Chapter 563 R-33M Missile
The Soviet Union has a tireless pursuit of range, pursuing longer range, faster speed, and greater power! And these are reflected in the Soviet Union's high-altitude killer MiG-31. The MiG-31, which was improved on the basis of the MiG-25, realized many of the Soviet Union's national air defense ideals. In combat, the MiG-31 is even more of an air killer. They are the kings in the sky!
However, the missiles equipped for the MiG-31 still could not satisfy the Soviet protectors. The latest R-33 missiles, when using a specially designed projectile trajectory, could achieve a range of 200 kilometers. However, for the American early warning aircraft, this was still not enough! There must be missiles that could reach 300 kilometers, or even 400 kilometers!
In later generations, the research and development of this missile continued, but when the missile matured, the powerful empire was gone, and the MiG-31, with its powerful combat capability, could only be lonely for life, and never used in actual combat. The matching ultra-long-range R-37 missile was also born at the wrong time, and the hero died.
But now it is different. As Andrei came from the National Air Defense Force, he is very concerned about the construction of the air force, especially he once used the MiG-31 to snipe the US early warning aircraft, and he constantly put forward new requirements for this set of tactics.
Therefore, just after the R-33 missile was finalized and put into service, its modified version, the R-33M, also entered rapid research and development. Although its performance had surpassed the later R-37, it still did not have a new number. Instead, an M was added to the end to represent the modified version, which was completely intended to fool the Americans.
Compared with the prototype, the important improvement of this missile is that the rocket engine is converted into a ramjet engine!
Compared with solid rocket engines, the biggest advantage of ramjet engines is that they do not need to carry oxidizers, but can use oxygen in the air. This way, the entire weight can be used to carry fuel, which naturally increases the range. Moreover, ramjet engines have a simple structure and do not require equipment such as compressors and turbine blades. They can be simplified to just a combustion chamber.
Therefore, after adopting the ramjet engine, the range of the missile will be greatly increased. Without changing the length and weight of the missile, by switching to the ramjet engine, the range of the R-33M missile will exceed 300 kilometers when using a high-altitude trajectory!
300 kilometers is a critical value. Although the US E-3 early warning aircraft claims to have a scanning range of 600 kilometers, in complex air situations, such as now, with hundreds of aircraft to command, they will definitely not take into account all targets in the 600-kilometer radius airspace at the same time. For non-key directions, a distance of 300 kilometers is good! In this case, the Americans will not notice their own fighters carrying missiles coming over, they can only detect the incoming missiles!
Another advantage of the ramjet engine is its speed! The speed can reach Mach 3 in the middle and even Mach 5 at the end, which makes it impossible for the Americans to defend against it!
The Soviet Union had the technology to develop ramjet engines for missiles. For example, the SAM-6 missile used a rocket-ramjet engine. Because it was launched from the ground, and ramjet engines can only work at speeds exceeding Mach 2, a rocket engine must be used to increase the speed first. In the air, the solid rocket is not needed, and the carrier aircraft can provide enough speed to meet the working requirements of the ramjet engine.
"A 300-kilometer missile? This way it can hunt down American early warning aircraft!" Air Force Commander Abid's expression instantly eased. He was a little excited. He could already think of the overwhelming advantages of using this missile.
"But how does our radar guide us? Even though our MiG-25 has been equipped with a new radar, its maximum range is only 200 kilometers!" Abid frowned again.
Guidance! Why are there no ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles? Because there is no aircraft-borne radar to guide! You know, although the Soviet Union has mastered the technology of flat-plate slot radar, which can greatly improve the radiation efficiency of radar antennas, and the MiG-25 has a large nose and the largest radar antenna area, even so, in long-range mode, that is, all radar beams are gathered together, the distance is only 200 kilometers. If the tracking and scanning method is adopted, it is only 100 kilometers.
If there is a missile with a range of 300 kilometers, but no radar guidance, the missile cannot hit the target! In fact, when this missile was developed, it was assigned to the MiG-31 interceptor. The MiG-31 uses a modified phased array radar. When the beams are converged together, it can barely reach a distance of 300 kilometers.
Now, Iraq only has the MiG-25! No matter how abnormal this fighter is, it cannot guide a missile 300 kilometers away.
"Don't worry. This batch of missiles we have uses active radar seekers. All we need to do is aim our carrier aircraft at the target and shoot in mad dog mode." Andre said.
Mad Dog Mode! This is a unique mode for active air-to-air missiles. It only specifies a specific airspace for the missile, but not a specific target. When the missile flies to the range where its radar can work, it turns on the radar, searches for the target that appears in its field of vision, and then locks on to attack. In this process, it cannot distinguish between friend and foe, so this mode is called Mad Dog Mode!
This is also something that only actively guided missiles can have! Andrei was very proud in his heart. At the beginning, under his strong suggestion, the Soviet Union sent out troops to occupy the island country. Although it risked triggering a world war, it now seems that the dividends of the war are sufficient. The biggest benefit is that it has greatly improved the level of Soviet electronic technology! In later generations, even after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia could not make flat slot radar antennas due to processing accuracy issues. Now, relying on the advanced industrial technology of the island country, the Soviet Union has mastered these equipment, and the core of this active seeker is the flat slot radar antenna at the front end of the missile! Thinking of the feces-shaped spiral antenna after disassembling the imported Russian missiles in later generations, I don’t know how many times it has improved! (Don’t complain, it’s just a metaphor.)
Part of the inspiration for this seeker came from disassembling the US Phoenix missile. At the same time, it also has a way to attack radiation sources, making it most suitable for attacking US electronic warfare aircraft!
"However, in order to achieve the best effect, we still need the command of the early warning aircraft. Therefore, I have mobilized an early warning aircraft from the Turkestan Military Region. It will fly over the eastern Persian Gulf and provide command for our sneak attack formation." Andre said.