New Russian LWT AShM

Date Posted: 22-Sep-2004

JANE’S MISSILES AND ROCKETS – OCTOBER 01, 2004

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Raduga shows lightweight anti-ship missile at IDELF
Yevgeniy Letunovsky

Raduga is developing a new lightweight anti-ship missile for use on small naval craft, writes Yevgeniy Letunovsky. Displayed for the first time at the IDELF-2004 Exhibition of Land Forces military equipment held in Moscow on 7-10 September 2004, the weapon is being offered as a potential armament for the Project 14310 Mirazh (Mirage) patrol boat.

The Raduga design bureau is based at Dubna near Moscow. It specialises in strategic and tactical air-to-surface weapons, including cruise missiles.

No technical information was released on the new anti-ship missile, and even its designation is unknown. Launched from a box-type container under the power of a small tandem booster, it is of conventional configuration, with folding cruciform wings and folding tail surfaces. The latter are presumably used to control the missile, but the weapon shown at IDELF-2004 seems to be a mock-up – all of the foldout surfaces are firmly fixed to the missile body.

The weapon is about 2.5m long and 20cm in diameter, and weighs 160kg at launch. It is probably powered by a solid-propellant sustainer rocket motor. It is guided by an active radar seeker, and can be used against sea surface and shore targets. Maximum range is 40km.

The Project 14310 Mirazh patrol boat is a 34m craft with a displacement of up to 120t. It was designed by the Medium- and Small-Tonnage Shipbuilding Concern (KSMK) to protect territorial waters and economic zones, and to carry out patrol, search and rescue, police, and customs missions. One is in service in the Black Sea with the Russian Federal Border Guard Service, and a second is reported to be under construction.

The export version was originally offered with an armament consisting of a forward-mounted 30mm six-barrelled AK-306 automatic gun mount, eight Kolomna Igla-M1 (SA-16 ‘Gimlet’) man-portable air-defence systems (MANPADS), plus options for two pedestal-mounted 14.5mm machine guns, and Shturm or Vikhr missile systems.

It is now being offered in an upgraded form armed with four of the new anti-ship missiles fitted in two double containers, plus a single 57mm A-220M gun. The latter is probably a derivative of the A-220 twin-barrelled gun that was tested on a ‘Tarantul’-class corvette in 1978-1979 but not adopted for service.

The revised vessel has a Naprik navigation and armament-control system. This includes two radars – a 3cm navigation radar, and millimetre-wave radar used both for navigation and to locate targets for the missile system.

Other Naprik components are the Palma-SU electro-optical fire control system used to control the gun, and the Lotsman TV camera used for navigation and weapon aiming.

Photo from: (Source: Yevgeniy Letunovsky)

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