By Anthony Bell
Russia’s military successfully uses the newest Rubezh-M mobile coastal defense missile (MCDM) system during the special military operation in Ukraine, launching the weapon’s missiles from Crimea. This complex is an export-oriented development, which was created for coastal countries with limited budgets that have small capabilities for the acquisition of expensive Western-made MCDM systems. The Rubezh-M is now being successfully evaluated in the environment of the Ukrainian theatre of operations.
The Rubezh-ME is built on the base of the KAMAZ-6560 6×6 all-terrain truck, which carries a four-cell launch unit for Kh-35UE (‘AS-20 Kayak’) anti-ship missiles (ASMs) developed by the Tactical Missiles Corporation, a beyond-the-horizon radar detecting surface targets, and a fire-control system. “The system is relatively compact and requires no external target designation system to open fire,” said the Taifun’s representative.
Owing to the high level of hardware integration, almost all subsystems required for operation are mounted on a single vehicle. The Rubezh-ME’s combat vehicle (CV) weighs some 26 tonnes and produces a road speed of 75 km/h and a cruise range of up to 1,000 km. The CV is controlled by a two-strong crew.
The Kh-35UE ASM weighs 670 kg, including a 145 kg warhead, and is capable of engaging a surface target at a distance between 7 km and 260 km. The missile produces a subsonic speed of M=0.8-0.85, flying at an altitude of 10-15 m and descending to 4 m prior to the contacts with a target. The Kh-35UE is fitted with an inertial navigation system with correction by satellite signal and turns on an active-passive radar seeker in the terminal stage.
The CV can be supplied with either the Mineral-ME1 active radar or the Mineral-ME2 passive radar. The Mineral-ME can simultaneously detect up to 200 targets.
Each vehicle can launch a salvo of four ASMs against four different targets. A Rubezh-ME battery can comprise up to eight CVs having a total of 32 ready-use Kh-35UEs.
The Rubezh-ME features sufficient firepower, mobility, high combat survivability, and prominent jamming resistance. It can be used as a basic layer of a country’s coastal defense network. The system’s hardware allows an operator to form a variable configuration of weapons and technical systems being used and a tactically flexible structure of fire control based on a current operational environment. The Rubezh-ME can be supplied as a single combat vehicle or as a part of a battery or a division. The Rubezh-ME is of high interest for, first of all, those countries with vast maritime economic areas and islands, which require reliable protection against possible attacks of hostile surface combatants.
The Rubezh-ME is capable of maintaining control over straits and territorial waters, protecting naval bases and other in-shore facilities, coastline (in areas of possible landings) and maritime routes, maintaining maritime supremacy at the distance of the system’s range of fire, and engaging both surface and land targets. The aforementioned capabilities of the system have been successfully proven during the operation in Ukraine.
The author is an independent military analyst.
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