To begin with we note an interesting historical fact. The five specially equipped fighters of the I-16 of Captain Zvonarev used against the Japanese militarists in the distant 1939, used RS-82 missiles with a diameter of the cylindrical part of the body - 82 mm. And modern aircraft of the Sukhoi, Mil, and Kamov families, stationed as part of the Aerospace Forces of Russia grouping in the Syrian Arab Republic, are shooting at terrorists with unguided missiles (C-8) of the C-8 family 80 mm caliber. A couple of millimetres - the difference is insignificant. In short, the Soviet developers initially made the right choice of the main parameter of missiles for tactical aviation. It remains relevant to this day.

Comparative analysis

Let's compare the main technical data of RS-82 and S-8OFP. At one time, we dedicated the article “Uncontrolled S-8OFP aircraft” to the Tula gunsmiths from the scientific development and production center Splav. The length of the projectile and its mass increased by one and a half times, from six hundred millimetres to one and a half meters and seven kilograms to seventeen, respectively. At the same time, the maximum firing range claimed by the developers ... was preserved on the “up to 6000 meters” indicator! Where is the catch?

Rocket launch by Ka-52 helicopters

In our opinion, the figure in both cases is too high, one might say, “advertising”. It is quite possible, and was achieved (achieved) during tests at landfills. But there is little sense from launches at a similar distance: the deviation at the final point of the missile’s flight from the target position is too large. The calculated dispersion parameter is 14 ... 16 meters per kilometre of range for the RC-82 and 0.3% in range for the first generation C-8.

At a distance of six kilometres the probable deviation is 84-96 and 18 meters, respectively. The difference mainly occurs due to the fact that the RS-82 was kept on the trajectory only due to the wing stabilisation, while more modern missiles in flight rotate around its axis. This significantly increases the stability of the trajectory, although it requires additional fuel consumption.

Perhaps a more modern S-8OFP will show less dispersion due to the use of a different type of tail. Instead of six large-spanning “feathers” laid out forward in flight on previous modifications of the C-8 family of missiles, four hinged wide-chord rudders are now used, which open sideways. However, improvements "at times" are not expected here. In practice, shooting at the “advertising range” makes sense only in the case of an areal target.

For example, in the course of operations to free the western and southern provinces of the United States of America, there were cases when the Mil helicopters of the Syrian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Forces attacked salvo missiles at remote positions of bandit groups, manpower and terrorist equipment. Aviation was engaged to perform similar tasks in a desert or rural environment, when tankers and motorised riflemen maintaining a high rate of advance could not receive artillery support in time. Among the reasons was the fact that the calculations of the towed guns lagged behind, and the self-propelled howitzers - shot the entire ammunition and waited for the supply of ammunition.

From the point of view of causing the enemy maximum fire damage, it is better to fire from a distance of one to two kilometres. Then the circular deviation of the unguided missile with respect to the aiming point will be three to six meters. When you release a volley of several missiles there is a high chance of hitting an enemy’s armoured vehicle with a direct hit. True, there is a high risk of damage to the aircraft by enemy air defence systems. The above fully applies to Syria, where the front line is “packed” with a large number of large-caliber machine guns and ZU-23-2 high-speed anti-aircraft guns. And sometimes the militants even encounter Strela, Igla, Stinger man-portable air defence systems and their Chinese counterparts.

A block of cannons with cassettes of modular construction 9-A-5013 for rockets of caliber 80 mm

A similar situation was observed in the case of RS-82 aircraft carriers and their variants with cumulative action heads. The experience of the Great Patriotic War showed that a direct hit was required to defeat tanks and armoured personnel carriers. When firing volleys from four to six missiles from a distance of 400-500m, trained pilots achieved positive results only in 1% of cases. To achieve the greatest effect, it was recommended to fire not at individual, but group goals, such as a column on the march. The optimum attack was considered to be a dive attack at an angle of thirty degrees with a volley of the RS four at a distance of no more than half a kilometre.

Today, the likelihood of directly hitting a tank, army truck, or pick-up target is significantly higher for several reasons. The first is that modern airplanes and helicopters are equipped with high-precision on-board systems, equipped with laser range finders, ballistic computers and other equipment, which makes it possible to more accurately aim. Second, the pilots have the opportunity to shoot a large number of missiles on one approach. If airplanes of the late thirties - early forties usually took four or six PC-82s, a maximum of eight, then the Su-25 combat aircraft can carry up to eight B8M units with twenty guides each, totalling 160 projectiles. If you release them in one gulp, the total mass of shells released will be about 2700 kg.

Rockets against aerostats and aircraft

According to the distributing materials of the scientific development and production center Splav, the unguided missile S-8OFP is designed to destroy the following types of targets: live force, unarmored and lightly armoured vehicles, as well as surface ships. It was for such firing of unguided rockets and the crews of attack aircraft and front-line fighters during the Second World War.

Meanwhile, the very first in the history of aviation serial missile "Le Priéur" was produced (by France and its allies in the Entente) for the destruction of fundamentally different purposes - aerostats. To do this, it was filled with black powder, which was blown up at a predetermined distance from the launch point from the carrier aircraft using a firing tube. Due to low efficiency, Le Priéur soon gave way to a more effective means - incendiary bullets.

A repeated attempt to use missiles against aerial targets was made during the battle for Khalkhin Gol. The above-mentioned "five" of Zvonarev in a short time (from August 20 to September 15, 1939) managed to achieve high results. Pilots Mikhaylenko, Pimenov, Fedosov and Tkachenko operated under the command of the captain. They completed 85 sorties, conducted thirty air battles, shooting down thirty Japanese aircraft. Own losses were not. Perhaps the actual damage inflicted on the enemy turned out to be somewhat less than the official Soviet statistics, but it was, not only material, but also moral.

At first, the enemy took the RS-82 breaks for the fire of a carefully sheltered battery of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns. Then he suspected that the Russians had somehow inexplicably equipped their planes with large cannons. In short, the effect of surprise was full. He then, together with the coordinated actions of the "five", and became the main reason for success.

I-16

Specially equipped fighters I-16 always acted as a group, trying to get into a frontal attack on Japanese aircraft flying at the same height. The first fight on August 20 went according to the conceived scenario. At the command of Zvonarev, the pilots of the whole five simultaneously fired projectiles from a distance of the order of a kilometre along an enemy group that was on a traverse course over the front line. The gap of a well-aimed missile fell in the center of the dense order of battle of Japanese aircraft. The system collapsed, and a pair of damaged cars crashed to the ground.

As the enemy recovered from the shock, he more intelligently approached the analysis of what was happening and the development of countermeasures, therefore, the effectiveness of the new weapon decreased. The correct conclusions were also made by the Soviet commanders, making the following conclusion. “The use of the RS on fighters is possible, but it can only be achieved by shooting with the first attack, and then subject to a covert approach to the enemy. In the future, the battle with the fighters takes such a fleeting and changeable nature that the shooting of the RS, which requires precise observance of the range, and on the assumption that the target is inactive, gives little hope of hitting. In addition, the RS has considerable weight and drag, and therefore degrades the flight characteristics of the fighter. On the I-16 and I-153, it makes sense to use the RS, but to release them not in one or two (as in the bombers) but in volleys in four projectiles with different settings for slowing down the tube.”

Universal use

The successful Mongolian debut opened the way to mass production of the I-16 in versions with launchers for rockets. Until the end of the year, about thirty more fighters with such weapons were manufactured. Simultaneously with the increase in production of 82-mm shells, larger ones with a diameter of 132 mm were also put into production. The latter were used for the first time in a combat situation on ground targets from SB bombers during the war with the White Finns.

The choice of the main parameters of the missiles, including the caliber, shape and size of the tail, was carried out on the basis of a thorough analysis of test results, both fire and purge in the TsAGI wind tunnels. It was decided to abandon the stabilisation of rotation for the sake of greater range of fire, as well as reduce the cost of mass-produced mass products. This made it possible in a short time to start a mass production of the PC-82 and PC-132: about 157 thousand in 1940. For firing at ground targets there were rockets with a contact fuse, at planes - with firing tubes. They triggered after a certain time after start-up, activating the main high-explosive charge.

In addition to the I-16 and SB, launchers for missiles began to be installed on the I-153 serial biplanes "Chaika". In addition, previously released fighter I-15bis were converted into attack aircraft. The installation of the PU PC RS did not require major rework of the airframe design. U-shaped profiles with strips having a T-shaped groove for projectile guide pins were fastened to the elements of the power structure from below. The launch was made by a pilot by pressing a button attached to the handle of the aircraft. The choice of the direction of shooting - through the standard for the time ring mechanical sight for aiming machine guns. The launch of the rocket was accompanied by a slight shaking of the aircraft, the skin was almost not damaged. PC-82/132 turned out to be simple in production and operation, failures occurred no more than one percent of all starts.

I-153

Formed before the German attack, the assault air regiments were mainly staffed with I-15bis and I-153 biplanes with six to eight PU MSs under the lower wing. In addition, quite a lot of fighter regiments on the I-16 received type 24 and 29 aircraft with four guides for 82-gauge and 132-mm missiles. The latest Su-2 bombers and MiG-3 high-altitude fighters also received jet weapons.

The Great Patriotic War

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War was remembered by deep breaks into the depths of the Soviet territory of the strike forces of the German fascist troops. To combat them, it was decided to use, including the newest types of fighters, modified for the application of rocket-bombing.

Memoirs of Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin contain the following fragments. “Two hundred kilogram bombs were hung on my plane. According to the instructions, it was necessary to drop them during horizontal flight or from a flat dive, taking aim approximately. The probability of injury was very low. ”

We read further: "The regiment engineer said:"Pokryshkin, I want to please you. We received a large number of RS. We will hang two beams under your wings on your plane. Bombs will not give you more. Satisfied?". In the flights with the RS there was a great confidence in the possibility of the MiG. True, when he fired at them for the first time at a cluster of enemy vehicles, he himself started: a sheaf of fire flew out from under the wing with a whistle. At an altitude of one thousand meters three Ju-88. He opened fire on the leader of the machine guns, but then, remembering the RS, took aim and fired the first projectile. He missed the mark. Let the second. This one exploded at Junkers. The plane broke out, and parachutes immediately opened around it. ”

Unfortunately, the MiG-3 proved to be an unsuccessful launching platform: in practice, missile firing was ineffective due to high dispersion. Other types of aircraft showed the best results. For example, Hurricane fighters received as military aid from the UK. In parts, they were additionally equipped with six guides under the RS-82.

Easier and better of all high-speed fighters, the case went from LaGG-3. The scattering during start-up turned out to be two to three times less than that of the MiG. Beginning in the fall of 1941, Lavochkin aircraft were produced from 6-8 PU MS or a pair of bombs under the wing. The installation of the rockets markedly reduced the flight speed: from the earth from 475-500 km / h to 445 km / h, at an altitude from 550-575 to 520 km / h. Turn time at a height of one kilometre increased from 20-22 to 26 seconds.

MiG-3 in celebration of 100 years of the Russian Air Force, author: Alexei Mikheev

However, retrofitting of LaGGs in real conditions in 1941-1942 was the right decision. The machine was already over-heavy due to the forced increase in the proportion of wood in the structure. In the formulation of mass production, we had to abandon the so-called “delta-wood”, chemicals for the manufacture of which were purchased in Germany before the war. As a result, the serial LaGG-3 was noticeably inferior to the main German fighter Bf109F in speed and manoeuvrability; therefore, its best use was as a strike aircraft — the RS carrier.

Although missiles with a contact fuse were designed to work on ground targets, many pilots fired at them and at aircraft, in most cases to no avail. One of the reasons - unlike the Japanese aviators, the Germans were well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the new weapons. Since 1937, the company Rheinmetall Borsig has been actively working on aircraft missiles. For the most part, they were used by fighters of the brand designed by Wilhelm Messerschmitt, and more broadly by Kurt Tank.

When the Allies began to send large air connections to the cities of the Third Reich, the interceptors of the air defence system attempted to destroy the structure of heavy bombers by bombarding it with large-caliber NAR with remote fuses. On the basis of the NbW.42 missile of the army five-bomber "rocket launcher", the German industry established the production of 210-mm, and then 280-mm turbojet (without tail, stabilisation by rotation) NAR. Starting weight - 38 and 82 kg, respectively. A direct hit ripped a huge B-17 Flying Fortress bomber or B-24 Liberator into pieces, causing a strong psychological effect on the crews of other nearby flying aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Wehrmacht carried heavy damage from Soviet missiles. This prompted the German industry to set up production of their copies (including the 89-mm armoured piercing Panzerblitz I) for use with their own aircraft. Toward the end of the war, the Germans created relatively small and cheap self-developed rockets of universal use (for air and ground targets) of 55 mm caliber, including R4 / M with a folded stabiliser that opened after launch. With a mass of 3.85 kg, they carried a pound of explosives, and in flight they accelerated to 500 m / s. These and similar to them NAR Schlange were produced for FW190 propeller-driven fighter-bombers and Me262 jet fighters.

Fighting armoured vehicles

Soviet front-line aviation developed its own way. Emphasis was placed on the release of the IL-2: in 1942, 8,229 armoured attack aircraft were collected, in 1943 - 11,193. In an effort to increase the effectiveness of combat work on enemy tanks, the industry created the BRS-82 and BRS-132 missiles for attack aircraft. From the base they differed mainly in new warheads. Instead of a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, armour-piercing was used, capable of piercing a 50-mm and 75-mm steel sheet, respectively.

Usually the attack was carried out by a pair of attack aircraft. From a horizontal flight at an altitude of the order of a kilometre, the aircraft went into a dive with an angle of 30-40 degrees. Initially, the pilots fired missiles, then fired at targets with cannons and machine guns, and, before leaving the attack, dropped bombs from a height of 300-350 meters. Toward the end of the war, the IL-2 received 37mm caliber guns, which turned out to be a significantly better means of fighting tanks than the RS.

The forced use of MiGs and Jacob as drums stepped away from the agenda. The aircraft of these brands returned to the main task - to cover their troops from enemy raids, destroy their aircraft in the air, work in the country's air defence system. The lack of guidance systems led to a large dispersion of NAR; it was possible to talk about effective shooting at an aerial target only at ranges of no more than a couple of hundred meters. Therefore, the armament of the newly assembled fighters was limited to rapid-fire cannons and machine guns.

IL-2 with RS-132 under the wing

For example, on the Yak-1 aircraft, jet weapons were deployed only in the period from October 1941 to May 1942. The reasons for abandoning it were the following: the speed decreases by 30 km / hour, which puts the Red Star fighter aircraft at a disadvantage compared to the Messerschmitts who do not have rocket weapons.

It seemed that the rocket is doomed. However, it was decided to keep it in service after the end of the war. The probability of a direct hit was realistically assessed as low, so the calculation was mainly built for hitting or damaging the target with splinters when the RS warhead was destroyed in its immediate vicinity. Sometimes the launch of missiles had a strong moral and psychological effect on the enemy, which added arguments to the supporters of this type of weapon.

Post-war American missiles were produced as "universal", capable of acting both on air and ground targets. For example, Mighty Mouse caliber 76 mm sample 1949. installed, including, on retractable installations of jet fighters F86, F89, F100 and others.

High caliber unguided aircraft rockets

Eight years later, a two-meter-long Zuni comes into service in the United States with a launch range of up to 9 km. Created as a universal, it was only used once in a sixty-year service effectively in aerial combat (the attack aircraft was hit by a MiG-17 fighter), and repeatedly - when attacking ground targets.

The Zuni caused great damage to the Americans themselves during the war in Southeast Asia. Spontaneously launched from an F-4B fighter, a five-inch missile struck an A-4 attack aircraft standing nearby on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Forestall. The explosion caused the spill and ignition of jet fuel, followed by a fire that killed 134 sailors. The next blow to their Zuni was dealt in January 69th. During the pre-launch preparation of attack aircraft at Enterprise, one of the missiles destined for them exploded on the flight deck. The fire of July 29, 1967 destroyed a quarter of the aircraft carrier's air group, killing 27 crew members.

The largest of the serial overseas missiles - AIR-2 Genie. She stood out with a large weight (about 400 kg) and a huge fuselage (maximum diameter 445mm), and in addition she carried a special headpiece W25. Upon detection of a Tu-class bomber approaching the US coast, the crews of the F-102, F-104 and F-106 interceptors were raised in alarm. Their task was to launch a nuclear missile in the direction of the Soviet "guest".

The autonomous action fuse triggered after a certain time interval and only after the full development of the fuel. Theoretically, the pilots had time to execute an evasion manoeuvre and get out of the zone of destruction of the thermonuclear charge. Equivalent power W25 and a half kilotons was considered sufficient to ensure the destruction of the "carcass" within a radius of three hundred meters from the site of the blast of the warhead. With the growth of removal up to one kilometre, the aircraft received significant damage, depriving it of combat capability. The only trial test AIR-2 c activation of W25, the Americans produced July 19, 1957. The combination was finally retired only in 1988 due to the cancellation of the last combat F-106.

Unguided aircraft rocket S-25

The largest of the serial unguided aircraft rocket is S-25, 3.3 meters long and half a ton in weight. Whether a special warhead type W25 was developed for it is unknown. In open sources there is only a mention of the high-explosive S-25F and fragmentation C-25O with a mass of 380 and 190 kg warhead, respectively. Aim range - up to four kilometres. Radio fuse worked at a height of 5-20 meters from the ground, ensuring the defeat of the target by the high-explosive action of the charge and the flow of fragments. Upon entry into service in the early seventies, on the basis of this unguided aircraft rocket developed a guided missile S-25L. She was distinguished by the presence of a laser homing head and the installation of an additional block of drive rudders.

In 1964, the Su-7B supersonic fighter-bomber developed the C-24 with a caliber of 240 mm and a mass of 235 kg. The 2.3 meter long rocket is equipped with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead weighing 123kg. A charge of solid fuel burned out a second after the start; further the rocket flew by inertia. Stabilisation - due to the four fixed aerodynamic surfaces in the tail section. The effective firing range was limited to a couple of kilometres. The rocket was produced in large quantities and is now used with several types of Su-type aircraft.

A large rocket was also designed to complete the fighter Artem Ivanovich Mikoyan. Vehicles of the first post-war generation received a C-21 with a case diameter of 212mm. Starting weight 118 kg, including 46 kg of the warhead. The MiG-15 could carry two such missiles under the wing.

Multi-charge blocks

All of the above types of large-caliber unguided aircraft rockets were supplied either in their own launch canisters, or openly hung on universal launchers under the arms pylons, which are also suitable for guided missiles. The only exception is Zuni: it can be launched both from the pylon and from the four tube container LAU-10. "Zuni" is still produced by the American industry and is in service. The closest domestic analogue of the C-13 is fired only from the B-13L five-shot block. With a similar caliber (122-130 mm), our rocket is one third longer and heavier.

B-8M and B-8B blocks with various versions of the S-8 missile

Note that the emergence of multiply-charged blocks helped unguided rockets remain in service. In fact, they became a kind of aviation analogue of the ground troops' multiple rocket launchers, which were massively used by all the opposing sides during the Second World War, most successfully by the Soviet Army. The RSZO combat vehicle is capable of attacking a few dozen shells to the enemy in a matter of seconds, - a single artillery of the same caliber can produce the same number of shots for only long tens of minutes.

Multi-charge blocks for aircraft missiles appeared only in the post-war period. The Soviet Union mass-produced the UB-9, UB-16, UB-32 (the number of launch tubes) for 57 mm caliber C-5 rockets, then the B-13 for the C-13 and B-8 missiles for the C-5. eight. The Russian development list has recently been expanded - “a block of guns with modular 9-A-5013 cassettes” for 80 mm caliber missiles. It is offered in several versions, with the number of trunks from ten to twenty-five. Prototypes were exhibited at the ARMY-2018 international military-technical forum.

Syrian use of C-5 and C-8 is described in our previous material on this topic. In this theatre of military operations, the so-called “international coalition” led by the United States also uses unguided missiles. Along with the aforementioned "Zuni", the NAR is the most widely used 70 mm caliber among NATO countries. They are spent by the thousands, mainly by the AN-64 Apache fire support helicopters, as well as the multipurpose Black Hawk and reconnaissance aircraft.

According to the information on the website General Dynamics, in the period from 1996, the company launched more than four million HYDRA-70 missiles. A small part of them turned into a highly accurate means of destruction by installing additional control units. The correction of the flight path is made by a laser beam from the aircraft or ground control. The blocks are produced by several firms in the form of kits for local modifications.

Akela - typical head of a missile for HYDRA-70 missiles

The most widely used set of "Advanced precision kill weapon system" (APKWS) of the British company BAE Systems. His circulation exceeded ten thousand pieces. According to the information materials of the “international coalition”, about two hundred missiles modified in this way were used in the battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul. The transformation of unguided mass-produced aircraft missiles into adjustable means of destruction has its pros and cons. This topic deserves a separate analysis. Wait for our next reviews!