Kh-15S "fast" death to ships

[topol-m]

Raduga Kh-15 (NATO: AS-16 "Kickback") originally a Russian nuclear supersonic missile carried by heavy bombers - Tu-22M/95/160 (Tu-160 can carry 24 Kh-15), it has been developed in different variants with different purpose. The Kh-15S is an anti-ship missile with conventional warhead. After launch it is gaining altitude reaching 40 000m (depending on the distance of the target) then dives accelerating up to Mach 5 making it the fastest missile of its kind. The guidance - inertial navigation system at the initial flight stage, after the dive begins a millimetric-wave active radar seeker resistant to ECM is guiding it to the target. Range - 150km. The high speed allows it to penetrate most of the modern air defence systems inflicting heavy damage on the target (the different versions have various warhead weight varying from 160 to 250kg). There are claims that Kh-15 is undergoing some redesignement to allow it to be carried and used by Su-35/34 aircraft. The Kh-15P is the anti-radiation version used for air defenses suppression.

[Groove]

"resistant to ECM" is the phrase which makes the whole article questionable.

[nscode]

No it doesn't. Just like an armoured car is bullet-resistant, not bullet-proof, this simply means it employs ECCM.

[gigz-on]

Some darawings

 

 

[Namenlos Ein]

Kh-15S antiship missile never was in service, at least I found no confirmation about that. Kh-15 was the Soviet counterpart to US AGM-69 SRAM.

 

http://www.testpilot.ru/russia/raduga/kh/15/kh15_1.htm

http://www.airwar.ru/weapon/avz/x15.html

Edited August 14, 2009 by Namenlos Ein

[topol-m]

No it doesn't. Just like an armoured car is bullet-resistant, not bullet-proof, this simply means it employs ECCM.

 

Absolutely. Resistant doesn`t mean immune. I tried to use the most reliable (imho) data from various articles though in some sources the translation is not rightly done for example in the picture gigz-on presented you can see the russian word "помехоустойчивой" translated as immune while the exact translation would be "ECM resistant"...

 

Kh-15S antiship missile never was in service, at least I find no confirmation about that. Kh-15 was the Soviet counterpart to US AGM-69 SRAM.

 

http://www.testpilot.ru/russia/raduga/kh/15/kh15_1.htm

http://www.airwar.ru/weapon/avz/x15.html

 

Quote: "Сведений о поставках ракет Х-15С и СЭ пока нет."

Edit: The lack of info doesn`t necessarily mean it isn`t in service, furthermore it was offered for export meaning the missile`s development was pretty much complete and passed experimental phase.

Edited August 14, 2009 by topol-m

[gigz-on]

We haven't got any data about deliveries of missiles Х-15S and SE yet

 

Says airwar.ru

[GGTharos]

Topol, usually missiles that are in service are announced as such. Usually.

 

I also find it interesting that they consider it resistant to ECM ... I imagine blip enhancement is something no radar is immune to at this point, and further I'm reasonably certain that the SM-3 or higher class of interceptors together with AEGIS can deal with such a missile, but as always, the faster you go, the harder you are to hit.

[topol-m]

Topol, usually missiles that are in service are announced as such. Usually.

 

I also find it interesting that they consider it resistant to ECM ... I imagine blip enhancement is something no radar is immune to at this point, and further I'm reasonably certain that the SM-3 or higher class of interceptors together with AEGIS can deal with such a missile, but as always, the faster you go, the harder you are to hit.

 

Kh-15 missiles are in service. Kh-15S is a Kh-15 version. As such it can be assumed that there won`t be very detailed info on exact numbers of missiles upgraded or produced. We do not have info on numbers of Mig-29 produced/modified to SMT2 standart, even less info we`re gonna get for missile`s numbers ;)

SM-3 are primary designed as an anti-balistic missile weapon so how are they going to work against 4.5 m long Mach 5 moving target is unclear but i doubt they are going to have a good performance, not to speak how potential targets not having SM-3 in proximity are going to deal with this threat :)

[GGTharos]

SM-3 is a highly capable multi-stage weapon with hit-to kill terminal homing against weapons moving much, much faster.

There is some talk about adaption of a PAC-3 like weapon however to deal with the 'short range' missiles, since I think you are correct, SM-3 might not do so great in the atmosphere.

 

Edit: It appears that SM-6 (basically a more advanced version of SM-2ER with AMRAAM seeker) will be the solution to this particular problem. Going operational in 2010.

 

There is also RAM, and ESSM to help with such close-in defense, as well as throwing out a huge cloud of chaff or literally blinding/zorching the missile ... but the less changes you have to shoot it down, the more likely it is to hit you, since ECM is a bit hit-and-miss ....

Edited August 14, 2009 by GGTharos

[topol-m]

It looks like an upgrade (mostly of the range of interception) but i still am not sure if it is going to be able to attack a small high speed target like this one. Any info on the max. target speed? I`ve seen such info for S-300 i think :huh:

 

Quote: "The ERAM addresses the Navy's need for a long-range interceptor against aircraft and cruise missiles, which dates back to the 1980's."

http://www.globalsecurity.org

 

Edit: "aircraft" and "cruise missile" pointing at targets with much lower speed.

Edited August 14, 2009 by topol-m

[GGTharos]

Not really ... cruise missiles with around mach 2 speed have been around for a -very- long time. In fact, AIM-54A's job used to be to shoot such missiles down ;)

This mission has been currently taken over by AIM-120C, soon AIM-120D.

 

 

(Also, I somehow really doubt the Kh-15 can dive down at over mach 3 and not completely trash its own radar due to radome and thus antenna overheat, and thus the problem pretty much resolves itself)

[topol-m]

(Also, I somehow really doubt the Kh-15 can dive down at over mach 3 and not completely trash its own radar due to radome and thus antenna overheat, and thus the problem pretty much resolves itself)

 

Questionable. ;)

 

S-300PMU can attack targets flying with 2800m/s (approx. 10000km/h). SM-6 - ???

 

meanwhile another picture of Kh-15 in weapons bay:

[GGTharos]

SM-6 target closure capability is completely unknown. Higher speed targets require a greater doppler bandwidth, and more accurate maneuvering - while it's very likely that an AMRAAM could comfortably deal with a mach 3 head-on target, there are a lot of questions that can be asked.

 

Its capability against missiles... :

 

SM-6

possesses potential capability

against theater ballistic missiles

that could be exploited to

counter the emerging short- and

medium-range ballistic threat.

 

http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/rtnwcm/groups/rms/documents/content/rtn_rms_ps_sm6_datasheet.pdf

Edited August 14, 2009 by GGTharos

[topol-m]

SM-6 target closure capability is unknown.

 

I hate that sentence :sly: Too many unknowns...

Edited August 14, 2009 by topol-m

[GGTharos]

I haven't really ever found good data on max closure capabilities for a lot of modern weapons. Some are given, but many aren't - it's to keep secrets of the underlying radar sensor I think.

[GGTharos]

According to what is said about the SM-6, it appears that it might be capable of target speeds up to 4km/s, or 8km/s if it's capable of intercepting the longer ranged TBMs.

[Namenlos Ein]

Some kind of nostalgia — Kh-15 in Su-27 Flanker v.1.5 (1997).

 

Edited August 14, 2009 by Namenlos Ein

[Vekkinho]

^^^^

Yeah, too bad Bear's missile payload's reduced to X-65 only in LOFC...

[topol-m]

According to what is said about the SM-6, it appears that it might be capable of target speeds up to 4km/s, or 8km/s if it's capable of intercepting the longer ranged TBMs.

 

Too bad we don`t have detailed info if such results can be obtained at all level altitudes or we are only talking about interception of such high speed targets at upper levels of the atmosphere or even out of the atmosphere.

 

^^^^

Yeah, too bad Bear's missile payload's reduced to X-65 only in LOFC...

 

Agree on that. More diversity in payload is always a good thing.

[GGTharos]

The SM-6 is meant to accomplish intercepts at any altitude up to 33km ... this is probably why they used the AMRAAM seeker.

 

It's also got 240km range supposedly.

 

Too bad we don`t have detailed info if such results can be obtained at all level altitudes or we are only talking about interception of such high speed targets at upper levels of the atmosphere or even out of the atmosphere.

[topol-m]

The SM-6 is meant to accomplish intercepts at any altitude up to 33km ... this is probably why they used the AMRAAM seeker.

 

It's also got 240km range supposedly.

 

Interesting. Looks like it has the potential to become a very dangerous air defence system.

Edited August 15, 2009 by topol-m

[GGTharos]

The AEGIS always was a very dangerous defense system. It has always, always had to deal with the potential thread of multiple supersonic anti-ship missiles coming in.

 

AEGIS is not just a Tico or Arleigh Burke - it networks just about every ship in the local fleet together, giving them massive anti-air capability and firepower.

 

The SM-6 makes things even worse by supplying an ARH missile. While the Tico could have 19 missiles in the air at any one time, it only had 4 guidance radars, so it could only guide to 4 targets at one time. With the SM-6, it can pretty much engage almost as many targets simulteneously as it has missiles.

[Brit_Radar_Dude]

......furthermore it was offered for export meaning the missile`s development was pretty much complete and passed experimental phase.

Some good info there Topol-M.

 

But dont assume that just because something has been offered for export automatically means that any work has actually been done!

 

I've worked for several defence contractors. Projects I've worked on have been funded by money from export customers who "thought" they were buying an established product and merely paying for a few additional tweaks to interface it to their existing stuff. Actually was pretty much a total redesign and rework and work only started once we had their signature on a contract.

 

I suspect the Russian defence industry are no less economical with the truth to their export customers.

 

I've posted this before, but here it is again. All the more funny as it is not too far from the truth in my experience.

 

This is what defense contractor marketing departments say and really mean........

 

They said: "Feasability studies are complete and we are in pre-production"

They mean: "Two of our guys have talked about it by the water cooler...."

 

They said: "This product is in production "

They mean: "....and they figured out what colour to paint it"

 

They said: "This product is in post-production "

They mean: "We have sent someone out for a tin of green paint"

 

They said: "This product is off the shelf"

They mean: "We already have a tin of green paint"

 

They said: "This product is off the shelf but is easy to modify to your (winter) specifications"

They mean: "We already have a tin of green paint, we can buy a tin of white and charge you for both"

 

They said: "Our skilled team are ready to modify the product to your specifications"

They mean: "We have hired a guy who can paint, he has his own brush"

 

They said: "This product is easy to modify by the end user"

They mean: "We can sell you a 30,000 dollar paint brush"

[Shaman]

Is it resistant to a wall of bullets? ;)