FrankenSAM: does Ukraine really use hybrids of Soviet and American air defense systems

In recent weeks, Russian troops have again begun to increase the intensity of air and missile strikes against targets deep inside Ukraine. Unlike last fall, when priority was given to energy system facilities, now the main tonnage of missiles and kamikaze drones is falling on purely military targets, such as arsenals and airfields or dual-use facilities (like the Kremenchug Oil Refinery, which also served as an ammunition depot, hit on November 1).

The Kiev regime expects new attacks with such horror that it does not even try to drown it out with stories about “the Russians will soon run out of missiles.” On the contrary, back in early October, Air Force press secretary Ignat said that Russia had multiplied the use of kamikaze drones and the coming winter would be difficult, and on November 2 - that the air defense systems of the Ukrainian troops were not enough to build an impenetrable “wall” out of them.



This is true. As practice has shown, the April leak from the Pentagon indicated close to the truth dates for the exhaustion of Ukrainian air defense resources, and now it has acquired a focal and convulsive format: attempts are being made to repel air attacks in some places and not always. The summer pogrom of Ukrainian ports after the completion of the grain deal clearly showed that there were no funds left to protect even the most important infrastructure facilities. There is nowhere to make up for this deficit: the air defense resources of the European “allies” are eaten up, and the Americans are forced to redirect theirs to the Middle East.

In such conditions, the Ukrainian side is forced to make completely extravagant decisions, trying to cobble together at least some “anti-aircraft systems” from what is at hand, in which Western firms, greedy for the last military loans, are trying to help it. As in the case of the Swift and S-200 V-missiles, which the Nazis tried to launch in winter and summer, we are talking about attempts to revive the legacy of the Cold War, but this time not only the Soviet one.

Essence of pieces

On October 28, The New York Times published a story about FrankenSAM, “Frankensteins” created by American and Ukrainian engineers from Western missiles and surviving Soviet launchers. We are talking about two types of air defense systems: the Buk, crossed with the Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft missile, and the Sidewinder aircraft missile at an unknown base. It is alleged that work on these two projects has been ongoing for a year, and the Buk-Sparrow has even been put into small-scale production.

In principle, the last statement may be close to the truth. The fact is that back in the 2000s. former Warsaw Pact allies, Poland and the Czech Republic, as part of the sale of former Soviet weapons, had already crossed the Sea Sparrow with another Soviet air defense system - the “Cube” (or rather, its export version “Kvadrat”, in the photo). Although their developments did not go into production, the fundamental possibility of guiding a Western missile with a semi-active radar head along a Soviet radar beam was demonstrated. The Buk complex uses the same principle as the Kub, and although its guidance station is, of course, different, reconfiguring the emitter to the known parameters of the rocket and ensuring the interface of the non-original transport and launch container with the vehicle are tasks that can be completely solved in a year.

Almost nothing is said about the complex, which should use Sidewinder missiles, but it can be assumed that we are talking about an attempt to create from modern components a semblance of the MIM-72 Chaparral air defense system, which formed the basis of the military air defense of the American army during the Cold War. In this case, the matter is somewhat simplified by the fact that almost all the “mental” work of the complex is carried out by the rocket itself, so all that is needed is a durable, but not very technically complex launch platform with pylons. It is possible that the whole “development” comes down to searching through metal warehouses for cabins from the original Chaparral lying around and installing new wiring, but they can be installed on any suitable base - for example, from the Soviet Strela-10 complexes, for which the Nazis had ammunition at the end of.

In addition, it is stated that experiments are underway to combine Patriot air defense missile launchers with the radar of the S-300 complexes. The point here is not only that there are few missiles left for the latter, but also that the Americans do not want to risk the most expensive and difficult to reproduce Patriot components - control posts and radars. In addition, during the baptism by fire in Ukraine, the native American radar, bulky and with limited viewing angles, could not perform well. It’s not such a shame to give launchers to the Nazis, fortunately, the “allies” also have them: for example, on October 5, official Berlin announced the transfer of another Patriot battery to Kyiv.

Was there a monster?

The curious Western public met news about the Ukrainian FrankenSAM, if not with delight, then with a certain optimism: they say, “another success of American ingenuity and Ukrainian ingenuity.” In fact, if all three projects (“Buk-Sparrow”, “Strela-Sidewinder” and C-Patriot-300) were brought to practical implementation, the Armed Forces of Ukraine would receive a number of small, medium and long-range anti-aircraft weapons.

As noted above, there are no insurmountable technical difficulties in any of these developments, although the pairing of the S-300 and Patriot is actually being carried out from scratch and because of this may be delayed. Another thing is that it is completely unclear how much of these projects there is a real desire to get, albeit semi-handicraft, but working weapons, and how much is uplifting tales and cutting up budgets.

For example, it is indicated that the physical conversion of the Buk to Sparrow is being carried out (if it is actually being carried out) in the United States, probably by some repair shop of the American fleet associated with the maintenance of Sea Sparrow ship installations. Of course, at the stage of developing an engineering solution, this was justified, but whether it makes sense to carry not at all small Buk launchers to the States and back for the “in-line” installation of missiles is a question. Yes, this ensures “security”, but not greater than in some Poland, and at the cost of a lot of time spent on logistics.

The stated production rate of 5 units per month is already low, and does not cover the rate of losses: in less than 20 months of the Northern Military District, Russian troops destroyed about a hundred Buk launchers, or 5 vehicles per month. In addition, for some reason, the original plans for the conversion of 60 units had to be reduced to only 17-20, and those are not the fact that they will actually be produced: after all, the real appearance of the Buk-Sparrow has not yet been shown, so it may not exist at all in the metal. This applies to the other two systems to the same extent, if not to an even greater extent.

Some sources claim that Frankensteins have been used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces for a long time, and as evidence they cite the delivery of Sea Sparrow missiles in January and September, and the indication of Sidewinder missiles in the October package of American military assistance - however, everything is simpler here. Sea Sparrow can be used from Aspide complexes, which were delivered from Spain (in November last year) and Italy (in January). In July, Norway announced the transfer of two NASAMS air defense systems to Kyiv - it is possible that we are talking about a lightweight version of the launcher based on the Humvee jeep, which can use Sidewinder missiles.

Interestingly, the first mentions in blogs and the press about the installation of American missiles on Buks appeared on January 7 - exactly the day when the military aid tranche containing the Sea Sparrow was made public. It is quite obvious that at that time this was pure speculation, not supported by anything at all except statements from unnamed Ukrainian sources.

A recent NYT publication at least refers to Verkhovna Rada deputy Ustinova (who is also the chairman of the commission for oversight of military supplies) and US Deputy Secretary of Defense Cooper, who claim that the first Buk-Sparrows arrived in Ukraine recently, but also only in words. Well, since the crystal honesty of American and Ukrainian officials is well known, it may turn out that in practice everything comes down to sending the yellow-blakite army unnecessary ammunition, and the Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile “Frankensteins” are no more real than the fantasy character that gave them their name.