Fully deployed 72V6 SPAAGM prototype on BAZ-6909 chassis. This variant incorporates a new VNIIRT designed 1RS2-1E agile beam phased array engagement radar. The primary design aim for this system was the interception of PGMs, especially the AGM-88 HARM and GBUs (Sergei Kuznetsov via Strizhi.ru).
2S6M Tunguska M at the Berezina 2002 exercise. Most of the Soviet inventory of these capable SPAAGMs ended up in the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarus Army inventories. The most notable export client has been India (© Miroslav Gyűrösi).
Background
The 2K22 Tunguska / 96K6 Pantsir / SA-19 Grison / SA-22 Greyhound family of SPAAGMs owes its earliest origins to a 1970 directive for the replacement of the ubiquitous ZSU-23-4P SPAAG. The ZSU-23-4P was considered both lethal and effective by its Western opponents, but Soviet analysts were unimpressed with the lethality and the engagement envelope of the 23 mm weapons. Analysis indicated that a 30 mm gun would be much more lethal. Soviet operational analysis also indicated that the performance of the acquisition radar on the SPAAG was critical to combat effectiveness. The defeat of anti-tank helicopters in pop-up engagement geometries became an additional requirement after the 1972 debut of these weapons in Vietnam. Trials of the prototype 2S6 / 2K22 Tunguska SPAAGM commenced in 1980. The prototypes introduced several innovations, including a 30 mm gun derivative aircraft cannon, the 9K311 missile and a digital computer for controlling the system.
The earliest production variant, the 2K22 / 2S6 Tunguska / SA-19 Grison, achieved IOC in 1982.
The immediate operational imperative for the PVO-SV was to defeat the then new A-10A Thunderbolt, and US Army helicopters firing anti-armour missiles, such as the TOW equipped AH-1S and Hellfire equipped AH-64A Apache. From the Soviet perspective, both of these threats would pop up briefly above the radar/visual horizon, fire at Soviet tanks or SPAAGs, and then disappear below the horizon before the ZSU-23-4P or 9K33 Osa / SA-8 systems could respond with defensive weapon fire.
The Soviets needed a weapon system which could win in a ‘high noon’ shootout with the A-10 or a nap-of-ther-earth pop-up rotary wing threat. This drove the design requirements for the Tunguska, and led to the development of the high speed 9M311 SAM, intended to cross the distance between the Tunguska and the target before the latter could hide below the horizon line. This capability would be supplemented by a 30 mm gun system, the Soviets clearly coveting the BundesWehr’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann FLAKPanzer Gepard SPAAG.
The missile requirement led to the unusual two stage 9M311 design, in which the first stage boosted the round to 900 m/s at burnout, the sustainer in the terminal stage burning to impact and maintaining a 600 m/s velocity. The missile employs command link guidance, with an automatic Command to Line Of Sight (CLOS) control loop for the terminal phase to impact, with an 18G capability. The engagement radar component of the 1RL144M Hot Shot system is claimed to operate in the millimetric band, using jam resistant monopulse angle tracking; a 1A29M optical sight is boresighted with the radar. A 1RL138 IFF system is included. Conceptually the 2S6 missile package has its closest Western equivalents in the Franco-German Roland system, and the UK Rapier Blindfire and Seawold systems.
The gun requirement led to the adaptation of the 30 mm GSh-30 aircraft cannon, carried by Russian fighters: the 2A38 series liquid cooled 30 mm gun delivers a rate of fire of 1950-2500 rds/min, a muzzle velocity of 960 m/s, using the 2A42 cartridge and 0.39 kg projectile.
The initial 1982 2K22 2S6 Tunguska variant was superceded by the 2K22M/2S6M Tunguska M in 1990, and the 2K22M1/2S6M1 Tunguska M1 in 2003. The product line has been further developed as the Pantsir S, primarily in a road mobile configuration.
The 9M113-M1 SAM has a higher impulse booster, and radio rather than laser fusing to improve effect against cruise missiles and Precision Guided Munitions. Defeating the latter has become one of the primary requirements for late variants of the 2S6 and the newer Pantsir S/S1 series.
Early configuration 2S6M1 Tunguska M1 system, note the Hot Shot radar system with the paraboloid section search antenna and gimballed monopulse tracking antenna (© Miroslav Gyűrösi).
Late configuration 2S6M1 Tunguska M1 (Said Aminov, Vestnik PVO).
Tunguska batteries are typically deployed with the PU-12M, PPRU-1M or Ranzhir series of battery command posts.
The operational requirement for the weapon system which became the 96K6 Pantsir system was fundamentally different to that defined by the PVO-SV for the 2K22 / 2S6 Tunguska – the PVO required a point defence weapon system to protect its S-300P / SA-10A/B Grumble fixed and self-propelled SAM batteries from attack by defence suppression aircraft, and to protect airfields and other critical strategic or industrial facilities from massed guided weapon attack. Development was launched in 1990, the intent being an adaptation of the PVO-SV system for carriage on a wheeled vehicle compatible with the transit speeds of the PVO’s S-300P / SA-10A/B Grumble missile batteries.
This new V-PVO operational requirement partly arose due to the different regime in which the new S-300PS/PM / SA-10/20 batteries were deployed, as these replaced the semi-mobile S-25 / SA-1 Guild, S-75 / SA2 Guideline, and the S-200 / SA-5 Gammon. All of these legacy systems were built for redeployment, but mostly operated as static batteries, more than often from well hardened sites with bunkers and revetments for most battery components. The move to “shoot and scoot” operations improved survivability of the S-300P series batteries by reducing opportunities for attacking aircraft to target the site, but once found, the highly mobile SAM battery was usually well exposed and thus susceptible to attack by smart munitions. The use of hardened static sites was not possible for Army PVO-SV systems, which by then had evolved a large number of highly mobile point defence weapons to protect their longer ranging SAM batteries. The evolution of the Tunguska into the Pantsir thus reflects the convergence of the V-PVO SAM battery deployment regime with that of the PVO-SV’s SAM regiments.
The effectiveness of the US AGM-88 HARM and UK ALARM in 1991, deployed against Iraq’s legacy Soviet PVO SAM systems added urgency to the requirement. Iraq’s SAM batteries collapsed in the first few days of Desert Storm under a rain of anti-radiation missiles, which destroyed their engagement radars without hindrance. If the anti-radiation missile armed fighter could get close enough to take a shot, the SAM battery was likely to be lost.
Early Pantsir S1 / SA-22 demonstrator on the 8 x 8 Ural-5323.4 vehicle. Note the configuration of the search and engagement radar antennas. This design used the earlier 9M335 missile round and the 1L36-1 Roman engagement radar (KBP).
Above: Detail of Pantsir S demonstrator turret, showing the dual band Phazotron 1L36 Roman engagement radar and early Russian designed electro-optical suite, early 9M335 missile launchers and early 30 mm guns (image © Miroslav Gyűrösi); Below: detail of 9M335 missile launch tubes and 30 mm gun (via Russkaya Sila).
The production Pantsir S1 configuration at MAKS-2007, carried by an 8 x 8 KAMAZ-6560 chassis
The tracked chassis used with the 2S6 Tunguska was not well suited to V-PVO needs, as it had a slower road speed than the wheeled S-300P SAM systems, was less reliable and more expensive to maintain than a wheeled system, and the chassis dimensions limited the number of ready rounds and reloads, and carried 30 mm gun ammunition. The light tank style of tracked chassis was well hardened, in excess of V-PVO needs, being built for a battlefield environment. The V-PVO needed a design with more firepower, faster transit speeds to permit co-deployment with S-300P series SAM batteries, and a low procurement and operating cost. This dictated a wheeled host vehicle, much larger than the light tank sized tracked chassis of 2S6 Tunguska series, and new turret design to accommodate more launch tubes and newer and larger radar equipment.
The first prototype of the Pantsir S was displayed in 1995, using an enlarged derivative of the Tunguska’s 9K311 missile, the 9K335. Twelve of these missiles were carried in elevating launch tubes. A pair of liquid cooled 2A72 30 mm guns were used, the 2A72 providing 300 – 450 rds/min, with a 970 m/s muzzle velocity and an effective range of 3,000 – 4,000 metres.
The Pantsir S system was equipped with the NIIR Phazotron 1L36-01 Roman / Hot Shot which used an S-band search component with a folding paraboloid section antenna, and a dual band X/MMW band engagement component, under a characteristic conical radome. Performance requirements included tracking 0.1 m2 targets at 15 km range. Typically two targets could be concurrently engaged using the radar, and two using the adjunct electro-optical tracking system. This radar package was later supplanted by the dual band 1RS-2E Shlem, which remains on offer for some variants.
The system ran into development problems, and limitations such as the inability to fire while on the move were considered unacceptable, resulting in a collapse of funding during this period. KBP continued experimenting with the design, using company funding.
The result of this was a deep redesign of the Pantsir S, discarding more of the legacy components and features inherited from the 2S6 series. In particular, the radar package was completely revised, and the turret redesigned.
VNIIRT were engaged to develop a new PESA technology acquisition radar, the 2L80/2L80E, using a mechanically rotated 1776×940 mm sized 760 kg passive phased array.
During the 2005-2006 period, KBP shifted development effort to a new passive phased array design engagement radar, with the capability to track multiple targets and missiles concurrently.
Several chassis were trialled during the development of the 96K6 Pantsir S1 system. Initially the 8 x 8 Ural-5323.4 was used, powered by a 260 SHP KAMAZ-7406 engine, then the 8 x 8 MZKT-7930 was trialled, with the KAMAZ-6530 used for production systems in Russian, and an EU supplied MAN chassis used for systems supplied to the United Arab Emirates. the GM-352 tracked series, common to the Tunguska, remains on offer, but using a reduced missile loadout.
Production Pantsir S1 systems combine the liquid cooled 2A38M 30 mm automatic cannon system with the high velocity 57E6E two stage CLOS missile, based on the Tunguska’s 9M311 series. The revised gun design delivers a rate of fire of 1950-2500 rds / min, with a muzzle velocity of 960 metres/s, and the turret magazine capacity was increased to 1400 rounds.
The 57E6E series SAM is unusual in it class as it is a two stage weapon, designed for exceptionally high acceleration to effect snapshots against fleeting targets such as helicopters. Compared to the earlier 9M311 variants, the higher impulse booster stage pushes the second stage to 1,100 m/s. KBP are marketing the system as a capability to engage and destroy the full spectrum of airborne targets, comprising aircraft, UAVs, cruise missiles, precision guided weapons, ballistic missiles and soft skinned surface targets.
KBP define the basic capabilities of the Pantsir series thus (cite):
- High jamming immunity in intensive ECM environment;
- High survivability in massive employment of HARM-type antiradar missiles;
- A capability of destroying high precision weapons, such as Tomahawk cruise missile, Walleye 2 guided air bomb, Maverick guided missile etc;
- A capability of engaging fixed- and rotary- wing aircraft, RPVs, etc.;
- Effectiveness at any time of night and day, in good and adverse weather;
- High mobility, specifically for protecting motorized and armor units;
- High availability and reliability.
The Pantsir S introduced a 12 round missile capability, a thermal imaging system to complement the optical tracker, and revised engagement radar component.
The Pantsir S1 series has been primarily marketed in the road mobile configuration, which is less costly to acquire and maintain, and trades away off-road mobility for much higher 90 km/h road speed.
The Pantsir S1 introduces a number of important improvements over the baseline Pantsir S. The new 57E6 missile replaces the established 9M331 series, this weapon provides 20 km range, 70% more than the 9M331M1, a significantly higher maximum target altitude, challenging many area defence missiles, a larger 20 kg warhead, and more thrust to accelerate the missile to 1,300 m/s in 2 seconds.
The layout of the current Pantsir S1 wheeled configuration is highly modular. The weapon system is packaged in a standard 10 tonne container, with three crew stations in the front module, followed by an ECS module, the turret module, with the power generation package in the aft module. The turret cavity contains the 1,400 round magazine for the guns, weapon system computers, mission recorders and other hardware.
96K6 Pantsir S1 power generator module (KBP).
An opto-electronic search and tracking function is provided, in the midwave and shortwave infrared bands. The missiles can be alternately tracked by the engagement radar or the OE system. A digital datalink is provide to permit networking of multiple Pantsir S1 systems in a battery.
Early configuration of operator stations using CRT displays.
Crew stations in the recent Pantsir S1E hosted on the GM-352M1E chassis (image © Miroslav Gyűrösi).
Engagement and Acquisition Radars
The development of the Pantsir S/S1 saw the introduction, initially, of a search radar with a doubly curved parabolic surface and eliptical shape. This was supplanted in production variants with a VNIIRT developed phased array. The latter design has since appeared on 2K22M1 Tunguska M1 demonstrators, as well as tracked and wheeled 96K6 Pantsir S1 demonstrators and production systems.
The VNIIRT developed PESA technology acquisition radar on the Pantsir S1, the 2RL80/2RL80E, uses a mechanically rotated 1776 x 940 mm sized 760 kg passive S-band phased array. The design provides elevation coverage between 0° and 60°, range coverage between 1 and 50 km, and performs a circular scan in 2 or 4 seconds. The radar can initiate tracking in 2 seconds. Cited detection range performance for a 1 m2 target is 47 km, for a 0.1 m2 target is 26 km. Cited clutter rejection is 55 dB. Accuracy figures cited are 50 metres in range, 15 – 18 min of arc in azimuth, and 25 – 30 min of arc in elevation.
Elevation coverage is selectable in increments of 0° – 60°, 0° – 30°, 40° – 80° and 0 – 25°, and the radar can search a 360° circle at 15 or 30 RPM. Range coverage can be selected in several modes, at 1-30 km, 1-50 km, 1-25 km and 3-80 km.
Acquisition performance for various target types has also been cited, with notable inconsistencies:
- 36 km for a small fighter with a 2 m2 RCS;
- 20 km for a manoeuvring cruise missile with a 0.1 m2 RCS;
- 16 km for a glidebomb with a 0.2 m2 RCS;
- 12 km for an AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile with a 0.1 m2 RCS;
- 32 km for an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
The evolution of engagement radars in the Pantsir series has seen three distinct designs.
Early Pantsir S1 demonstrators initially used an MMW band monopulse tracking antenna, with a characteristic conical radome, with the Russians claiming two discrete Phazotron designs in this configuration, the 1L36-01 Roman and later 1RS2-E Shlem.
This pulse Doppler radar is designated the 1RS2/1RS2-E Shlem or SSTsR (Stantsiya Slezheniya Tsel’a i Rakety – Target and Missile Tracking Station), initially designated the 1RS1 and 1RS1-E for export. Cited tracking range performance for a 2 m2 target is 30 km. Cited RMS angular errors for X-band operation are 0.3-0.8 milliradians, for Ku-band operation 0.2-0.4 milliradians, with a 5 metre range error.
The X-band component of the SSTsR is used for target tracking, and uplink of missile steering commands., the Ku-band component for target and missile beacon tracking. The system typically guides one or two missile rounds against a single target.
This design has since appeared on the 2K22M1 Tunguska M1 demonstrators, various repackaged Pantsir variants on smaller chassis, usually with the 2RL80E acquisition radar.
In 2004 the requirement for the PVO engagement radar changed, when it was expected that the program would be cancelled. A new requirement was issued to increase the number of concurrent targets to be tracked and engaged, and engagement range was increased. This likely reflects the success of the US GBU-31/32/35/38 JDAM and emergence of analogues globally, where more than two weapons would be released from an aircraft concurrently. With the GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb intended to be released eight at a time, the Roman and Shlem would be saturated in a single aircraft attack.
This resulted in the development of an entirely new PESA based radar, curiously designated the 1RS2-1 / 1RS2-1E, but also incorrectly labelled by a Russian source as the 1RL123-E. VNIIRT has been credited with the development of this design. To date all imagery has excluded views of the PESA antenna without the protective radome, so the following description is based on recent public disclosures and is yet to be validated [1][2]:
- Operating centre wavelength claimed by KBP to be “8 mm in the K-band” – antenna geometry suggests 15 mm (20 GHz) to 18 mm (16.7 GHz);
- Beamsteering angles of up to ±45° of arc;
- Mechanical PESA boresight steering in elevation between -5° and 82°;
- Track while scan of nine separate targets;
- 90% probability of initial target acquisition within 1 second of coordinate transfer from the 2RL80 with errors of ±2.5° in azimuth, ±2.5° in elevation, ±200 m in range and ±60 metres / sec in radial velocity;
- Tracking errors of 0.2 milliradians in azimuth, 0.3 milliradians in elevation, 5 metres in range and 2 metres / sec in velocity;
- Ability to track airborne targets at velocities between 10 to 1,100 metres / sec;
- Ability to capture 4 missiles after launch;
- Ability to track 3 to 4 outbound missiles at velocities between 30 to 2,100 metres / sec;
- Detection range of 24 km against a 2.0 m2 RCS airborne target; 21 km against a 1 m2 RCS airborne target; 16 km against a 0.5 m2 RCS airborne target; 10 km against a 0.1 m2 RCS airborne target; 7 km against a 0.03 m2 RCS airborne target;
High countermeasures resistance is claimed for the 1RS2-1 and 2RL80, but not detailed beyond the standard descriptions found in brochures.
The primary antenna is used for target and missile tracking, it is supplemented by a command link antenna which is part of the APKNR (Apparatura Peredachi Komand i Naprovadzaniya Raket) subsystem for datalink control of the missiles.
Optical Sensors
Early variants of the Tunguska series introduced an electroptical tracker to provide silent angle tracking in jamming environments. The electro-optical tracking system includes a longwave (8 – 14 μm band) thermal imager for target acquisition and tracking, and a dual band short (3 – 5 μm) / midwave (0.6 -1.1. μm) IR tracker for angular measurement of the missile beacon.
In the Pantsir S1 the AOP (Avtonomniy Opticheskiy Post) is cued by the radar system, and provides angle tracking of the target and missiles. The cited system specifications are [1][2]:
- Azimuth coverage of ± 90 °;
- Elevation coverage from -5 ° to 82°;
- Angular tracking rate of 100° / sec;
- Angular acceleration of 170° / sec;
- French Sagem MATIS LR midwave thermal imager with WFOV of 4.17° x 6.25°, and NFOV of 0.87° x 1.3°, with a 0.05 mrad angular track error;
- Acquisition performance: F-16 at 17 to 26 km; AGM-88 HARM at 13 to 15 km; cruise missiles at 11 to 14 km, and glidebombs at ~10 km;
The infrared missile flare tracker operates in the 0.77-0.91 μm band, with a WFOV mode of ± 2.5° in azimuth and -1° to 4° in elevation, and an NFOV of is ± 0.4° in azimuth and -0.3° to 0.6° in elevation. The system can track a laser spot with an error of 2 milliradians.
9M311 and 57E6 Surface to Air Missiles and 2A38 Gun
The 2K22 / 96K6 / SA-19 / SA-22 systems use variants of one basic missile and one basic gun design.
The missile designs are all derivatives of the two stage command link guided 9M311 weapon. This is a 42 kg launch weight missile, with a low smoke motor intended to avoid problems with optical/infrared tracking of targets and laser rangefinding. The second terminal kill stage is unpowered and relies on kinetic energy imparted by the boost stage, the design strategy intended to minimise the dead weight and drag of the kill stage. Average missile speed is cited at 600 m/s (~Mach 2), and the weapon has a cited capability to engage targets manoevring at 5-7G, although this is not consistent with the cited 18G capability of the missile.
Early variants of the missile use a laser proximity fuse, later variants a radio proximity fuse, with a blast fragmentation warhead. The fuse is triggered ~5 metres from the target. An impact fuse is also provided, with the proximity fuse disabled for shots against surface targets.
The principal differences between the production 57E6 missile, and earlier 9M311 and 9M335, are the use of a larger booster and filament wound composite casings replacing light metal alloys, and the introduction of a larger and more lethal expanding rod warhead. The higher impulse of the propulsion system, and lighter missile structure, result in greater range and velocity compared to the 2K22 / SA-19 missile system.
All missiles are ejected from the launch tube / storage container by a gas generator cartridge, with the booster ignited once the missile has cleared a safe distance. Aerodynamic canard controls are employed for the second stage. Russian sources claim the use of a ram air generator to power the missile electronics, but there is not visible evidence of conventionl vanes for this purpose.
The 57E6 missile weighs 71 kg at launch, of which 20 kg is the warhead section. Booster burn duration is 1.5 seconds, accelerating the missile to 1220 metres/s. The cited velocity profile for the 57E6-E export variant is 900 metres/s at 12 km and 700 metres/s at 18 km range.
The 90 mm diameter expanding rod warhead uses 5 kg of explosive filler, and employs 47 rods of 5 mm diameter and 770 mm length. This is intended to provide a 100 percent probability of hitting a coplanar target at a range of up to 6 metres, and a 65 percent probability of hitting a coplanar target at a range of 9 metres. The warhead is designed to produce ~700 2.8 gram fragments, and ~2,260 0.9 gram fragments. The radar proximity fuse range is cited at 9 metres.
Export 57E6-E missile rounds employ a longer burn duration booster which has raised the peak velocity to 1,300 metres/s. These rounds have a launch weight of 75.7 kg.
Missile rounds for domestic Russian PVO use are designated the 95Ya6 series, with the current block designated the 95Ya6.04. These missiles are cited to have an effective range of 20 km and ceiling of 15 km, making them highly competitive against legacy area defence SAMs.
An improved SAM round for PVO use, believed to be the 23Ya6, is expected to soon be introduced. This weapon would appear to use the same terminal stage as the current 57E6/95Ya6 series, but introduces a longer and larger 210 mm diameter booster stage, versus the 170 mm diameter booster in current rounds. Russian sources suggest an ability to engage targets travelling at 1,850 metres/sec, against 1,000 metres/sec cited for the existing round. With higher kinetic energy the improved missile would reduce engagement times, and provide more G capability for endgame manoeuvres – otherwise a traditional weakness of command link and beam rising SAMs.
The 2A38 series 30 mm gun is a twin barrel revolver design with a belt feed and an electrical drive. The barrels are cooled using water or an anti-freeze fluid. The barrels can be elevated to +85º and depressed to -9º relative to the turret base. Cited total rate of fire for the 2K22 variant of the gun is 4060-4810 rds/min with a muzzle velocity of 960-980 m/sec. A range of shell types are available including tracers, HEI and fragmentation.
96K6 Pantsir S1 72V6 SPAAGM (KAMAZ 6530)
51U6/39N6E Kasta 2E1 / 2E2 Flat Face / Squat Eye Acquisition Radar
Kasta 2E1 Flat Face E UHF Band Acquisition Radar. This is a modern digital replacement for the P-19 Flat Face.
Kasta 2E2 Squat Eye E deployed.
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-96K6-Pantsir-2K22-Tunguska.html
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