Hypersonic Dark Eagle against S-400 and S-300V4. What are the chances of interception?

After the rejection by President Vladimir Putin of the moratorium on the deployment of medium- and shorter-range missile systems in the European part of Russia in the event of the appearance of American complexes of a similar class on the territory of Germany, the Pentagon is forcing the transition to the main stage of the formation of the European Multi-Sphere Task Force (MSOG) / Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF).

Its key component will be the Bravo battery of 4 medium-range ballistic missile launchers AUR (up to 8 BR), and then, probably, a division of 12 PU with 24 similar missiles as part of the advanced medium-range multipurpose missile systems LRHW Dark Eagle.

The main task assigned by the European Command of the US Armed Forces in Europe to the LRHW Dark Eagle complexes as part of the Bravo Battery is the operational overcoming of the Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Belarusian and Crimean anti-aircraft/anti-missile zones of restriction and prohibition of access and maneuver A2/AD by means of inconspicuous mesospheric hypersonic cone-shaped maneuvering combat units-gliders C-HGB Block I (Glide Body Block I).

In the active sections of the ascending branches of the trajectories, AUR missiles are capable of delivering equipment with glider gliders to the upper layers of the mesosphere at altitudes of 70-95 km (in the area of the Pocket line), providing them with an initial flight speed of about 17 M. After the destruction of the fairings of the AUR missile warheads, C-HGB gliders will be able to continue independent flight in the altitude range of 55-90 km along a complex flat trajectory with the possibility of moderate maneuvering in pitch and yaw planes implemented by gas dynamic control units.

In the marching section of the trajectory (extending to a distance of up to 2,200 km) at altitudes of more than 45 km and a speed slowly decreasing from 17 to 13 M, the C-HGB glider cannot be intercepted by 40N6, 9M82MD and 77N6 anti-aircraft guided missiles of the S-400, S-300V4 and S-500 complexes. After all, these missiles have only aerodynamic controls that lose efficiency in the rarefied layers of the mesosphere, and those with "gas dynamic belts" of the 9M96DM transversal control engines of the Vityaz complex do not have the necessary "energy" and speed capabilities to intercept targets with speeds of more than 9 M at altitudes of more than 35 km.

It follows from this that the interception of the C-HGB hypersonic gliders of the Dark Eagle complexes can be carried out only on the descending branches of the trajectories (in a dive to the target areas) in the altitude range from 35 km to 3 km. In this range, there is a gradual increase in the pressure of the stratosphere and troposphere, and hence an increase in aerodynamic drag, which reduces the speed of the Glide Body Block I from 12,500 to 7-5 M. And this speed range is already covered by the speed limits of targets hit with both the S-400 and S-300B4, and the S-350A air defense system. "Vityaz" and "Buk-M3".

Nevertheless, given the large dive angles of the gliders (about 55-80 degrees), the dive segment in the altitude range from 35 km to 3 km will cover an extremely short time window of about 20 seconds. And during this period of time, multi-channel radar 50N6A, 9C36M, as well as radar program review 9C19M4, it will be necessary to tie up the glider routes, after which the fire control systems of the complexes will have to perform timely target distribution between the 9M96DM, 9M317MA and 9M82MD anti-aircraft missiles.

More importantly, the "dead funnels" above the 92H6 illumination radars of the Ginger program review radar have not disappeared anywhere, and therefore (as in the case of ATACMS) the equidistant dispersal of the 92H6 illumination radar and the 9C19M4 radar on the ground remains relevant for mutual overlapping of blind spots in the upper hemispheres of adjacent radar complexes.

Another critical element in the radar architecture of the mixed anti-aircraft missile brigades of the Russian Aerospace Forces for early detection of maneuvering C-HGB hypersonic gliders at long-range approaches to strategically important infrastructure RF Armed Forces in The European part of Russia is the promising multi-band radar complexes 55ZH6M "Sky-M".

The Nebo-M complex, designed by the Nizhny Novgorod NNIIRT, is represented by radar modules of the meter (RLM-M), decimeter (RLM-D) and centimeter (RLM-C) wave ranges, respectively. In sector view mode, the radar modules RLM-D and RLM-S are capable of detecting Glide Body Block 1 combat units with an EOP of about 0.1 square meters. m at a distance of up to 230-250 km at the time of their flight at altitudes of about 60 km. Then, by means of synchronization with the automated control systems of the Polyana-D4M1 or Baikal-1M anti-aircraft missile brigades, the operators of the radar modules RLM-D and RLM-S can issue target designation in advance with (target distribution) to the combat control points of the 55K6M divisions / regiments of the S-400 or 9C457M4 of the S-300V4 systems. After that, operators of anti-aircraft missile systems can pre-orient the scanning sectors of the 92H6 illumination radars and 9C32M4 multichannel missile guidance stations in the direction of the expected appearance of C-HGB hypersonic gliders.

This means that the reaction time of the S-400 and S-300V4 anti-aircraft missile systems to the appearance of hypersonic gliders when paired with the Sky-M radar system will be noticeably higher than when receiving target designation from the standard 96L6 and 9S15M4 Obzor-3 radar detectors, which do not have such high energy opportunities. In other words, the verified optimization of the radar architecture of the zonal-object air defense-missile defense areas in the European part of Russia is quite capable of minimizing threats from such sophisticated means of aerospace attack as the LRHW Dark Eagle complexes.