Yakhont acceptance
The protracted gestation of the 3M55 Oniks (SS-N-26), better known by its export name Yakhont, reflects the challenges that Russia's missile design houses and engineering enterprises have faced in recent years. Its origins lie very much in the Soviet era, with initial proposals for a ramjet-powered supersonic missile emerging from NPO Mashinostroyenia (formerly OKB-52) in 1983 as the Reutov-based research and production enterprise lobbied hard to the right to develop a next-generation ASCM to succeed 3M80 Moskit. Development funding was authorised in 1985.
What is now clear is that Yakhont's design antecedents lie with the 3M45 missile associated with the P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 'Shipwreck') system, one of the most feared Soviet ASCM complexes of the Cold War era. While Granit entered service with the then Soviet Navy as long ago as 1983, it remained veiled in secrecy long after the demise of the Soviet Union. Given the paucity of technical data, together with not a little disinformation, the 3M45 missile had generally been assumed to be a development of the NPO Mashinostroyenia P-500 Bazalt (SS-N-12 'Sandbox') system, itself an advanced evolution of the earlier P-5, P-6 and P-35 (SS-N-3 'Shaddock') line.
Granit was finally unveiled to the world in 2001 when pictures were published of the weapon being removed from the wreck of the Project 949A ('Oscar II') submarine Kursk. NPO Mashinostroyenia also released factory photographs of 3M45, which showed that, rather than the ventral air-intake and large wing surfaces associated with Bazalt, the 3M45 missile in fact adopted an annular front air intake, a cylindrical missile body (bulging slightly outward in its mid-section), two small upper body wings, cruciform tail surfaces and an in-line solid rocket booster.
The appearance of the 3M45 missile suggested a liquid-fuel ramjet sustainer. However, NPO Mashinostroyenia maintains that it is in fact a high-speed turbojet-powered missile, albeit configured very differently to SS-N-3 and SS-N-12. And so as 'Shipwreck' lost its shroud, the ancestry influencing the design of Yakhont became apparent.
Yakhont was conceived by NPO Mashinostroyenia bureau chief Vladimir Chelomey, one of the most influential figures in Soviet post-Second World War missile development, as a 'universal' supersonic anti-ship missile suitable for launch from ships, submarines, aircraft and coastal batteries. His concept proposed the use of a standardised transport container/launch tube within which the missile round could be stored and transported. Chelomey also proposed that the missile should be capable of vertical launch.
Chelomey died in December 1984 and thus did not live to see Yakhont reach fruition. But NPO Mashinostroyenia - now led by Director General and General Designer Herbert Yefremov - set about realising his vision.
In appearance, Yakhont resembles in many senses a scaled-down 3M45. The missile body is a slim cylinder, tapered at the front to an annular air intake in the nose, with four cruciform mid-body wings and, just aft, four tail fins. The missile is fitted with a protective nose cap, ejected just after launch.
While Chelomey had, at an early stage, proposed reusing the seeker and powerplant of the 3M80 Moskit for Yakhont to reduce development time and cut cost, it was ultimately decided to develop an all-new missile. That said, the Plamya powerplant adopted for Yakhont is similar in configuration to that used by Moskit, being initially powered by a solid rocket booster and then switching over to a ramjet sustainer. The Plamya engine uses a liquid-fuel ramjet to achieve a maximum speed of Mach 2-2.5, reaching a range of 300km with a hi-lo trajectory (cruising at an altitude of 14,000m) or 120km with a lo-lo trajectory.
In the final stage of flight, Yakhont descends to make a terminal approach at an altitude of 10-15m. The missile carries a 200kg warhead.
Flight control and initial guidance are provided by a Siberian Devices and Systems ShYu80-066B three-axis gyro-stabilised inertial navigation system. Data on the general vicinity of the target is fed into the flight control system prior to launch, using positional data from helicopters, shore radars and other sources.
Building on a long relationship with NPO Mashinostroyenia, the St Petersburg-based Central Research Institute (CRI) Granit has been responsible for the development of Yakhont's active/passive radar seeker head. According to CRI Granit, advances in micro-electronic technology over the lifetime of Yakhont's development have allowed the institute to evolve the seeker head through two distinct iterations, the current production-standard seeker being significantly smaller and lighter (at 85kg) than early development hardware.
In contrast with previous anti-ship missiles, the seeker is designed to operate primarily in the passive homing mode, switching to active mode only in the final stages. This is designed to significantly reduce warning time and hence vulnerability to ship defences. In active mode, the coherent monopulse seeker has a maximum range of 50km, and can detect targets +/- 450 off boresight.
Development of Oniks/Yakhont has been extremely protracted, a victim of the funding blight that befell many new programmes following the break-up of the Soviet Union. However, money has been found to complete the testing programme at the Russian Federation Navy's missile test range in Nenoska, with land-based, ship-launched (from the Project 1234.7 'Nanuchka IV' corvette Nakat) and submerged firings all successfully demonstrated.
As of mid-2003 NPO Mashinostroyenia was still a
a state production order for 3M55 Oniks/Yakhont. However, the type has now received state acceptance and, according to bureau chief Herbert Yefremov, has been declared operational aboard Nakat (which carries two sextuple launchers in place of the triple P-120 missile launchers).
The air-launched Yakhont-M is due to begin trials in early 2004. Officials from NPO Mashinostroyenia have also confirmed that study work is under way to develop a land-attack version of the missile, using an updated guidance and seeker package.
Drawing extensively on technology developed for Yakhont, NPO Mashinostroyenia and India's Defence research and development Organisation entered into an agreement in February 1998 to jointly develop the PJ-10 BrahMos missile. Successful flight tests have been conducted at the Chandipur test range in India, and in February 2003 a successful launch was conducted from the Indian Navy Project 61 destroyer INS Rajput.
BrahMos production is expected to start in 2004, with work being split 50:50 between Russian and Indian industry. In Russia, work will be concentrated at NPO Strela in Orenburg, with semi-complete missiles being delivered to NPO Mashinostroyenia for final assembly
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