In a conflict, American forces will not face resistance from the enemies Air Force but
also from the enemy’s Anti Access Area Denial systems.
The most potent of these systems is the Russia’s S 400 Air Defense System.
It is designed by Almaz Central Design Bureau as an upgrade of the S-300 family.
It entered into service with Russian forces in 2007
China has also acquired it.
Miniature Air-Launched Decoy (MALD) program of U.S aims to tackle air defense systems.
It has now been announced that that the latest iteration of the system, the MALD X, has been
successful, on August 20th and 22nd, over the test ranges off NAWS Point Mugu.
In this video Defense Updates, analyzes why America’s MALD X missile may be able to
defeat Russian S 400?
Let's get into the details.
S 400 uses multiple radars depending on threat perception.
The primary one is either the 91N6E Big Bird Acquisition and Battle Management Radar or
92N6E Grave Stone Multimode Engagement Radar These have a range of around 600 km.
The main radar is complimented by target acquisition radars like 67N6 Gamma De and 9N6 Protivnik
Ge radars in L band, Nebo SVU in the Very High-Frequency band and Nebo m & Zebu M in multiband.
Nebo SVU & Zebu M have claimed capability against stealth aircraft.
For aerial targets like aircraft & drones, S 400 missile has a maximum engagement range
of 400 km whereas for ballistic missile it has a range of about 60 km.
S 400 deploys multiple missiles to cover its full strike envelope.
1. Very-long-range 40N6 (400 km)
2. Long-range 48N6 (250 km)
3. Medium-range 9M96E2 (120 km)
4. Short-range 9M96E (40 km)
The maximum speed of targets for successful elimination is up to Mach 6.5.
The capabilities of S 400 makes it a daunting challenge for its rivals.
The concept of MALD was formulated in the mid-1990s.
The DARPA wanted a small, standoff-range capable, air deployable asset.
The idea was to have a system that can be launched from different types of combat aircraft
such as bombers like B-52 or a fighter like F-16.
The MALD-X is a new version of the MALD-J missile developed by defense major Raytheon.
It has a range of 500 miles or 800 km and much better electronics and sensors.
MALDs are expendable and are not designed to be reused.
These will be used to ‘stimulate’ a fake attack against an enemy’s integrated air
defense system like S 400.
Once launched, the MALD-X’s wings would pop out and its turbojet engine would ignite.
It would then autonomously fly a pre-configured route and mimic the radar signature via its
Signature Augmentation System (SAS).
The SAS can replicate radar signatures of different types of aircraft ranging from a
large B 52 to a stealthy F-117 Nighthawk.
This will result in air defense systems to emit radar signals to track and engage the
targets and they will ‘light up’.
A decent number of relatively inexpensive MALDs will be able to simulate an attack which
will seem like a large scale onslaught and will have the potential to saturate enemy
air defenses with sheer numbers.
Aircraft such as the electronic intelligence gathering RC-135 Rivet Joint can detect the
enemy air defense site which have now given away their position and are somewhat overwhelm
with fake targets.
This information can then be sent to attack aircraft like F 16s which can then target
the enemy’s activated radars with AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs).
The AGM-88 HARM is a tactical, air-to-surface anti-radiation missile designed to home in
on electronic transmissions coming from radars of air defense systems like S 400.
It has a range of 150 km and Mach1.8.
If an air defense system is saturated , there is good probability of AGM-88 HARM to not
get intercepted mid air and destroy that system.
S 400 has many features that make it hard to target even by a sophisticated systems.
The radar can be used independently of the missiles for command and control purposes.
So, just because the radar is there doesn't mean the entire system is there.
Each component has autonomous power supplies, navigation and geolocation systems, communications
and life support equipment.
Also, the system is mobile, making it difficult to target.
It is also very hard to saturate the S 400.
Just one S 400 system can control up to 72 launchers, with a maximum of 384 missiles.
It can simultaneously engage up to 80 targets.
S 400 is also protected by Pantsir S1 point defense system making thing more complex for
attacking forces.
Pantsir S1 includes a target acquisition radar and dual waveband tracking radar that operates
in the UHF and EHF waveband.
Detection range is 36 km (22 mi) and tracking range is 28 km (17 mi) for a target with 2
m2 (22 sq ft) RCS.
The system has a 360-degree coverage and both the sensors use a Passive electronically scanned
array.
Taking all the considerations, it can be said that the U.S now has a way to defeat S 400
tactically but it may come at a very high cost.