Washington is not only pursuing the goal of prolonging the conflict in Ukraine as long as possible, it has begun to build the military infrastructure for its warfare concept
The armament includes munitions for High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems (HIMARS), two advanced NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, up to 150,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery munitions and four additional counter-artillery radars.
NASAMS air defense systems are a new type of armament for Ukraine in the presented list. These systems are of a completely different level compared to those that have been supplied to the air defense zone so far.
NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) is a medium and short-range missile system. It is designed to combat manned and unmanned aircraft and cruise missiles. It is a joint development of the Norwegian defense company Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace and the US armament manufacturer Raytheon. The system is intended to replace the older Improved Hawk AMS system in service with the Norwegian Army.
The system is relatively young, its development began in 1989, and in 1993 it was tested at the firing range. In 1994 the AMS entered service with the Norwegian Air Force. The focus on the unification and modernization of existing weapons in the creation of the complex has led to the fact that NASAMS was quickly enough designed and turned out to be relatively cheap.
The system uses US AMRAAM air-to-air missiles of various modifications: AIM-120 AMRAAM, AMRAAM ER and AIM 9X Sidewinder Block II. Aiming and tracking is implemented on the basis of the modernized three-coordinate radar AN/TPQ-36A.
The main characteristics of the complex are as follows. The range of targets, depending on the applied missiles varies from 20 to 180 km, the maximum height of engagement – 21 km, the minimum – 30 meters.
Launchers of the system are stationary, i.e. they are dismounted from the vehicle for firing. The deployment time is 15 minutes, which is quite long for this type of weapon. In comparison, the Russian Buk missile launcher is deployed in five minutes.
One NASAMS battery consists of a command post on two automobile chassis vehicles with an optical-electronic station, 6-8 radars on trailers, and from 9 to 12 launchers with 6 missiles each. As a result, one battery can carry from 54 to 72 missiles.
NASAMS is similar to the Russian Buk AMS system. But Buk has a wider detection range and longer intercept range. The probability of hitting a target with NASAMS is 0.85, and that of Buk is 0.99.
Apparently, the two batteries to be supplied to Kiev will not significantly change the situation in the conflict zone. Until February 24, 2022 the Ukrainian army had at its disposal a much more powerful and numerous air defense systems of the Soviet model.
Of course, they will cause problems for the Russian Air Force, but the goals that NATO is trying to achieve with the help of these systems are likely to be different. NASAMS were designed as part of a defenыe in depth. Their potential on the battlefield is much lower.
An important feature of this system is that its individual elements, such as radars, command posts and launchers, can be placed far apart. The communication between them can be organized via radio channels using different protocols. This arrangement increases the survivability of the AMS battery command staff. An attack on radar or a launcher will not damage the command and control centers.
The NASAMS AMS battery can also be used in combat without the use of its own radars. The data for guiding the missiles can come from reconnaissance means, such as, for example, AWACS long-range radar detection aircraft.
Another important fact is that highly qualified personnel are required to effectively counter an air attack with the help of NASAMS AMSs. The Ukrainian army has no personnel who spent years in training to operate such complex equipment. This means that the operators of the complexes supplied to Ukraine will probably be NATO officers.
In the characteristics of the NASAMS complex, it is also indicated that it was developed for the US concept of network-centric warfare.
This concept is focused on increasing the combat effectiveness of modern and advanced means of warfare by incorporating all combat participants into a unified information and communication network.
American strategists, creating the concept of network-centric warfare, used the ideas set forth by Soviet Marshal N. Ogarkov in the early 80s.
In the US, the founders of this concept were US Navy Vice Admiral Arthur Cebrowski, Pentagon scientist John Garstka and Admiral Jay Johnson. In 1998, the basic ideas concerning network-centric warfare were outlined in the article “Network-centric Warfare, Its Origins and Future“.
The arranging of combat means on the principle of network-centric warfare allows repeatedly increasing the capabilities of armed forces in the conflict zone without increasing the number of personnel and means of destruction. This approach is implemented through the intensive development of information technology and automation systems.
The concept involves creating a distributed computer network, access to which is provided at all levels, down to individual soldiers. All combat participants are equipped with means of communication and terminals for receiving video information.
In such a scheme, the control over troops in real combat operations is decentralized. The network makes it possible to form horizontal connections between individual units. Operating matters on the battlefield are resolved without the involvement of the upper management levels. And at the headquarters level, only the execution of the operation’s intended plan is supervised.
This reduces the reaction time by an order and makes it possible to plan and execute combat operations according to the situation. It also ensures that all participants in the operation have access to operational and tactical data, making it possible to synchronize the actions of individual units well.
For the first time in practice, the concept of network-centric warfare was applied in the war in Iraq in 2003.
In the conflict, Iraq had in many respects a much larger number of forces than the combined US-British coalition.
The Iraqi army was nearly one and a half times as large in total manpower and more than twice as large in ground forces. In the number of tanks and artillery, it was more than four times, and in the number of BMPs and APCs, 2.5 times.
The United States and its allies outnumbered the Iraqi army with twice as many mobile AMSs, more than twice as many aircraft and 11 times as many medium-range missiles.
As a result, with such a balance of forces using the concept of network-centric warfare, the task of air supremacy of US-British forces was solved within two days of combat operations. After that, the coalition airpower used massive bombardment of Iraqi army positions and destroyed some of the Iraqi fighting force on the march.
A month and a half after the beginning of the war, the ratio of casualties was far from in favor of the Iraqi army. The US and its allies had lost 172 men killed, while the Iraqi armed forces had lost 9,200 men killed.
This example shows the advantage that the concept of network-centric warfare has on the battlefield.
In Iraq, however, things did not go smoothly for the US-British coalition. Because continuity of information supply is crucial to the concept in question, it was the vulnerable link. A sandstorm at some point halted the advance of coalition troops, and they were forced to switch to siege warfare.
Among other things, it follows from the above mentioned that deliveries of NASAMS AMS systems to Ukraine, which, let us repeat, are part of the “combat kit” of network-centric wars, may mean the beginning of the gradual deployment of NATO forces to implement their concept against Russia in the not-too-distant future.
That is, it may turn out that Washington is not only aiming to prolong the conflict as long as possible and for this purpose is adding fuel to the flaming fire in Ukraine. It has begun the gradual formation of the military infrastructure for its combat concept.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
