Now everyone is hearing about the M142 HIMARS MLRS and its older sister, the M270, which, without being too modest, had a decisive firepower effect on the Russian occupation forces. However, against the background of the well-deserved praise of the M142/M270, the Ukrainian Vilkha missile was unforgettably forgotten. The military-political columnist of the "Information Resistance" group expressed his opinion. Oleksandr Kovalenko.
It was the high-precision (deviation from the target no more than 7 meters) and long-range (range of defeat up to 130 km) rocket "Alder" that was the first to burn the Russian invaders, but, unfortunately... Unfortunately, the number of these ammunition released did not allow them to be used in the mode of 24 / 7.
Nevertheless, it is precisely in view of the achievements of our military industry and with the clear example of Western technologies M142/M270 that we will be able to build the post-war future of Ukrainian rocket launcher systems.
If compared with the main competitors of "Alder" in the post-Soviet space, Ukraine did not invent the bicycle and improved the rockets available for "Smerchiv" and named "Alder". Unlike standard projectiles, these, in addition to corrected control, have an autocorrection system based on the inertial principle with correction of a satellite navigation system, such as GPS. This made it possible to prove the accuracy of the missile's deviation from the target by no more than 5-7 m, which makes the "free" a high-precision weapon.
It is also noteworthy that flight control is carried out not only with the help of "rudders", but by the gas-jet principle, which is mainly inherent in OTRK missiles and is practically not used in MLRS.
Otherwise, according to dry performance characteristics, we have a target engagement range of up to 130 km, with the possibility of increasing the range to 170 km. The height of the flight path of the "Alder" is also quite an interesting characteristic, since according to some data it can exceed 20 km, which suggests the possibility of further development of the project as a concomitant function of air defense systems.
The competitor of "Alder" in this category is the Russian 300-mm rocket 9M542 "Tornado-S". However, a number of differences immediately catch the eye, which are clearly not in favor of the latest Russian development.
So, "Tornado-S" has a target range of up to 120 km, as well as "Alder", but this range is achieved by reducing the weight of the warhead of the missile to 150 kg (170 kg for "Alder") and increasing its weight and dimensions – length 7,6 m (7 m "Alder") and weight 820 kg (800 kg "Alder").
Questions also arise regarding the accuracy of this missile modification, since its flight control is standard — gas-dynamic, and as a correction, only the GLONASS satellite system is used, which, as is known, does not please with particular reliability and stability of operation.
In contrast to the Russian and Ukrainian modernization of the Smerch surface-to-air missile, Belarus went its own way and, in cooperation with Chinese friends, created the Polonaise surface-to-air missile.
In fact, this rocket salvo fire system is a Belarusian MZKT-7930 chassis, on which a Chinese PU for 301 mm A-200 missiles is installed. Missiles, which have a target range of 50 to 200 km, have an inertial guidance system, which is also corrected using satellite navigation, but still has a permissible deviation of up to 30 m. In addition, the Polonez anti-missile missile differs from the standard PU » Tornado with only 8 missiles instead of 12.
It is also worth noting that the weight of the A-200 combat unit, taking into account the flight range, varies from 150 to 100 kg. That is, the missile sacrifices destructive potential for range. At the same time, even with the maximum warhead, it is initially inferior not only to the Ukrainian missile, but also to the Russian one, which has the same warhead, but when used at a greater distance.
In the future, it was the principles laid down in Olsa that made it possible to create similar high-precision, long-range ammunition not only for the 300-mm "Smerch", but also for the 220-mm "Hurricane" and 122-mm BM-21 "Grad."
And it is possible that the further development of our post-war military industry will lie in this direction.
