9K22 Tunguska

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9K22 Tunguska
The "Tunguska-M" Integrated Air Defence System. Photo from Field Artillery Magazine.
Type	SAM system
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1982-present
Used by	Belarus, India, Morocco, Russia, former Soviet Union, Ukraine
Production history
Designer	KBP Instrument Design Bureau
Designed	1970-1980
Produced	1976-present
Variants	2K22 (Tunguska), 2K22M (Tunguska-M), 2K22M1 (Tunguska-M1)
Specifications
Weight	34,000 kg (2K22M1)
Length	7.93 m
Width	3.24 m
Height	4.01 m or 3.36 m (radar stowed)
Crew	4
Primary armament	8 x 9M311 SAM (Guidance system semi-automatic, radio command, with optical line of sight
Secondary armament	2*2 x 30 mm 2A38M (1904 rounds)
Engine	V-46-4 780 hp Turbocharged V-12 watercooled 4 cycle diesel
Suspension	Hydropneumatic
Ground clearance	450 mm
Operational range	500 km
Speed	65 km/h

The 2K22 Tunguska (Russian 2К22 "Тунгуска" - Tunguska River) is a Russian tracked self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon armed with a surface-to-air gun and missile system. It is designed to provide day and night protection for infantry and tank regiments against low-flying aircraft and helicopters in any weather condition. The complete system, consisting of the combat vehicle 2S6, the 2F77 transloader truck, the test vehicle 9V921, the maintenance vehicles MTO-AGZ, 1R10-1, 2F55-1 and 2V110-1, is referred to as 2K22 under the GRAU index^[1], though the army designation 9K22 is a valid alternative^[2]. The system uses the Tunguska "Treugol'nik" (triangle) surface-to-air missile and carries the SA-19 "Grison" NATO designation.

Contents 1 Development 2 Description 3 Variants 4 Users 5 Comparable Systems 6 External links 7 References

[edit] Development

Development of the system started on June 8th 1970, at the request of the Russian Ministry of Defence the KBP Instrument Design Bureau in Tula under the guidance of the appointed Chief Designer AG Shipunov started work on a 30 mm anti-aircraft system as a replacement for the 23 mm ZSU-23-4^[1].

The project which was given the designation "Tunguska" was a response to the observed shortcoming of the ZSU-23-4 (short range and no early warning) and a counter to new ground attack aircraft in development such as the A-10 Thunderbolt II which was designed to have high resistance to 23 mm cannon^[3]. Studies were conducted that demonstrated that a 30 mm cannon would require 2-3 times fewer shells to destroy a given target than the 23 mm cannon of the ZSU-23-4, and that firing at a MiG-17 flying at 300 m/s, with an identical mass of 30 mm projectiles would result in a kill probability of 1.5 times greater than with 23 mm projectiles. An increase in the maximum engagement altitude from 2,000 to 4,000 m and increased effectiveness when engaging lightly armoured ground targets were also cited^[4].

The initial requirements set for the system were to achieve twice the performance in terms of range, altitude and combat effectiveness than the ZSU-23-4, additionally the system should have a reaction time no greater than 10 seconds^[1]. Due to the similarities in fire control of artillery and missiles it was decided that Tunguska would be a combined gun and missile system^[1]. By combining guns and missiles, the system is more effective than the ZSU-23-4, engaging targets at long-range with missiles, and shorter range targets with guns.

In addition to KBP as the primary contractor other member of the Soviet military industrial complex were involved in the project, the chassis were developed at the Minsk tractor factory, the radio equipment at the Ulyanovsk Mechanical Factory Ulyanovsk, guidance and navigational systems by VNII "Signal" and optics were developed by the Leningrad Optical Mechanical Amalgamation LOMO^[5].

However development was slowed between 1975 and 1977 after the introduction of the 9K33 Osa missile system, which seemed to fill the same requirement but with greater missile performance. After some considerable debate it was felt that a purely missile based system would not be as effective at dealing with very low flying attack helicopters attacking at short range with no warning as had been proven so successful in the 1973 Arab-Isreali War. Since the reaction time of a gun system is around 8-10 seconds, compared to the reaction time of missile-based system, approximately 30 seconds, development was restarted^[4].

The initial designs were completed in 1973 with pilot production completed in 1976 at the Ulyanovskom mechanical factory^[1]. System testing and trials were conducted between September 1980 and December 1981 on the Donguzskom range^[1]. It was officially accepted into service on the 8th September 1982 and the initial version designated 2K22/2S6, with four missiles in the ready to fire position (two on each side). Tunguska entered into limited service from 1984 when the first batteries were delivered to the army^[1].

After a limited production run of the original 9K22, an improved version designated 2K22M/2S6M entered service in 1990^[1]. The 2K22M featured several improvements with eight ready to fire missiles (four on each side) as well as modifications to the fire control programs, missiles and the general reliability of the system.

Tunguska underwent further improvement when in 2003 the Russian armed forces accepted the Tunguska-M1 or 2K22M1 into service^[1]. The M1 introduced the new 9M113-M1 missile which made a number of changes allowing the 2K22M1 to engage small targets like cruise missiles by replacing the 8 beam laser proximity fuze with a radio fuse. Additional modification afforded greater resistance to IR countermeasures by supplementing the missile tracking flare with an plused IR beacon. Other improvements included an increased missile range to 10 km, improved optical tracking and accuracy, improved fire control co-ordination between components of a battery and the command post. Overall the Tunguska-M1 has a combat efficiency 1.3 - 1.5 times greater than the Tunguska-M^[6].

The Tunguska family was until recently a unique and high competitive weapons system, though in 2007 the Pantsir gun and missile system entered production at KBP^[7], a descendant of the Tunguska the Pantsir system offers even greater performance than its predecessor.

[edit] Description

The Tunguska uses the GM-352 and later GM-352M chassis which has six road wheels with hydropneumatic suspension on each side, a drive sprocket at the rear and three return rollers. The chassis are capable of fording to a depth of 0.8 meters, climbing gradients of up to 60% and side slopes of 30%. The GM-352 can cross a one meter vertical obstacle and a two meter trench. An NBC system is also integrated into the chassis, an automatic gear change and diagnostic capability are available with latest Tunguska-M1 which uses the new GM-5975 chassis^[8]. Overall the layout is similar to the previous ZSU-23-4 with a large central turret (designated the 2A40) containing three of the crew: the commander, gunner and radar operator. The driver sits in the front left of the hull, with a gas turbine APU to his right. The engine is at the rear of the hull.

A parabolic E-band search radar is mounted on the rear top of the turret that combined with a turret front mounted J-band monopulse tracking radar forms the 1RL144 (NATO:Hot Shot) radar system. The search radar for the Tunguska-M1 offers a 360 degree field of view, a detection range of around 18 km and can detect targets flying as low as 15 m, the search radar can be stowed when in transit. A C/D-band IFF system is also fitted and designated 1RL138^[9]. The system is able to fire on the move using 30 mm cannons, although it must be stationary to fire missiles, the maximum target speed can be up to 500 m/s^[10].

The dual 2A38M 30 mm cannons are built by the Tulamashzavod Joint Stock Company and are fired alternately. They have a combined rate of fire of between 4,000 and 5,000 rounds per minute, and have a muzzle velocity of 960 m/s^[11]. Bursts of between 83 and 250 rounds are fired as determined by the target type, with an engagement range of between 0.2 and 4.0 km and to an altitude of 4 km. HE-T and HE-I shells are used fitted with a A-670 time and impact fuze and the cannons can elevate and depress to +87 to -10 degrees. The 2K22 has two primary modes of operation, radar and optical, in radar mode the target tracking is fully automatic, with the guns aimed using data from the radar. In optical mode the gunner tracks the target through an 8 x magnification (8 degree field of view) stabilized sight 1A29M, with the radar providing range data^[9].

The system uses the same 9M311 (NATO: SA-19/SA-N-11) missile family as the naval CIWS Kashtan which can engage targets at a range of 2.4 to 8 km and to an altitude of 3.5 km, the Tunguska-M1 uses the improved 9M311-M1 missile with an increased range of 10 km. Missiles are fired in the optical mode after the optics have been cued onto the target by the radar. The gunner uses the optics of the Tunguska to track the target and the missile (using a flare or pulsed beacon) is automatically tracked by the optics. The deviation of the missiles compared with the tracked target is used to calculate guidance commands, the tracking radar being used to send radio commands to the missile, making Tunguska a SACLOS system^[9]. The 2K22 is reported to have a kill probability of 0.8 with cannons and 0.87 with missiles.

A battery of four Tunguska-M1 can automatically receive fire control information over a radio link, this allows targets to be distributed between individual units from a Ranzhir or PPRU battery command post, which can receive target information from either AWACS or early warning radar or in the case of the PPRU its own radar equipment^[6].

[edit] Variants

• 2K22 - Original system, with 9M311 (3M87), 9M311K or 9M311-1 missiles. Some of these early versions of the "Tunguska" system were known as "Treugol'nik" (Russian Треугольник - triangle). This system is mounted on the 2S6 integrated air defence vehicle.
• 2K22M (1986) - Main production system, with 9M311M (3M88) missiles. This integrated air defence vehicle 2S6M is based on the GM-352M chassis.
• 2K22M1 (1988) - Improved version with the 2S6M1 combat vehicle on a GM-5975 chassis, using the 9M311-M1 missile (range: 10 km) and with an improved fire control system. Passed state trials in April 2003 and entered service with the Russian armed forces a year later.
• 2K22M with 57E6 - Complete upgrade of system with new 57E6 missile and new radar system, with detection range of 38 km and a tracking range of 30 km. Missile range is increased to 18 km.

[edit] Users

•  Belarus - Unconfirmed^{[citation needed]}
•  India - 66 - 92 2K22M/M1 ordered in 1996 (24-50 2K22M), 2001 (14 2K22M) and 2005 (28 2K22M1)^[12][13]
•  Morocco - 12 2K22M1 ordered in 2005^[13]
• Myanmar - 24 Unconfirmed
•  Russia - 256 2K22M/M1^[6]
•  Ukraine - Unknown number ^[14][15]
•  Yemen-Unknown number

[edit] Comparable Systems

• Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard
• Type 95 SPAAA
• M6 Linebacker
• Type 87 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun

[edit] External links

• Youtube Tunguska-M1 Video
• KBP - Tunguska-M1 Air Defense Missile/Gun System
• Threat Update: 2S6 Tunguska Self-Propelled Air Defense System, Red Star Thrust April 95 issue, U.S. Forces Command OPFOR Training Program

[edit] References

Soviet and post-Soviet armoured fighting vehicles after World War II
Tanks T-10 · T-54 · T-55 · PT-76 · T-62 · T-64 · T-72 · T-80 Russian: T-90 · Black Eagle · T-95 Ukrainian: T-72MP · T-80UD · T-84 Armoured personnel carriers Tracked BTR-50 · MT-LB Wheeled BTR-40 · BTR-152 · BTR-60 · BTR-70 · BTR-80 Russian: BTR-90 Ukrainian: BTR-3 · BTR-4 · BTR-94 Infantry fighting vehicles BMP-1 · BMP-2 · BMP-3 · BMD-1 · BMD-2 · BMD-3 Russian: BMD-4 · BTR-T · BMP-T Armoured scout cars BRDM-1 · BRDM-2 Self-propelled artillery 2S1 Gvozdika · 2S3 Akatsiya · 2S4 Tyulpan · 2S5 Giatsint · 2S7 Pion · 2S9 Anona · 2S19 Msta · 2S23 Nona-SVK · 2S30 Iset · 2S31 Vena · ASU-57 · ASU-85 Multiple rocket launchers BM-14 · BM-21 Grad · BM-24 · BM-25 · BM-27 Uragan · TOS-1 · BM-30 Smerch Surface-to-surface missiles FROG-7 · 9K79 Tochka (SS-21 Scarab) · R-400 Oka (SS-23 Spider) Russian: Iskander (SS-26 Stone) Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns ZSU-57-2 · ZSU-23-4 · 2S6 Tunguska Self-propelled surface-to-air missile launchers 2K11 Krug (SA-4 Ganef) · 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful) · 9K22 Tunguska (SA-19 Grison) · 9K31 Strela-1 (SA-9 Gaskin) · 9K33 Osa (SA-8 Gecko) · 9K35 Strela-10 (SA-13 Gopher) · 9K37 Buk (SA-11 Gadfly) · 9K330 Tor (SA-15 Gauntlet) · S-300 (SA-10 Grumble) Russian: Pantsyr-S1 · 9K38 Buk-M1-2 (SA-17 Grizzly)
List of armoured fighting vehicles by country