ZRK "Krug": photo, combat use

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

In the 1950s of the last century, the defense complex of the USSR, in order to protect the country's airspace from a possible enemy, developed and actively introduced stationary air defense equipment into the troops.

But the rapidly improving aircraft technology required the creation of mobile air defense systems to directly cover ground forces from air attacks. This prompted the military complex of the Soviet Union to start developing mobile anti-aircraft missile systems, which resulted in the Krug air defense system, which was put into service in 1965.

Requirements for the Krug anti-aircraft missile system

The development of a mobile anti-aircraft missile system for the needs of the air defense of the ground forces began in 1958 as part of the Theme 2 and Theme 3 competitive projects. The resolution of the Central Committee of the Party determined the basic requirements for a new type of weapons:

1. Interception of air targets flying at speeds up to 600 m/s at altitudes from 3,000 to 25,000 m.
2. Probability of destroying aircraft in the airof the Il-72 front-line bomber at altitudes up to 20,000 meters - at least 80%.
3. Detection of objects with an effective dispersion surface like the MiG-15 fighter at a distance of at least 115 km.

At the same time, the government put the developers in tough conditions, limiting them in time. The first tests of the new Krug air defense system were to begin in the third quarter of 1961. The project manager was the designer V. P. Efremov, who was already known for improving the radar and air defense of the city of Moscow. Research was carried out at NII-20.

Goals and objectives

The terms of reference were approved by the government in 1958. According to him, it was required to design two fundamentally new anti-aircraft guided missiles - 3M8 and 3M10, with command and mixed type of guidance, respectively.

In connection with the development of new missiles, it became necessary to create new missile launch systems, since the existing models did not fit in many ways. To unify the details and reduce the development time for the Krug air defense system, the Kub air defense project being developed was taken as a basis.

Historical background

The main problem that the OKB-2 engineers had to solve was the creation of guided missiles.

Research after one failed. Several dozen projects were rejected. But in the end, the first tests carried out in December 1961 showed that the developers were moving in the right direction.

After that, a long process of debugging equipment and preparing for field testing began, which was supposed to go through three stages:

1. At the first step, factory tests were carried out according to the instructions established by the project manager V. P. Efremov.
2. At the second stage, state tests were carried out according to the methods proposed by the test site.
3. At the final step, serial samples of the Krug air defense system were tested.

All state tests were successfully passed between 1963 and 1964. And on February 3, 1965, by order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, the new Krug complex under the code 2K11 was adopted by the air defense of the ground forces.

Composition of the Krug air defense system

In 1965, anti-aircraft missile brigades began to form, the main armament of which was the Krug complex. At the same time, the ZRBR included the following units:

1. Control platoon as part of the 2S12 target detection station and the Crab-1 target designation reception cabin (after 1981 it was replaced by the Polyana D-1 cabin).
2. Three anti-aircraft missile batteries, each of which was formed from a 1S32 guidance station, a 2P24 self-propelled launcher with two 3M8 missiles.
3. Technical battery, which consisted of a 2V9 test and control station, several 9T226 transporters, as well astransport-loading vehicle 2T6.

The anti-aircraft missile brigade also included tankers and technological equipment that was used to assemble missiles and refuel them. All equipment of the 2k11 Krug air defense system (except for the loader) was designed on a caterpillar track.

Missile detection and guidance

The 1C12 radar station was responsible for detecting the enemy. It detected air targets at a distance of 180 km at a height of no more than 12 thousand meters and at a distance of 70 km if the target height was less than 500 meters. After identifying the enemy, the station gave target designations to the 1S32 machine.

The missile guidance station was responsible for searching for targets according to the data issued by the detection and target designation station (1С12), as well as for tracking the launched missiles. Upon detection of the enemy and after the completion of all calculations, the data was sent to the launchers, which deployed to the specified sector and began to "follow". As soon as the enemy entered the affected area, the guided missiles of the Krug air defense system were launched (photo above).

The missiles fired captured the beams of tracking antennas, which corrected the trajectory, as well as transmitted data for cocking the fuse and other commands.

3M8 anti-aircraft guided missile

As already mentioned, two missiles were being developed simultaneously - 3M8 and 3M10, the most successful of them was the 3M8 missile.

It was created according to the "rotary wing" aerodynamic configuration due to the unstable operation of the power plants. into constructionrocket had two stages:

1. Marching, with an air jet engine running on kerosene fuel.
2. Launcher, with four self-separating solid fuel boosters.

The warhead of the high-explosive action of the SAM was placed in the deepened central body of the air intake, and had a mass of 150 kg. An air accumulator with a balloon and a homing head were also located here. Undermining was carried out by means of a radio fuse 50 meters from the target. The total mass of the rocket is 2.4 thousand kg. This missile was used in all complexes of this series, including the Krug-M air defense system.

Rocket Launcher

The 2P24 launcher performed several tasks at once - it transported missiles to the place of combat duty, directed and launched missiles at tracked or detected targets. At the same time, she could carry two missiles completely ready to defeat the enemy. During the launch, the calculation of the machine "hid" inside the SPU.

Rockets were located on the boom, equipped with hydraulic cylinders responsible for changing the departure angle. The boom was part of the support beam, which was fastened to the installation itself with the help of cylindrical hinges. During transportation, the missiles were strengthened with additional supports, which were also placed on the boom.

Provisioning equipment

The Crab-1 target designation cabin was responsible for automated fire control. She controlled the S75 / 60 mobile missile systems, was able to detect and track at least 10 targets at a distance from15 to 160 km from the place of standing. The processing of target coordinates and the issuance of data for missile guidance took place in 32 seconds. The accuracy of the calculations was 90%.

"Krab-1" was part of the complex and its modifications, including the Krug-M1 air defense system, but due to the decrease in the firepower of units by 60%, this target designation cockpit was replaced by the Polyana D- one". The replacement took place in 1981.

The new combat unit was distinguished by its ability to simultaneously track 62 units of air equipment, as well as the number of simultaneously processed targets, which increased to 16. This machine was the first to implement an automatic system for coordinating the actions of the units that make up the complex. Thanks to this, the number of destroyed objects increased by 20% while reducing the consumption of ammunition by almost 5 times.

Technical characteristics of the complex

After analyzing the data of all the vehicles that make up the complex, we can conclude regarding the combat effective anti-aircraft missile system circle:

1. Maximum travel speed is 50 km.
2. Cruising range of the complex (movement without refueling) - 300 km.
3. Response time less than one minute.
4. SAM deployment - less than 5 minutes.
5. Target engagement range - from 11 to 43 km, height - 3-23.5 km.
6. Speed of hit objects - no more than 800 m/s.

However, it is impossible to give exact data regarding the combat effectiveness of the Krug air defense system. The combat use of technology is a secret even after so muchyears. It is known that the complexes were used during the Vietnam War, as well as in the improvement of the Barlev air line in Egypt.

Model modifications

Improvement of the complex was carried out mainly in the direction of reducing the "dead zone". As a result, modifications were born:

• in 1967 - "Circle-A" with a minimum height of hitting targets of 250 meters;
• in 1971 - "Krug-M" with a range of up to 50 km, and a height of up to 24.5 km.
• in 1974 - Krug-M1, which had a reduced near border to 6-7 km, as well as a minimum height of up to 150 meters.

In 2015, the jubilee medal "50 years of the Krug air defense system" was issued, which indicates the relevance of the complex even after half a century, as well as the high service to the fatherland of its developers. Now all models are in storage.