Extreme Weapons Systems

"Heroes" of Russian-Georgian war II: Su-25 Frogfoot

2008-08-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

A lot of Soviet - era weapons have been used on both sides in Osetia conflict. Su-25 is the main atack aircraft used by Soviets in Afganistan and later on by Russian Air Forces (VVS) everywhere they could. This bird was downed by already familiar Tor-1M Surface-to-Air complex supplied to Georgia by Ukraine. Su-25 were made in Tbilisi and were used both by the Russians and the Georgians in Tskhinvali skyes.

Introduced in 1980, the Su-25 Frogfoot was the first dedicated ground attack aircraft produced by the Soviet Union since the World War Two era propeller driven Il-2 Shturmovik. drawing heavily on lessons learned by the American Air Force during the vietnam war, and mirroring the performance of the American A-10 Warthog, the Frogfoot is a rugged aircraft capable of accuratly delivering a heavy payload from low altitude and surviving in the low level, high threat forward area environment.

"Heroes" of Russian-Georgian war I : Tu-22M "Backfire"

2008-08-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

A lot of Soviet - era weapons have been used on both sides in Osetia conflict. Tu-22M is the heaviest bomber used there. Have a look and listen to thouse engines screaming ... This bird was downed by s-200 Surface-to-Air complex supplied to Georgia by Ukraine.

The Tupolev Tu-22M (NATO reporting name "Backfire") is a supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Soviet Union. Significant numbers remain in service with the Russian Air Force.The Tu-22 'Blinder' had not proved particularly successful, in some respects being inferior to the earlier Tu-16 'Badger'. Its range and take-off performance, in particular, were definite weak points. Even as the 'Blinder' was entering service, OKB Tupolev began work on an improved successor.

As with the contemporary Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 'Flogger' and Sukhoi Su-17 'Fitter' projects, the advantages of variable-geometry wings seemed attractive, allowing a combination of short take-off performance, efficient cruising, and good high-speed, low-level ride. The result was a new swing-wing aircraft called Samolet 145, derived from the Tu-22, with some features borrowed from the abortive Tu-98 'Backfin'.

The first prototype, Tu-22M0, first flew 30 August 1969. The resultant aircraft was first seen by NATO around that time. For several years it was believed in the West that its service designation was Tu-26. During the SALT negotiations of the 1980s the Soviets insisted it was the Tu-22M. At the time, Western authorities suspected that the misleading designation was intended to suggest that it was simply a derivative of the Tu-22 rather than the far more advanced and capable weapon it actually was. It now appears that Tu-22M was indeed the correct designation, and the linkage to the earlier Tu-22 was intended by Tupolev to convince the Soviet government that it was an economical follow-on to the earlier aircraft. Actually, the fore gear leg and the bomb bay cover were inherited from the original Tu-22. (Much the same happened in the U.S. in the 1950s with aircraft like the Lockheed F-94C Starfire, originally F-97, and the North American F-86D Sabre, originally the F-95.)The first major production version, entering production 1972, was the Tu-22M2 ('Backfire-B'), with longer wings and an extensively redesigned, area ruled fuselage (raising the crew complement to four), twin NK-22 engines with F-4 Phantom II-style intakes, and new undercarriage carrying the landing gear in the wing glove rather than in large pods. These were most commonly armed with long-range cruise missiles/anti-ship missiles, typically one or two AS-4 'Kitchen' anti-shipping missiles. Some Tu-22M2s were later requipped with more powerful NK-23 engines and redesignated Tu-22M2Ye. In service, the Tu-22M2 was known to its crews as Dvoika ('Deuce'). It was more popular than the Tu-22, thanks to its superior performance and improved cockpit, but its comfort and reliability still left much to be desired. The later Tu-22M3 (NATO 'Backfire C'), which first flew in 1976 and entered service in 1983, had new NK-25 engines with substantially more power, wedge-shaped intakes similar to the MiG-25, wings with greater maximum sweep, and a recontoured nose housing a new Leninets PN-AD radar and NK-45 nav/attack system, which provides much-improved low-altitude flight (although not true nap-of-the-earth flying). It had a revised tail turret with a single cannon, and provision for an internal rotary launcher for the AS-16 'Kickback' missile, similar to the American AGM-69 SRAM. The new aircraft had much better performance than the -M2. It was nicknamed Troika ('Trio'), although apparently it is sometimes referred to as 'Backfire' in Russian service.

First human in Space: April 12, 1961

2008-04-14T02:06:00.000-07:00

Vostok 1 (Russian: Восток-1, meaning Orient-1 or East-1) was the first human spaceflight. The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961, taking into space Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union.

The Vostok 1 mission was the first time anyone had journeyed into outer space and the first time anyone had entered into orbit. The Vostok 1 was launched by the Soviet space program and designed by the Soviet rocket scientists Sergey Korolyov and Kerim Kerimov.^[1]

March 1944, flying wing by brothers Horten, 40 years befor B2

2008-02-17T03:28:00.000-08:00

The Horten Ho-IX (often erroneously called Gotha Go 229 or Ho 229 due to the identity of the chosen manufacturer of the aircraft) was a late-World War II prototype flying wing fighter/bomber, designed by Reimar and Walter Horten and built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik. It was a personal favourite of German Luftwaffe chief Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, and was the only aircraft to come close to meeting his infamous "1000, 1000, 1000" performance requirements.

The first Ho IX V1, which was an unpowered glider, flew on 1 March 1944. It was followed in December 1944 by the Jumo 004-powered Ho IX V2 (the BMW 003 engine was preferred but unavailable at the time). Göring believed in the design and ordered a production series of 40 aircraft at Gotha with the RLM designation Ho 229 before it had taken to the air under jet power. The program was undeterred when the sole Ho IX V2 crashed after an engine caught fire on 18 February 1945 after only two hours of flying time. In fact, an order was put in for further prototypes and 20 pre-production aircraft. On 12 March 1945, Ho 229 was included into the Jäger-Notprogramm for accelerated production of inexpensive "wonder weapons."

Apparently it took 40 years to develop proper "fly by wire" technologies to make flying wings flyworthy. What came out of it is B2 Spirit, flying wing stealth bomber.

B2 Spirit, 1B each, the World's first "long arm", strategic stealth bomber

2008-02-17T03:12:00.000-08:00

The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is a multi-role stealth heavy bomber, capable of deploying both conventional and nuclear weapons. It is operated exclusively by the United States Air Force. Its development was a milestone in the modernization program of the U.S. Department of Defense. The B-2's stealth technology is intended to aid the aircraft's penetration role in order to survive extremely dense anti-aircraft defenses otherwise considered impenetrable by combat aircraft.

The B-2 has seen service in three separate campaigns. Its debut was during the Kosovo War in 1999. The B-2 first introduced the satellite guided JDAM in combat use. Since then, the aircraft has operated over Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom. During the Iraq campaign, B-2s were temporarily operated from Diego Garcia. Later missions to Iraq launched from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. This resulted in missions lasting over 30 hours and one mission of over 50 hours.

The Pentagon's Operational Test and Evaluation 2003 Annual Report noted that the B-2's serviceability for FY03 was still inadequate, mainly due to maintenance on the B-2's Low Observable materials. The evaluation also noted that the Defensive Avionics suite also had shortcomings with pop-up threats.[8] Despite these problems the B-2 reached full operational capability in December 2003.[4] The B-2 maintained high mission capable rates for Operation Iraqi Freedom, dropping 583 JDAMs during the campaign.

Need a longer arm? s-300 air defence missles (NATO Grumble SA-10)

2008-01-26T12:08:00.000-08:00

Need to kill anything at a large range, higher ennry speed? Russians have alredy the answer: The S-300 is a series of Russian long range surface-to-air missile systems by the Almaz Scientific Industrial Corporation all based on the initial S-300P version. It was developed as a system against aircraft and cruise missiles for the Soviet Anti-Air Defence branch of the military, but later variations were also developed to intercept ballistic missiles.

The closest western equivalent is the United States of America MIM-104 Patriot system or the US Navy RIM-66 Standard Missile 2 (SM-2). Both systems can engage multiple targets simultaneously, employ advanced guidance methods, and rely on a single phased array guidance radar to guide the missiles in the air. The S-300 deployment time is five minutes.[1] The S-300 missiles are sealed rounds and require no maintenance over their lifetime.

In our following blog entry we will show how countries like Iran can combine these long range systems with a variaty of tactical air-defence systems to build a stable and mighty air-defence system.

Another Surface-to-Air beast: Medium Range Tor 1M air defence arm

2008-01-14T02:51:00.000-08:00

The Tor Missile System (Russian: "Тор"; English: torus [1]) is a Russian made low to medium-altitude, short-range surface-to-air missile system designed for engaging airplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, precision guided munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic targets. GRAU designation of the earliest model is 9K330, and NATO reporting names are SA-15 Gauntlet and SA-N-9 Gauntlet. It is designed to protect targets from attack at all times and in any weather, not only by shooting down attacking aircraft but also by destroying any munitions before they reach their target. It is air-portable and equipped with NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) protection. The price per single unit was quoted as being $25 million in 2007.
* Typically, a battery of Tor vehicles is accompanied by the mobile Ranzhir-M (Russian: "Ранжир-М") command center. It allows for efficient allocation of tasks between the individual Tor-1M crews.
* Tor-1M is a low- to medium-range system. For shorter range, the missile-gun systems Tunguska and Shilka are used. For longer range, the Buk-M1/M2 (SA-11 Gadfly) system is used.

3K95 "Kinzhal" (Russian: Кинжал – dagger) is the naval version of the Tor and has the NATO reporting name SA-N-9. It is installed on Admiral Kuznetsov class aircraft carriers, Kirov class multimission cruisers, Udaloy class anti-submarine destroyers and Neustrashimy class frigates. It can guide missiles to up to four targets at once. Range of the ship-borne surveillance radar is 45 km (28 miles). 32 (Neustrashimy), 64 (Udaloy) or 192 (Kuznetsov, Kirov) are carried in multiple eight-round revolver VLS arrays. Some sources report that the 3K95 is equipped with a secondary infrared guidance system.

Tunguska: Where the name comes from?

2008-01-12T03:47:00.000-08:00

The 2K22M Tunguska-M1 mobile short range air defense system described in our previous post is a terrific example of immense firepower mobility and proven soviet design approaches (cheap and tough :)). Though the video itself is impressive, the name of the weapon system does not tell a lot to a non-russian speaker. Enjoy the video below to find where the name comes from!

The 2K22M Tunguska-M1 short range air defence monster!

2008-01-10T06:06:00.000-08:00

The 2K22M Tunguska-M1 is a Russian tracked combined surface-to-air gun/missile system. It is designed to provide day and night protection for infantry and tank regiments against low-flying aircraft and helicopters in any weather condition. The complete system is designated 2K22M, with the vehicle designated 2S9M.

The cost of the system is reported to be between 8 and 10 million USD.

Welcome to Extreme Weapons Blog!

2008-01-10T05:59:00.001-08:00

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