellant sustainer engine with two cone-shaped nozzles slightly deflected to the sides. At the very end of the tail section there is various equipment used to guide the missile to the target.

Storage in the stowed position

As we said, the stabilizers located in the bow are responsible for running stability. There are four of them, they form an X-shaped projection. To ensure longitudinal rotation in flight, the designers gave them a lighttwisting clockwise. The Vikhr-1 guided missile can only be stored in a shipping container. Warranty - no more than ten years, subject to all conditions.

Adoption and first trials

The adoption of this weapon took place relatively recently, in 1985. For the first time, tests in conditions as close as possible to combat were carried out in 1986, when the Whirlwinds fired from a Mi-28 helicopter and Su-25T attack aircraft. Attack aircraft showed especially high efficiency, showing the ability to overcome the layered air defense of a mock enemy.

To put it simply, it has been proven that the Rooks can successfully attack the tank columns of a simulated enemy on the march, inflicting serious damage on them. What are the main characteristics of "Whirlwind-1"? The performance characteristics of the missiles are as follows:

• Length - 2.75 m.
• Case diameter - 152 mm.
• Weight of the rocket (together with the shipping container) - 59 kg.
• Maximum speed - 610 m/s.
• Launch altitude - from 4 to 4000 meters.
• Launch range - from 400 meters to 10 kilometers.
• The maximum flight time to the target is up to 28 seconds.

Further development of the concept

In 1990, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Vikhr-1M guided missile, which has impressive versatility, was put into service. It was supposed to be used not only on ground, but also on air, surface, and other types of targets, including accumulations of manpower.enemy. Unlike its predecessor, the rocket was made completely autonomous, using the most advanced and sophisticated electronics.

Thanks to this, helicopters and attack aircraft equipped with this type of weapon can perform a very wide range of tasks efficiently and in the shortest possible time. Because of this, the "anti-tank" missile "Vikhr-1" is, in fact, wide-profile and completely universal. Today, Kalashnikov Concern OJSC, located in the city of Izhevsk, Udmurtia, is responsible for the development and production.

Important features of the Whirlwind missiles

Distinctive features of the latest generation of missiles are the following features:

• Long flight range, combined with excellent aerodynamics and hypersonic speed, provide a high probability of combat survivability even in conditions of overcoming the layered air defense of a mock enemy.
• The supersonic flight speed also allows you to simultaneously attack multiple targets, providing increased survivability of the aircraft or carrier helicopter. Simply put, the enemy is not up to them.
• Automatic laser beam guidance system allows you to hit even small targets with a guarantee.
• Excellent protection from EW stations of a potential enemy, which again increases the likelihood of successfully overcoming layered air defense.
• The widest range of hit targets, up to large surface ships and even surfaced submarines.

Procedure for the combat use of missiles

The pilot, having approached the place of the probable deployment of the enemy (about 10-15 kilometers before him), must activate the Shkval-M terrain scanning system. In the case when the coordinates of the likely location of the target were entered in advance, the system is activated automatically, without human intervention.

Once a target is located, the pilot must identify it using visual and technical identification aids. He needs to align the marks of the target and the sight so that the first occupies at least ¾ of the control display. After that, the automation itself switches to the mode of tracking the intended target. The missile can only be launched when the pilot has reached the maximum possible engagement distance.

Furthermore, it is the pilot's responsibility to ensure that the target does not deviate strongly from the azimuth captured by the automatic tracking equipment, otherwise a successful launch cannot be guaranteed.

Features of combat use

However, do not consider the local automation "stupid". Specialists of JSC "Concern" Kalashnikov "" significantly improved it. The equipment is quite capable of tracking the target for some time even after it has lost sight of it (an object has appeared between the attack aircraft and the tank). If, nevertheless, there was a failure of automatic tracking, the pilot had to re-capture it in manual mode.

As we have already said, the launch of the rocket was carried out only onreaching a normal distance, as well as with confident holding of the object by the automatic rocket. In the new versions, the Vikhr-1 complex is capable of simultaneously holding and tracking up to four targets with firing missiles at them for about 30 seconds. It is believed that the probability of hitting even a small object is at least 0.8.

To expand the range of combat use, missiles with thermobaric and high-explosive fragmentation warheads have already been developed today, designed specifically to work on large concentrations of enemy manpower and equipment. Due to this, the supersonic rocket "Vikhr-1" becomes even more versatile.

Assault "specialization"

Despite the fact that over the entire period of operation of the rocket, many attempts were made to adapt it to ground-based missile systems, practice has proven that the most justified way to use them is to launch combat helicopters and attack aircraft from board.

However, today there still exist and are even operated complexes designed for installation on lightly armored vehicles and even jeeps. Their creation is the merit of Kalashnikov Concern OJSC. According to military experts, there is nothing of the kind in service with our army, since the Kornet complex copes with such goals much better.

Prospects of the complex

Due to the fact that this type of weapons can be used against ground, surface and air targets, the speed of which does not exceed 800 km / h, and also taking into account the availabledevelopments in unification with ground-based missile systems, the prospects for deliveries of the Vortex to those countries whose terrain favors the use of the complex as an air defense look quite attractive.

Besides, the Vikhr-1 anti-tank system enjoys stable popularity in the Arab states, as they are interested in buying multifunctional and reliable weapons.