Tanks, barely appeared the first time on the fieldthe battle had a tremendous impact on the entire military thought of that time. Anti-tank rifles and special ammunition appeared instantly; regimental artillery was undergoing a second birth.
Basic information
Development of the rocket began in the early 80slast century. Initially, it was intended to equip the Ka-50 helicopters, as well as the Su-25T. The latter was a modification of the famous "Rook", designed specifically to combat the heavy armored vehicles of a potential enemy.
Layout Difficulties
The developers immediately faced a toughthe diameter limitation, since the Ka-50 pylons needed to be placed at least 12, and on the Su-25T suspensions at least 16 missiles. Because of this, the Whirlwind-1 guided missile is distinguished by its record-breaking elongated body. This not only made it possible to “squeeze” into the required diameter, but also ensured the greatest possible range and speed of flight, since the aerodynamic characteristics of such a scheme are maximally optimal.
Design features
In front of the hull is traditionally locatedcompartment with tandem warhead, as well as hidden in the niches "wings", that is, stabilizers course stability. In addition, there is also a proximity fuze, which was used in the design for the sake of increasing the effectiveness of the rocket for its possible use on enemy air targets. The entire middle part is occupied by a simple fragmentation-tandem warhead.
The rest of the volume is occupied by solid fuel.sustainer engine with two conical nozzles, slightly deflected to the side. At the very end of the tail section there is a different apparatus, which serves to guide the missile at the target.
Storage in the stowed position
Adoption and first tests
The adoption of these weapons took placerelatively recently, in 1985. For the first time, tests under conditions extremely close to combat were conducted in 1986, when the Whirlwinds fired from the Mi-28 helicopter and Su-25T attack aircraft. Particularly high effectiveness was shown by attack aircraft, which showed the ability to overcome the echeloned air defense of a conditional enemy.
Simply put, it has been proven that the “Rooks” cansuccessfully attack the tank columns of the conditional enemy on the march, causing them serious damage. What are the main characteristics of "Whirlwind-1"? TTX missiles following:
- Length - 2.75 m.
- The case diameter is 152 mm.
- The weight of the rocket (along with the shipping container) is 59 kg.
- Maximum speed - 610 m / s.
- Startup height - from 4 to 4000 meters.
- The launch range is from 400 meters to 10 kilometers.
- The maximum flight time to the target is up to 28 seconds.
Further development of the concept
Because of this, helicopters and attack aircraft,equipped with this type of weapon, can effectively and as soon as possible perform a very wide range of tasks. Because of this, the “Whirlwind-1” “anti-tank” missile is, in fact, wide-profile and fully universal. Today, Kalashnikov Concern OJSC, located in the city of Izhevsk, Udmurtia, is responsible for the development and production.
Important features of the Whirlwind missiles
- Long range, combined withexcellent aerodynamics and hypersonic speed, provide a high probability of combat survivability even in the conditions of overcoming the air defense of the conditional enemy.
- Supersonic flight speed also allows you to simultaneously attack multiple targets, providing increased survivability of the aircraft or helicopter carrier. Simply put, the enemy is not up to them.
- The automatic guidance system for the laser beam allows you to hit even small targets with a guarantee.
- Excellent security from EW stations of a probable enemy, which again increases the likelihood of successfully overcoming the echeloned air defense.
- The broadest range of targets to be hit, including large surface ships and even submarines in the surface position.
The order of combat use of the rocket
Пилот, приблизившись к месту вероятной дислокации the enemy (approximately 10–15 kilometers before him) must activate the Shkval-M area scanning system. In the case when the coordinates of the probable location of the target were entered in advance, the system is activated automatically, without human intervention.
In addition, the pilot is on the job of preventingstrong deviation of the target from the azimuth captured by the automatic tracking equipment, since otherwise it is impossible to guarantee a successful launch.
Features of combat use
However, you should not consider the local automation"Stupid." Specialists of the Concern "Kalashnikov" OJSC have significantly improved it. The equipment is fully capable of leading the target for some time even after it lost sight of it (there was an object between the attack aircraft and the tank). If, however, the automatic tracking failed, the pilot had to retake it manually.
As we have said, the launch of the rocket was madeonly upon reaching the normal distance, as well as with the confident holding of the object by automatic rocket. In the new versions of the complex "Whirlwind-1" is capable of simultaneously holding and tracking up to four targets with shooting missiles at them for about 30 seconds. It is believed that the probability of hitting even a small object is at least 0.8.
Для расширения номенклатуры боевого применения Already today, rockets with thermobaric and high-explosive fragmentation warheads, designed specifically for work on large concentrations of manpower and enemy equipment, were developed. Due to this, the whirlwind-1 supersonic rocket becomes even more universal.
Assault "specialization"
Despite the fact that for the entire period of operationthe rocket made many attempts to adapt it for ground-based missile systems, practice has proven that the most justified way to use them is to launch combat helicopters and attack aircraft from the board.
However, today there are still and evencomplexes designed for installation on lightly armored vehicles and even jeeps are operated. Their creation is a merit of the Kalashnikov Concern OJSC. On the armament of our army, nothing of the kind, according to military experts, is absent, since the Cornet complex is much better at dealing with such goals.
The prospects of the complex
In addition, the Vortex-1 ATGM system enjoys stable popularity in the Arab states, since they are interested in purchasing multifunctional and reliable weapons.
