Ukrainian Forces Use 'Mysterious' Weapons That Are Terrifying Moscow
- 13.12.2023, 8:28
The destruction range is up to 500 km.
The Ukrainian media scene discusses, from time to time, the use of a Ukrainian missile system called Hrom at the front. At first, some military experts were talking about the attack on the Russian military airfield in Saki on August 9, 2022, and then about the attack on Feodosia on April 8, 2023. On March 30, the Russian MoD officially announced that it had destroyed the Ukrainian operational-tactical missile system Hrim for the first time.
The publication OBOZ.UA found out the type of short-range ballistic missiles, which does not officially exist yet, but it is already scaring and causing panic among Russians and in Moscow.
Historical background of its development
There were quite interesting developments in Ukraine back in the early 1990s, but constant lack of funding, and sometimes outright sabotage by government officials, led to the fact that in 2014 Ukraine had to start it almost from scratch.
The Ukrainian Borisfen operational-tactical missile system capable of striking at short (about 100 km) and medium (up to 500 km) was the first. Work on it began back in 1994, but due to lack of funding the work did not progress beyond sketches, and in 2003 work on the project was stopped altogether (the Prime Minister of Ukraine at that time was Viktor Yanukovych).
Thus, due to organizational and financial difficulties, the Borisfen system project became outdated at the “paper” stage, and in 2006, on the initiative of former President Viktor Yushchenko, a strategic decision was made, based on its sketches, to create a new project, called Sapsan.
According to the original idea, Sapsan was supposed to combine the properties of multiple-launch missile systems, and tactical and operational-tactical systems. It must hit a target at a distance of up to 500 km and keep the Russian capital at gunpoint (the distance from the Ukrainian border to Moscow is approximately 480 km).
The new operational-tactical missile was planned to be put into service in 2011, but again the lack of funding and political difficulties between the governmental groups stopped it.
Thus, in 2009, the Ukrainian design bureau completed the preliminary design of the Sapsan missile system, but the Ukrainian MoD rejected it (Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Acting Defence Minister Valery Ivashchenko). And starting in 2010, when Viktor Yanukovych became President of Ukraine, work stopped altogether. On June 26, 2013, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and citizen of the Russian Federation Pavel Lebedev officially announced that the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine abandoned the Sapsan project.
After the victory of the Revolution of Dignity and Russian aggression in 2014, the issue of completing the development of the Sapsan complex was again on the agenda. In 2016–2018, many experts assumed that the Sapsan project had found its implementation in the Hrim-2 missile system, which on August 24, 2018, was demonstrated at the military parade for the Independence Day of Ukraine (why is the name Hrim-2 – it is not known for sure, we only know that in 2013 the same project was exhibited at an arms exhibition under the name just Hrim (“Thunder”).
For obvious reasons, there is still no exact official information about whether the Sapsan and Hrim-2 are the same project, or different developments – the project is classified as secret as possible in modern realities. The opinions of military experts are divided: some suggest that Hrim-2 is an foreign version of Sapsan, while others develop the theory that Hrim-2 will have a flight range of 500 km, and the Sapsan – almost 2000 km.
What is Hrim-2 today?
In 2015, there were reports that Saudi Arabia and Ukraine were negotiating a contract for the purchase of Ukrainian Hrim-2 tactical missile systems offering funding for this development. Subsequently, Saudi Arabia transferred about $40 million for the corresponding improvements to this missile system, which actually gave rise to this project (it seems that this is the roots of the name “Hrim-2” from abroad).
In December 2015, the then Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleksandr Turchynov, said that they started full production of the Hrim-2 missile system, starting from the fuel and ending with the missile warhead, which would be the best standard of operational-tactical missiles existing in the world. He noted that the weapon will consist almost entirely of Ukrainian components and its development and production involve the cooperation of almost 50 domestic enterprises.
On August 30, 2016, the Press Service of one of the domestic design bureaus disseminated information that Ukraine was beginning to develop the newest operational-tactical missile system Hrim-2 and already on January 2, 2018, information appeared about its readiness for testing.
It was expected that Hrim-2 would undergo state tests in the fall of 2019 and begin entering service in 2022. But things didn’t go further than a single copy, which, starting in 2018, travelled along Khreshchatyk year after year during the military parade on Independence Day.
In February 2021, according to information from former Defence Minister Andriy Taran, the Hrim-2, or the Sapsan, project was just over 80% ready. The reason (and this is not even funny anymore) was the lack of funding.
In March 2023, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov, said in an interview that the plans are to finish the creation of the Hrim-2/Sapsan missile system this year.
“I think this is quite real. I would call it a plan. I recently visited production and looked at some separate elements of this project, so I am optimistic about the implementation of this plan,” Minister Reznikov said.
Technical characteristics of the Hrim-2 missile system
You can find some information about the Hrim-2 in open sources. The weapon has high accuracy and missile defence penetration of more than 96%. This is achieved because these missiles are capable of flying not only along a ballistically predicted trajectory but also along an aeroballistic one - unpredictably changing the trajectory during the flight, which guarantees a breakthrough of all existing air defence systems, even the Russian S-300 and S-400. That is, this is some kind of improved version of the Russian Iskander.
It is also known that the missile’s onboard control system is inertial and is equipped with navigation systems and guidance systems of various types (radar, optical-electronic).
The warhead of the single-stage ballistic missile is designed to weigh 480 kg. The monoblock design uses a high-explosive fragmentation or penetrating high-explosive fragmentation charge. The weight of the warhead allows us to say that it is capable of destroying an enemy over an area of 10,000 square meters with a cassette charge, or on an area of 2-3 hectares with a conventional high-explosive fragmentation charge.
The authors of the project especially note that the Hrim-2 system is adapted for firing both ballistic and cruise missiles, which makes it universal and suitable for both air defence and the coast guard, and also allows it to be used as a long-range operational-tactical missile system.
The minimum firing range of this complex is 50 km, the maximum is 280 km in the export version and 350 km for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (this is due to the “Missile Technology Control Regime”, which prohibits the sale of surface-to-surface missiles with a longer range to foreign states). However, judging by the available information from some sources, 350 km is the “legal” range (registered under existing legal restrictions), and the actual range of the Hrim-2 could be up to 500 km.
Thus, the Hrim-2 tactical missile system was considered a powerful non-nuclear deterrent against an aggressor. And who knows how history would have turned out if the authorities had found money to complete the project before February 24, 2022...
Instead of conclusions
So, as we see, neither the Hrim-2 nor the Sapsan officially exist yet, but the fame of their victories is already confidently spreading across the Internet. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the final tests of the Hrim-2/Sapsan missiles were carried out in combat conditions, using Russian military facilities in Crimea as targets. It makes a certain sense. But it’s better to wait for official information.
The concerns of the Russian MoD are clear. After all, if Ukraine managed to bring this project to combat standards, then such a concept as “safe distance” has lost its meaning not only in Donbas or Crimea but also in Moscow.