A NEW PAGE IN BELARUSIAN MISSILE PRODUCTION
At the former air force exercise area Polessky, flight tests of the domestic guided surfaceto-air missile prototypes of the Buk-MB2 were carried out successfully.
This February event, without exaggeration, has become a landmark in the history of the domestic defence industry. As SAMI Minister Roman Golovchenko noted at a briefing for the national media representatives, the flight tests were the next stage in the implementation of the President’s instructions on the development of missile production in Belarus. One of the steps in this direction was the creation of a missile for the Polonez MLRS. The new development of SAMI companies is more advanced and has a deeper degree of product localisation.
SAMI companies worked on the creation of the prototype 9M318 only a few years, and this is a very short time.
The flight tests were preceded by extensive work on the ground, for example, on test benches, during simulations, calculations.
The flight tests of the 9M318 interceptor were conducted on the area on the border of the Brest and Gomel regions.
SAMI officials, OKB TSP SPLLC and the command of the Air Force and Air Defence organized and headed these tests. First Deputy Minister of SAMI Igor Demidenko carried out the general management.
There was organised control from a specially created operational post with the Bor-1M1P automated control system of the Air Force and Air Defence to ensure the management of the flight tests and the safety of airspace use.
Radar control of aircraft flights during the tests of missiles was carried out using the Vostok-D and 19Zh6M stations from units of the Air Force and Air Defence with the display of radar information to the flight test director’s control post, as well as using in the missile launch area the RLS-150 developed in OKB TSP SPLLC.
The flight tests of the first domestic 9M318 prototypes were carried out in two stages. At the first one, missile launches were carried out in order to verify the lift-off from the launcher and to conduct a guided flight of the missile (including the thrust characteristics of the engine, the functioning of on-board missile systems, the strength and aerodynamic performance of the airframe, the operation of self-destruction systems and other parameters). At the second stage, launches were carried out with the aim of bringing the missile launcher to the middle zone to check the homing head lock-on of the designated air target — an unmanned aerial vehicle of the Berkut-VM type (a new development of KB Unmanned Helicopters LLC.). Another UAV was used for objective control from the air. At this stage, the testing of the control system for the missile launch to the intended flight path was checked, as well as the guidance of the missile during the flight, the collection and relay of telemetry data to the control post.
“The positive results of the flight tests have confirmed that we are on the right way. Having created a domestic interceptor, we join the club of the so-called missile countries (and there are only a few dozen countries in the world) and become owners of unique technologies. It is an important step in ensuring the country’s security. Reliance on our own forces is the key to our security,” said Roman Golovchenko. “The 9M318 has been developed using modern technologies, taking into account world technological achieve ments in the field of missile production. We did not follow the tendency of “cloning” a standard Buk surface-to-air missile system. Now it has unique performance specifications surpassing the parameters of standard samples by a number of criteria. There is increased destruction range of air targets. The missile is equipped with an active homing head, which allows you to remove the target channel of the SAM system without waiting for the target damaging, as well as to operate beyond the radar horizon. All this makes the system more manoeuvrable and resistant to enemy massive missile attacks, and allows it to engage more targets,” he added.
“The results of long-term work, including theoretical, production and testing activities, confirmed the correctness of the chosen path. The testing purposes have been achieved,” the SAMI Minister said.
Today we can state: Belarus has its own guided surface-to-air missile, developed by specialists of OKB TSP SPLLC, which is part of State Authority for Military Industry, and manufactured at SAMI companies.
