Recent tragic events in Ukraine have revealed many circumstances that have led to several major defeats of the army of this country during a military operation called anti-terrorist. Among them are the lack of competent commanders at all levels, technical backwardness and a deep systemic crisis in the management system. The armament consists of obsolete models of equipment that have long been decommissioned in neighboring countries. Among them are the Tochka-U missiles. The question arises as to what they plan to replace in the near future. Until recently, it was believed that the newest Sapsan OTRK would replace the Skat complex, which was outdated many years ago. What about the rearmament of Ukrainian tactical deterrence forces?
Questions, questions
The external aggression declared by the current leadership of Ukraine on the part of Russia, in the event of its reality, could cause a complete and rapid collapse of its defense. Among the main reasons for the inability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to withstand not only the hypothetical offensive of the Russian army, but also any other combat-ready formations, analysts call the lack of a modern operational-tactical missile system. Sapsan, which has been under development since 2007, does not exist in reality. Moreover, according to Pavel Lebedev, the former Minister of Defense in 2013, there is not only an experimental product, but even design technical documentation. Money was spent on the project, the result is zero. Who will be punished for this and who is to blame for the situation? Is everything really so bad? What is the way out if war actually begins? There are more questions than answers. An important fact: Ukraine does not have a Sapsan missile system.
From Borisfen to Sapsan
The inferiority of the Ukrainian defense was not denied during the entire period of independence of this country. Already in 1994, a general decision was made to begin work on a missile system project that surpassed Soviet counterparts in capabilities, and after 3 years it was documented by the country's Security Council. The designator was the Dnepropetrovsk Design Bureau "Southern", which is a leading core business. The Borisfen project, launched in 1994, was the first step taken to solve this problem. The basis was the developments of the Thunder complex, which they planned to produce for export, perhaps even cherishing the hope of interest in the Russian Ministry of Defense. The work was carried out until 2003, but was stopped due to lack of funding. President Yushchenko, who replaced the former director of Yuzhmash, L. D. Kuchma, in 2006 initiated the development of the all-Ukrainian Sapsan missile system and allocated twelve million dollars for this. Perhaps this amount seemed to him quite large.
From sketch to project
The preliminary design was ready by 2010. It spent 6 million 800 thousand dollars of the allocated amount. Direct design required additional costs, and the remaining funds were not enough. The fact is that the missile system is an expensive thing, especially at the development stage. Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and the general director of the NKA (National Space Agency) promised to give the result by 2011, but only in case of planned financing. This question was difficult, money was not enough chronically. At the beginning of this year, now the new head of state V. Yanukovych said that with the cost of creating the Sapsan missile complex in the amount of 3.5 billion hryvnias, by 2015 he will be ready and will enter the army. It will be built in Ukraine, from domestic components and parts, with the participation of seventy defense complex enterprises. The deadline is until 2017. A.P. Kushnaryov was appointed the leader in 2012. Money was allocated, first 105, and then all 196 million hryvnia. These costs will then be called inefficient.
Problems
Making the decision in 2013 to close the project and terminate its financing, P. Lebedev may have misjudged the situation. However, another option cannot be ruled out, one in which the head of the military department knew the true state of things, but, pushing the emotional side of the issue, deliberately misled the public. Did the minister know that instead of almost 200 million hryvnias, the design bureau developing the “Sapsan operational-tactical missile system (it sounds in Ukrainian, it sounds like Russian-tactical missile system) received a budgeted amount and a little exceeding 68 million? Probably guessed, otherwise he would have to be fired for incompetence.
Ministerial leapfrog
In 2012, there was no money at all. And in 2013 at that time, too. During the time that has passed since the beginning of the work, the defense ministers changed one after another in the sequence of Gritsenko - Yekhanurov - Ivashchenko - Yezhel - Salamatin and, finally, Lebedev. Either none of them was interested in Sapsan, or everything, from their point of view, was in order.
It is difficult to assume that one of the most important defense projects was left unattended by changing ministers and presidents. Checks were, and reports too. The state of affairs with Sapsan could not be a surprise, everyone knew very well that no money was allocated, and the work was actually stopped. It is simply impossible to imagine a problem that suddenly arises. Nobody beat the alarm ...
What will we shoot?
Now about the main thing, that is, about what should be the Sapsan operational-tactical missile system, according to the terms of reference and design plan. The main thing in it is a rocket.
Ukraine is a nuclear-free country, therefore the use of warheads with special charges is excluded for ideological reasons. For economic reasons, the system - by design - is given the possibility of firing three types of missiles with high-explosive warheads for various purposes: ballistic, anti-aircraft and anti-ship. Accordingly, the radius of action of the shells is different. Which one - the table will show.
| Rocket type | Minimum range | Maximum range |
| Ballistic | thirty | 489 |
| Anti-aircraft | 10 | 150 |
| Anti-ship | 5 | 90 |
The spread of hits is allowed in the range from 2 to 200 meters, depending on the type of control system and the head part. The mass of the rocket is also different, the lightest is anti-aircraft (1.1 tons), the heaviest is ballistic (3.3 tons), and in the middle between them is anti-ship (2.1 tons). Thrown masses also differ: the largest of them is ballistic ammunition (480 kg). These are almost half a ton of cartridges capable of killing all life on an area of 10 thousand square meters, or a monoblock of enormous power. Anti-aircraft ammunition warhead - progressive fragmentation-ampoule type. All types of missiles are single-stage.
Complex architecture
According to its typical composition, the Sapsan missile system is a battery unit consisting of a mobile command post and the following vehicles: initial data preparation, transport and loading, geo-support, maintenance, combat alert and two or three self-propelled launchers. Each launcher must carry transport and launch containers, from which the projectile is launched by the mortar method. It can operate autonomously in an automated mode. Each of the battery machines is based on an all-terrain multi-wheeled chassis (allegedly developed by KrAZ or Design Bureau named after Morozov), in running order their mass should not exceed 21 tons. To start, you can use a mobile command post, a remote control, or carry it out of the operator's cabin. Full combat readiness time - no more than 20 minutes. That, in general, is all that is known about the project of the Sapsan multifunctional missile complex of the IFRK. That is the plan.
Complex task
Again, by design, this type of weapon should be used as an effective means of deterring a potential adversary in case of danger of large-scale aggression. In the absence of nuclear weapons in the arsenal, it remains to rely on high-explosive high-power ammunition capable of hitting large enemy formations and its armored vehicles in the event of their accumulation over a relatively small area at a distance of up to five hundred kilometers. The Sapsan missile system with a ballistic missile can also be used to suppress control systems, including headquarters, communications centers, warehouses, railway stations, airfields and other enemy infrastructure. The designation of anti-aircraft and anti-ship ammunition is indicated by their name, which does not need comments. The only argument against such universality is that any multi-purpose system works in each of the available functions worse than a highly specialized one. However, in this case, the economic factor prevails.
Why does Luch do better?
Now it’s time to return to the question of what prompted the military leadership to abandon further financing of the Sapsan project. The multifunctional missile system of the Ukrainian army is still needed, just according to the official version the performer was not up to par, did not live up to expectations, and it needs to be changed. An organization was found that could be delegated to the task - Design Bureau Luch from Kiev. There is no doubt in the highest qualification of specialists of this bureau. There are only two questions: firstly, will they be able to master the task in the absence or lack of funding? Secondly, how long will it take them to develop a non-core project for them? The fact is that Luch is engaged in anti-tank missile systems, like those of the American Javelins that the current government is trying to buy at a price of half a million per set (and this is second-hand!) Abroad. Judging by the fact that there is a need for imports, Luch’s finances are not doing well either.
About the state program
Weapon projects in Ukraine are often closed. However, the program for creating the Sapsan tactical missile system differs from other, less significant undertakings in that it is part of the general state target strategy, which, in addition to it, includes only three areas: the construction of corvettes for the Navy, An-70 aircraft for military transport aircraft (domestic and foreign) and ammunition disposal technology. Thus, all the most important state defense priorities can be counted on the fingers. And one more left. This means that the task is vital, and without its decision on the independence and reliability of protecting borders, there can be no question.
What's next?
And the last, albeit naive, but urgent question: when will the Ukrainian army be armed with the Sapsans? There is no clear answer to it. The country is dominated by military conflict. It requires huge daily costs, while the material loss it produces is constantly growing. Ukraine is in danger of collapse, and to bring the project to the production phase, according to A. Degtyarev , chief designer of design bureaus, an amount of 3 billion 700 million hryvnias is required. If it is nevertheless allocated, then the tests can be started in 2018. However, this estimate was calculated in those relatively recent times, when the dollar exchange rate was completely different, and inflation, although it took place, did not gallop. In addition, the Ukrainian president and government may have other concerns.