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Thanks to a strategic partnership with the United States and Western allies, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were able to obtain a batch of Brimstone missiles. Their task is to search for and destroy heavy armored vehicles.
Brimstone is a high-tech, homing and incredibly accurate munition used by the British Royal Air Force. All you need to know about them – further in the material 24 channels.
The most beautiful thing is that such missiles should not be aimed at the target. It is enough for the operator to indicate the area where there may be a potential target. Then the rocket will do everything by itself.
Brimstone can work on static, moving and even maneuvering targets. Its power allows it to hit even heavy armored vehicles, and technologies and digital systems reduce human involvement to a minimum.
< em>Brimstone Sea Spear Missile/Photo by hmbda-systems
The most powerful armies in the world and Brimstone
The development of these weapons in the 3 2000s was carried out by MBDA. It is a powerful European manufacturer of missile systems. Among their clients are the most powerful armies in the world.
Already in 2005, Brimstone was put into service with the British Air Force, and then – hardening by combat and demonstrating effectiveness in the hottest spots on the planet.
Brimstone have proven themselves in the wars in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq. And since April 2022, as part of a strategic partnership, these systems began to be delivered to Ukraineto counter Russian aggression.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine definitely lacked such complexes. After all, this missile system has a radar homing head.
In simple words. Having fixed the target, the missile will pursue it until it destroys it.
Invisible to the human eye
A big plus of Brimstone is the fact that the rocket emits low noise and has a small thermal footprint. This makes it invisible not only to the human eye, but also virtually invisible to hostile air defense systems. She leaves at low altitudes. That is why air defense systems may simply not notice it – the target is guaranteed to be destroyed.
Tactical and technical characteristics of Brimstone
- weight – 50 kilograms;
- missile length – 1.8 meters;
- maximum speed – 450 m/s;
- range – 10 – 12 kilometers;
- guidance system: combined radar DBN of millimeter range and semi-active laser;
- warhead: tandem, cumulative.
< p dir="ltr">Speaking specifically about tanks, there is simply no such tank that could survive a meeting with this monster. However, there is a price to pay for this kind of power and accuracy. One launch kit (it has 3 missiles) costs at least 263 thousand dollars.
What we know about Brimstone/Infographics Ukrinform
Which targets hit Brimstone
From the very beginning of its creation, Brimstone was planned as an anti-ship missile. However, they do not have enough power to flood the ship. They can only cause minor damage or disable weapons on ships. So they started testing them to work on other targets. Especially when it comes to ground vehicles. And in this case, the missile system was simply flawless.
In addition to the fact that it easily penetrates powerful armor, the launcher itself can be attached to existing weapons. It turned out that Brimstone can be used as an additional modification to increase the arsenal of weapons.
Thanks to Ukraine's strategic partnership with the United States and Western allies, our Armed Forces can now install such launchers on pickups and trucks . This allows you to quickly arrive at the firing position, fire a lightning-fast volley and just as quickly leave the launch site.
It really depends on the modification. There are options for 20 and 60 km. However, such long distances can only be spoken of when the missile is launched from an aircraft or helicopter.
We do not have aircraft that can support a combination of such launches at the system level. Therefore, we have Brimstones flying out of the ground: from stationary launchers or mobile ones.
In this case, the range of damage is sharply reduced to 10 – 12 km. Although this is not small, given that such a distance allows you to hit enemy heavy armored vehicles from places where the launch operator is not visible.
10 – 12 kilometers – this is a small distance for the front, but simply an unattainable distance for a tank. Therefore, this is enough to defeat heavy armored targets.
And, of course, we must not forget that the rocket does not need to see the target. This is another significant plus of this launch complex. After all, this option makes the Brimstone an effective projectile in the fight against ground targets.
The operator only needs to know the approximate direction where enemy vehicles can be located. And then it remains only to indicate which target must be destroyed. Yes, missiles can be programmed for a specific target.
For example, indicate that among the accumulation of enemy armored vehicles, only the T-80 tank needs to be destroyed. And the rocket will fly in search of this particular tank model. There are 3 such missiles in the launch complex – a separate target can be defined for each of them. it is the missile that destroys the targets
After identifying the targets, the projectile will leave the launcher in a matter of seconds and go into combat mode, which consists of three stages.
- During the first, the missile will search for its target. It will fly to the specified area and barrage in the air until it sees what the operator has indicated.
- As soon as the projectile systems identify the desired object, the missile proceeds to the second stage – capture. During it, digital systems fix a hostile target. They calculate the speed, direction of movement, ballistic scores and fix the target so that it does not disappear from the sight of the missile.
- Only after that the projectile proceeds to the third stage – destruction.
It was an example of the work of only one complex. That is, three missiles. However, all these launchers can interact with each other. This turns the Brimstone into a deadly hail of fire in which each projectile will hit its target accurately.
Enemy can no longer hide
That is why the rocket can strike with surgical precision and at the same time practically do no harm to foreign objects. This is a point strike that guarantees 100% destruction of equipment. Thanks to this approach, the projectile can be directed at vehicles hiding in shelters, hiding behind civilian infrastructure, or trying to hide in the yards of residential buildings.
When Brimstone is working, the enemy will no longer be able to hide.
And if the operator of this complex wants to be 100% sure that the target will be destroyed for sure, he can program all three missiles for one target. In this case, the projectiles will strike one after another. Not even a single tank has been able to survive even one blow, so it’s not even necessary to speak of a triple blow. Not a single armored vehicle operating today simply has such armor that could withstand such a volley.
As part of Ukraine's strategic partnership with the United States and allies, the Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to obtain weapons capable of laying on the shoulder blades of any Russian tank.
