UPGRADED SHIPBOARD AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS

It is obvious that an air defense system integrating both missile and gun components enjoys a clear advantage over other types in providing for a warship's comprehensive air defense. This has been proved by various armed conflicts and the shipbuilding experience of many countries.

While the AK-630 and AK-630M systems are radar-controlled, the AK-306 system features a telescopic sight. As aerial threats become more and more mature in terms of their design and tactics, the efficiency of antiaircraft gun systems based on the AK-630 gun mounts is steadily decreasing. This circumstance underpins the need to increase the efficiency of small-caliber antiaircraft gun mounts. 
 

The upgraded AK-630 gun mount instsalled onboard the ship: (a) firing module; (b) data module

  
It is obvious that an air defense  system integrating both missile and gun components enjoys a clear advantage over other types in providing for a warship's comprehensive air defense. This has been proved by various armed conflicts and the shipbuilding experience of many countries. 

This capability is especially important to small ships (patrol, border guard and coast defense), which have restraints on the weight of their weapon components, installation sites, power requirement and number of attending personnel, but which, at the same time, must be capable of engaging shore-based and sea targets at short ranges. 

Presently, small vessels make up the core of many navies. Equipping them with compact antiaircraft gun/missile systems capable of fulfilling the above-mentioned tasks is likely to have a commercial significance in the coming years. 

Can the existing shipboard gun mounts be upgraded at a reasonable cost? The answer is a resounding "Yes," provided the experience gained in designing such weapon systems is taken into account. 

There is an impressive reserve of research and engineering work carried out to develop upgrades in two principal directions: 
– outfitting of gun mounts with a state-of-the-art high-precision aiming system being currently developed as a self-contained optronic system; 
– installation of the 9M311-1M optically-guided antiaircraft missile from the Tunguska-M1 ADM system on the turret mount. The optical guidance system (Fig. 1b) is interfaced with the missile system. The firing module is shown in Fig. 1a. The engagement envelopes are shown in Fig. 2. For the arrangement of the shipboard gun mount, see Fig. 1...