Recently, the British destroyer "Defender" invaded Russia's territorial waters on the Crimean Peninsula, and after verbal warnings and shooting warnings were fruitless, the Russian army took off a Su-24 emergency and dropped four OFAB250 high-explosive fragments into the sea in front of the "Defender".
An anatomy of the anglo-Russian confrontation
The "Defender" destroyer is the fifth type 45 destroyer, with a full load displacement of 7350 tons, like its own Queen-class aircraft carrier, the "Defender" also adopts a very personalized brig shape, the front mast top spherical cover is equipped with the "Sampson" active phased array radar, its detection distance reaches 400 kilometers, can track 1000 air targets, and is in a prominent position nearly 40 meters above the waterline, condescending, excellent detection performance of low-altitude targets. The rear mast is slightly lower, equipped with the S-1850M rotary three-coordinate air-to-air search radar, which has a search range of 420 kilometers and can detect stealth aircraft at a distance of about 65 kilometers. As Sampson's auxiliary radar, the S-1850M is responsible for long-range air-to-air search and plane surveillance. The defender's two radars can effectively detect targets over almost the entire Crimea.
The twin-masted shape of the Type 45 destroyer
The Sampson radar antenna inside the spherical hood performs mechanical scanning at a speed of 30 rpm, and the data rate is not high
The Defender's 48-unit Silva vertical launcher can be mixed with Astor 15 short-range anti-aircraft missiles and Astor 30 medium-range anti-aircraft missiles, with a maximum range of 40 km, an altitude of 13,000 meters and a maximum speed of Mach 3.5. The Astor 30 has a maximum range of 120 km, a height of 20,000 m and a maximum speed of Mach 4.5.
In fact, astro 30 just added another rocket booster after Astor 15. In addition to the traditional aerodynamic rudder surface control, these two missiles also use thrust vector control technology, but instead of a gas rudder, they use a small attitude control engine, which can generate a reaction force through lateral propulsion in the most critical interception stage at the end of the ballistic trajectory, pushing the projectile body to crash into the target, with strong maneuverability. Even if the target dodges violently at an acceleration of 15G, it is difficult to escape the hit of the Astor missile. As long as the Astor missile is locked, let alone the Su-24M, even the Su-30SM is also a dish.
The aircraft carrier CHARLES DE Gaulle test-fired the Astor missile
The Russian Su-24 was a two-seat, twin-engine, swept-wing fighter-bomber that had been installed since 1974. With a length of 21.7 meters, a wingspan of 10.8 to 18 meters, and a maximum takeoff weight of 39,700 kg, it was the first Soviet aircraft equipped with a computer bombing and aiming system. The Su-24 was preferentially deployed in western Russia, the Baltic Sea and Ukraine, from here, it could cover West Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia, and could threaten NATO's military points, taking on the heavy responsibility of the Soviet Union's tactical nuclear strikes against NATO's deep European targets during the Cold War, with thousands of aircraft in service, most of which are still in service with the Russian Air Force, and are all modified M-models. Ukraine also originally had six Su-24s, but just before the country was about to be established, the planes were urgently transferred back to Russia.
Su 24 in the bomb dropped
As a fighter-bomber that has been in service for more than 30 years, the Su-24 has poor mobility, backward electronic equipment, and low survivability in the face of advanced destroyers such as the Defender, but there is also a Su-30SM to escort it.
The Su-30SM uses a three-wing design and AN-31FP thrust vectoring engine, equipped with an advanced N011M "Snow Leopard" R passive phased array radar, and the comprehensive performance is no less than that of the F35. The Su-30SM is mainly responsible for providing air cover for the Su-24M, which is responsible for dropping bombs, and once it is found that the enemy's fire control radar emits a dense beam for tracking and locking, the Su-30SM will launch a pre-emptive strike against the "Defender". And the British destroyer trespassed into crimean territorial waters, has been within the range of russian shore-based anti-ship missiles and even ground artillery fire, once it makes a rash move, it will be difficult to escape the fate of saturation strikes. Therefore, although the Defender had an advanced air defense system, it never dared to open fire. Su-30SM also has a mission, that is, to take photos and collect evidence, and to grasp the ironclad evidence of British warships invading Russian territorial waters.
Russian Su-30SM fighter
The "Defender" photographed by su 30SM
As for the OFAB-250 dropped by the Su-24, it is an old bomb, OFAB is an abbreviation for "high-resistance aerial bomb", and the 250 represents the weight of the bomb at 250 kg. The biggest feature of this bomb is that the warhead is blunt and the resistance is very large. The warhead part also has a prominent "ballistic ring" used to increase the resistance, so that the bomb falls in a warhead downward posture after being dropped, in order to improve the accuracy of the bombing and reduce the jumping bullet. This bomb has low technical content and low cost. The "Defender" did not dare to hit the plane, intercepted the bomb thrown at its head or dared, there were 2 "dense array" close defense weapon systems on both sides of the middle of its hull, and it was no problem to intercept the old free-fall bomb of OFAB250.
OFAB250 aerial bomb
Russia has deployed 90,000 troops in Crimea, when the British aircraft carrier "Queen" is moored in Cyprus, its carrier-based aircraft are ready to provide support, and Britain's close ally, the United States, has a large number of bases in the Middle East. Therefore, there is a huge lineup behind both, and there are more nuclear deterrents in the formation. The Defender and su-24M are like rubbing the edge ball, and the result of the Cuban Missile Crisis will not be the same, pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Therefore, they all had to be cautious, such as walking on thin ice, Russia warned three times, the "Defender" in addition to breaking into the territorial territory, do not dare to act rashly, immediately after the Soviet 24M bomb immediately fled the scene, the two sides do not break the "small cold war" will continue.