These are the weapons Russia is counting on to fight NATO in World War 3.
S-400 (Make this it's own title slide, include photo
Halfway through the Cold War the Soviet Union realized a hard truth:
it couldn't compete with NATO in the skies. Western engineers were designing better planes,
but most important of all: they enjoyed much better electronics than their Soviet counterparts.
This made NATO fighters and air-to-air missiles much deadlier than the Soviet's own.
Rather than fight NATO for dominance of the skies, the Soviet Union focused on projecting
bubbles of protection for its ground forces with a mix of air and ground assets. This
spurred a massive investment in ground-based air defenses, leading to the Soviets fielding
some of the best air defense equipment in the world, a legacy carried on by Russia.
The S-400 is the evolution of the S-300,
and was first revealed publicly in 1993. By 2007 the S-400 was fully operational,
and giving NATO war planners a significant headache. Built specifically to counter the
threat of America's stealth planes, the S-400 was touted as a stealth-killer,
and uses three different radars networked together to target, track, and destroy stealth aircraft.
A common misnomer about stealth aircraft is that they are invisible to enemy radar- this
is not true. The purpose of stealth is not to avoid detection completely,
but rather to delay it significantly. This allows a stealth aircraft to get
near enough to its target to service it without being blown out of the sky by air defense units.
Russia has famously claimed to have tracked American stealth aircraft with its S-400 radars,
which can have a range of up to 600 kilometers. This led many to
declare America's stealth programs a failure, and the S-400 a silver bullet
which America could never counter. This assumption however relies on a simple
misunderstanding of how different radars work and interact with stealth aircraft.
It's not particularly difficult to track any stealth aircraft. Low
frequency radar arrays have always been difficult for stealth aircraft to avoid,
and it's true that these radars have in fact tracked American F-22s and F-35s at significant
ranges- certainlly well outside of their own engagement envelopes. However, low frequency
radars give very general position of a stealth aircraft, and cannot provide a weapons-quality
lock required to actually shoot one down. That's where high frequency radars come in,
and this is the type of radar that American stealth is designed to defeat. So an enemy may
know that American stealth planes are coming from a general heading, but it simply cannot engage
those planes until they are significantly closer- and this is why the United States fields stand-off
attack weapons with ranges in excess of that required to get a quality lock by air defense.
The B-2 is rumored however to be the exception to the rule, with even low
frequency radars having difficulty tracking the granddaddy of stealth.
The S-400 uses the Nebo SVU and Protivnik G low frequency radars to detect incoming stealth
aircraft, and then networks them together with the Gamma S1 radar array which broadcasts at high
frequency. Working in tandem, the networked radars can in fact extend the reach of the
S-400s' air defense missiles, but can they hit a stealth aircraft before it hits them with an
anti-radiation missile? This is unknown as no S-400 has ever engaged a stealth aircraft or
vice-versa, but it is unlikely given that even now the US is fielding weapons such as the AARGM-ER,
a missile designed to destroy enemy radars with greatly extended range. However,
the strength of the S-400 is that it's just one part of a larger air defense network,
which would have to be dismantled piece by piece to ensure the safety of NATO planes-
a significant challenge, but one the US proved it was adept at in Desert Storm.
Kilo and Lada Class Diesel Submarines
Diesel submarines are generally accepted to be significantly quieter than nuclear
submarines. The United States has famously faced an uphill
fight to quiet the noisy pumps that cool the nuclear reactors which power its submarines,
and today American nuclear subs are some of the quietest in the world- which explains why
the technology behind their reactors is so top secret. However, even a mid-class diesel
submarine can give America's underwater stealth a run for its money, at a fraction the cost.
This is the strength of Russia's diesel-electric submarine fleet. At
a fraction the cost of US subs, Russia's diesel boats can remain incredibly quiet
while running on batteries. However, Russia's newest class of submarine-
the Lada class- could potentially be the quietest conventional submarine ever.
Unlike the Kilo class which ran on a combination of battery power an diesel engines,
the Lada class uses hydrogen-oxygen fuel and chemical reactions to produce electricity
for the engines. This could mean that the Lada class is even quieter than a nuclear submarine,
though it carries standard diesel generators as well for backups or to move long ranges.
When either the Kilo or Lada class boats have to recharge their batteries though they must surface,
which is the greatest weakness of a conventional submarine. Here the subs are at their most
vulnerable, though the Lada class features a radar-absorbent hull to reduce the range at which
it can be detected when at the surface. With an estimated endurance of only 45 days though, their
time at sea is limited, and this is the second greatest weakness of conventional submarines-
though Russia would likely only use its submarines in defensive operations near its own waters.
Despite the advances between the Kilo and Lada class though,
most observers agree that the US has better sensors and weapons,
and the advantage of extreme duration thanks to nuclear power. Given the performance of the
Russian military in Ukraine, and the discovery that many of Russia's claims about its weapons
have been completely overhyped, we wouldn't be surprised to discover that Russia's submarine
fleet is significantly behind the west in terms of capabilities and survivability.
Kirov-Class Battlecruiser The Kirov class is the world'
most powerful surface combatant that's not an aircraft carrier or amphibious assault
ship. This massive, nuclear-powered monsters were designed for one and only one purpose:
ram themselves straight down the throat of a US carrier battle group and sink it.
These armored behemoths are blistering with both offensive and defensive weapons,
the most formidable of which are the 20 Granit anti-ship missiles designed
specifically to blow American carriers out of the water. These missiles may be old,
having entered service in 1983, but sport a massive 1600 pound (750 kg) warhead, a range of
almost 400 miles (625 km) and can hustle to their target at supersonic speeds. They carry their own
onboard radar to home in on targets and an inertial guidance system to operate independent
of their launch unit. The beefy Granit is so big, that only Russia's Oscar class submarines,
Kirov-class battlecruisers, and the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier can carry it.
To defend itself and nearby ships, the Kirov class also carries dozens of air-defense missiles
capable of intercepting both aircraft and high-speed anti-ship missiles. It
also carries ten torpedo tubes and 3 antisubmarine rocket launchers-
with hunting US subs down and destroying them being its original job. That quickly
changed to destroying American carriers though shortly after entering service.
Thankfully, Russia only has one operational Kirov-class battlecruiser at the moment,
the Pyotr Velikiy, with the Admiral Nakhimov undergoing modernization upgrades. Shortly
after the Nakhimov is upgraded, the Velikiy will enter drydock to undergo
its own modernization. When it emerges it will be bristling with firepower,
with the replacement of many of its old missile systems with 174 modern vertical
launch tubes which will carry 80 anti-surface missiles and 94 air-defense missiles.
But without adequate naval air cover, can these mighty ships survive increasingly
lethal American anti-ship weapons such as the LRASM? That remains to be seen.
Krashukha-4 Electronic Warfare Platform
The incredible lethality of western militaries is due to their highly networked nature,
with different assets networked together to service targets. In case of war with NATO,
Russia knew it would have to sever these communications links, or at least severely
degrade them. Enter, the Krashukha-4 electronic warfare platform. A mobile EW platform,
it is designed to jam airborne and satellite-based fire control radars
such as those fielded by American E-8 JSTARS and AWACS aircraft, backbones of US air operations.
The Krashukha can even jam the radar of cruise missiles and provide false targets,
luring them away from their real targets and neutralizing them. Mounted on a truck chassis,
the system is highly mobile, and powerful enough to jam low earth orbit satellites.
When deployed to Syria, the system presented difficulties to American drones who relied on
GPS and had those signals blocked with walls of electronic noise.
In any war against the US, the Krashukha would be invaluable to help protect friendly
ground forces from American radar and satellite-guided weapons. That's why it's
a good thing that just one month into the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian troops stumbled
across a Krashukha unit still in its shipping container, abandoned outside a Russian command
post when the troops were forced to flee for their lives. No doubt that treasure trove of
intelligence has since been turned over to Ukraine's American allies, who can pull the
system apart and learn how to mitigate its effects or even neutralize them altogether.
Ka-52 Attack Helicopter
It's a fearsome bird of prey,
the natural evolution of the Ka-50 attack helo. But it's no normal attack helicopter,
it's one specially designed from the ground up- even if it's based on a pre-existing design.
The Ka-52 was designed not just to provide close air support for friendly targets and
hunt for enemy tanks, but also to act as a recon and target designation platform
for other friendly systems. This required the additional of a co-pilot who would run
the reconnaissance suite, with the Soviets deciding to use the unusual configuration
of side-by-side seating. This however enhanced the cooperative abilities of the crew and was
seen as a positive to the traditional tandem design of other attack helos.
The Ka-52 is a modern and capable helicopter equipped with night vision and thermal imaging
systems. The helicopter also features a side-mounted 30mm cannon capable of firing
between 200 and 800 rounds a minute, and can pierce even heavy tank armor from above. Unlike
the free-turning mount of an Apache's cannon though, the Shipunov autocannon is semi-rigid,
requiring the helicopter to physically turn into its targets to engage them. However this trade off
means that the Ka-52 has better accuracy and range than a free-turning turret helicopter.
The chopper's fire control system allows for different Ka-52s in the same formation to
service each other's targets, and can even receive targeting data from ground scouts
equipped with target designation gear. With six hardpoints on stubby wings, the Ka-52 can carry
anti-tank missiles or unguided rockets, making it a nightmare for enemy armor. Its Vikhr anti-tank
missiles have a maximum range estimated at 8 kilometers, and are laser-guided but sport
automatic guidance as well, allowing the chopper to immediately take evasive actions after firing.
The Ka-52 is the only attack helicopter in the world to feature an ejection seat, and the crew
needs it too as the upgrade to the Ka-52 meant that the chopper needed to shed some of its armor.
For all its advanced capabilities though, the Ka-52 has proven to be fodder for Ukrainian air
defenses, with man-portable air defense equipment like American Stingers taking a staggering toll-
as much as a quarter of Russia's entire attack helicopter fleet has been destroyed in Ukraine.
This is a problem not just for Russia's Ka-52 though, but for all attack helicopters
around the world. During the first Gulf War, American Apaches devastated Iraqi radar sites,
SCUD launchers, and armored vehicles, destroying as many as 1,000 tanks and
APCs at a loss of about 15 Apaches. However, a decade later the Apache was sent into combat
against a far less sophisticated enemy- and while losses were still very low,
American apaches suffered extensive damage even when undertaking attacks against lightly defended
targets. After the 2003 ambush at Karbala, when an entire flight of American Apaches was taken
under heavy enemy fire, the Apache was officially retired from independent offensive operations.
The attack helicopter may simply be obsolete due to advances in man-portable air defenses,
but the world still lacks a close air support weapon that
compares to an attack helicopter. Up against sophisticated foes though,
any nation's attack helicopter fleet is going to encounter devastating losses, and the
platform may be best ushered into permanent retirement in favor of disposable drones.
Now go check out What Happens After World War 3, or click this other video instead!