Phakel – The place where Vietnam's sky-watching missiles are made

On the occasion of the founding anniversary of the Soviet weapons design bureau whose "products" are related to Vietnam, we would like to introduce some information about this design bureau.

Caption of 'Military Commentary' (Russia) July 2016 on the above photo by V.Kiselev /RIA Novosti: Missiles of (Design Bureau) 'Fakel': From 'Dvina' (S-75) to 'Triumph' (S-400) - Russian air defense missile complexes can shoot down everything that moves in the sky.

63 years ago, on November 20, 1953, the OKB-2 Design and Test Bureau (later renamed 'Fakel' (Torch) of the Soviet Ministry of Aviation Industry was established.

Since its inception, the Design-Test Bureau under the leadership (initially) of Academician Petr Dmitrievich Grushin (PDGrushin) mentioned above has been the leading agency in designing anti-aircraft missiles in the world. Please provide specific figures to prove the above statement:

Anti-aircraft missiles designed by “Fakel” have shot down more than 2,500 aircraft, including many types of aircraft that were once known as “invulnerable”.

But the first “unique” weapon of “Fakel” under PD Grishin was not an anti-aircraft missile (ground), but the RS-1U class “air-to-air” missiles. This was the first Soviet guided missile equipped with the MiG-17 fighter since 1956 (today exactly 60 years). Not long after that, the completed version of RS-1U, RS-2U, was put into service with the MiG-19 fighter.

At that time, this was a weapon with very high combat effectiveness (RS-1U and RS-2U) - it could destroy targets flying at a speed of 1.5 M (M - speed of sound) at an altitude of up to 15 km. The missile had a non-contact radio warhead. The guidance of the missile was carried out by the radar on board the aircraft. Each fighter carried 4 missiles of this type.

The above-mentioned direction of missile technical development (air-to-air) is quite close to PD Grushin because both before and during the Patriotic War he specialized in research, design, manufacture and organization of aircraft production.

But in the post-war period, the Soviet Union was in dire need of anti-aircraft (surface-to-air) missiles to equip its Air Defense Troops to ensure the ability to protect the Soviet Union against the threat of strategic bombers carrying nuclear weapons.

In fact, the Soviet political-military leadership realized the urgency of creating anti-aircraft missiles as early as 1950, - even when the “potential enemy” did not yet have intercontinental bombers in its arsenal.

To solve this task, the above research direction was assigned to PD Grushin himself in 1951, when the OKB-2 Design Bureau had not yet been established.

In 1951, PD Grishin was appointed deputy to Chief Designer SA Lavochkin, who was in charge of the research and design of the first Soviet guided anti-aircraft missiles. After OKB-2 was established and PD Grushin was appointed director, he continued to research and design anti-aircraft missiles at this Design Bureau.

Spy Assassin in the Sky

The anti-aircraft missile designed by PD Grushin's OKB-2 design bureau was put into service in 1957 by the Soviet Army with the designation 1D (V-750). This was the world's first guided anti-aircraft missile.

And it was the 1D (V-750) that proved it was capable of destroying all aircraft in service in the world at that time, including those with the highest ceiling, greatest speed and most maneuverability.

1D missile in the S-75 “Dvina” missile complex of the KB-1MAP design bureau (later this design bureau was divided into separate design bureaus: MKB (Moscow Design Bureau) named “Strela”, TSKB (Central Design Bureau) named “Almaz”, NPO (Scientific-Industrial Complex) named “Almaz-Antey”).

PD Grushin's missile first flew over Beijing in October 1959 and shot down a Taiwanese RB-57D spy plane.

On May 1, 1960, in the airspace of the city of Sverdlovsk - Soviet Union (now Ekaterinburg), the American U-2 spy plane, which was once considered unreachable at that time, was shot down by the "Dvina", the American pilot Gary Power parachuted, was captured alive and was tried by a Soviet court for espionage (this information is not new, but I will still quote it because it is related to OKB-2).

In 1962, another U-2 was shot down by the “Dvina” over Cuban airspace during the Caribbean crisis.

During the Vietnam War against the US Air Force, up to 60 battalions of the above-mentioned anti-aircraft guided missiles participated in the war. According to figures from various sources, these missiles shot down from 200 to 500 US aircraft. Among them were the most modern “Phantom” (Ghost) at that time and the strategic bomber “Flying Fortress” B-52.

The "Dvina" remained in service until the early 1990s. They were supplied to the armies of 45 countries around the world. Currently, the “Dvina” is still in service with the armies of 26 countries.

The reason why "Dvina" has such outstanding achievements is because first of all it has superior technical and tactical features compared to air defense missile systems of other countries in the world.

Features of the guided air defense missile “Dvina”:

Rocket type – two-stage, first stage solid fuel, second stage – liquid fuel

Length – 10,600 mm Maximum diameter -700 mm

Launch weight – 2,300 kg

Maximum target destruction distance – 29-34 km

Maximum target destruction altitude – 25-27 km

Combat type – explosive – fragmentation, weight 200 kg

There is also a nuclear-capable variant.

Ready for any situation

In fact, almost all guided anti-aircraft missiles used for Soviet (now Russian) air defense missile complexes were designed at the “Fakel” Design Bureau.

Their technical and tactical features far exceed the capabilities of any type of aircraft (i.e. the target to be destroyed) in terms of range, speed, altitude, including ballistic missiles.

The guided anti-aircraft missile for the “Osa-1T” air defense missile system of “Fakel” put into service in 2005 can intercept and shoot down targets flying at a speed of 2.5 Mach at an altitude of only 15 m, with a probability of destruction from 0.65 to 0.84. Meanwhile, this air defense missile system has up to 6 missiles.

The S-125 “Nheva” complex, designed in 1961, is capable of “handling” targets at close range and low flying. But the latest variants of the S-125 “Nheva” in the 21st century have been able to shoot down stealth targets with an effective radar reflection area of ​​​​only about 0.1 m2, which is equivalent to the reflection parameter) of aircraft designed according to “Stealth” stealth technology.

Not only that, even in the case where the above targets are flying at speeds exceeding 3M.

The above-mentioned air defense missile complex, called “Pechura-2M”, has a very high reputation all over the world. Currently, some countries are ready to buy up to 500 such complexes.

The S-200 air defense missile system, which first appeared in 1967, achieved a record for the range of destruction of targets – up to 300 km. For the latest variants, the range of destruction of targets has increased to 400 km.

The S-200 missile is 11 m long and weighs 7 tons and can reach a speed of 1,200 m/s. In the first stage, 4 solid-fuel booster engines operate at a thrust of 168 tc.

The liquid-fueled cruise jet engine is then started. The missile is guided to its target by radar waves.

The missile's warhead is of the fragmentation type. Warhead weight – 220 kg, of which 80 kg is explosive, the rest is 37,000 fragments of lethal elements.

The opponent no longer has any chance.

A very important feature of the air defense missile systems created by Fakel in cooperation with the Almaz Design Bureau is that they are constantly modernized. Since 2002, when the Fakel Design Bureau merged with the Almaz-Antey Corporation, the cooperation has become even closer. Thanks to this, many new missile systems (still with the same name) with new features meeting modern requirements have appeared one after another.

For example, the S-300 air defense missile system, which entered service in 1974, had completely new features. Today, the S-300 is truly an air defense weapon against massive air attacks not only from aircraft, but also from ballistic missiles.

In fact, the S-300 is not just an air defense complex, but a unified air defense missile system with S-300 battalions with a common information field, controlled by a unified "nervous" system.

During the modernization of the S-300PM-2 air defense system, Russian engineers designed a new version, the long-range S-400 “Triumph”. This system can detect any flying target at a distance of 600 km and identify the target using different modules of the radar station.

At a radius of 400 km, the S-400 can destroy all existing and future means of air attack: reconnaissance aircraft, aircraft of strategic and tactical air forces, tactical missiles, operational-tactical missiles, medium-range ballistic missiles, targets with supersonic flight speed. Each “Triumph” air defense missile system ensures simultaneous attack of up to 36 targets with 72 missiles.

This air defense system is equipped with 7 different types of missiles designed by “Fakel”, including: 48N6E, 48N6E2, 48N6DM, 48N6E3, 9M96E, 9M96E2.

Not long ago, “Fakel” tested the 40N6E super-long-range missile with a range of 400 km and a firing altitude of up to 185 km. The 40N6E missile can destroy ballistic missiles at any phase of their flight trajectory.

Many military experts commented that the technical and tactical features of the most modern American air defense missile complex “Patriot” are inferior to similar features even of the S-300, not to mention the S-400. If “Triumph” can destroy targets flying at an altitude of 5 m, then for “Patriot” the minimum altitude of the target that “Patriot” can shoot down is 60 m.

The actual target destruction distance of “Patriot” – 20 km, although according to published data – 100 km. But if attacking the target at such a distance (100 km), the probability of destruction of “Patriot” is only < 0.2.

In 1991, Saddam Hussein used the “Draran-1” missile (equivalent to the Soviet R-11 designed in the 50s) to attack Saudi Arabian cities. Although at that time there were no false targets, no radio interference, 158 “Patriot” anti-aircraft missiles only shot down 45 Iraqi missiles.

According to Baodatviet