Non-Subscriber Extract
Details emerge of Pantsir-S1E hybrid air-defence system
By Miroslav Gyürösi
06 February 2008
Jane's has had exclusive access to the interior of the production version of KBP design bureau's Pantsir-S1E hybrid gun/missile air-defence system developed for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to the vehicle's new AOP (Avtonomniy Opticseskiy Post) roof-mounted electro-optical system.
Although development of the Russian Pantsir started in 1989, such has been the pace of technical developments that the current Pantsir-S1E is virtually an all-new product. It consists of a control module, which houses electronic systems and a crew of two, a weapon module incorporating the turret and a power module.
This modularity would allow the hardware to be installed on a range of platforms, including wheeled and tracked vehicles, ground shelters or surface ships. A simpler missile-only version is being offered for use on light-tracked vehicles.
The systems to be delivered to the UAE will be installed on the Kamaz-6560 four-axle truck. This wheeled chassis was adopted after considering various Russian and German wheeled vehicles and the GM-352M1E tracked chassis from Belarus. The Kamaz-6560 version weighs 34 tons and has a maximum road speed of 70 km/h.
A console with two automated workstations equipped with 18-in flat-panel colour displays is located within the control module, which also contains communication hardware and the system's computers. There are two doors, one on either side, and the crew sit facing rearward. The interior is air conditioned.
A multifunctional 1RS2-1E MRLS (Mnogofunktsionalnaya RadioLokatsionnaya Stantsiya Soprovozdeniya) radar is mounted at the front of the turret, while at the rear is a 2RL80E surveillance radar whose antenna can be folded for transport.
Six ready-to-fire 57E6-E missiles in transporting and launching containers and a 2A38M 30 mm automatic cannon are mounted on each side of the turret, giving a total armament of 12 missiles and two cannons.
The 2RL80E surveillance radar search operates in S-band and can automatically detect and identify targets and recognise their target classes. It can track up to 20 targets simultaneously, providing range, azimuth, height and radial-speed data to the vehicle's onboard computing system.
Coverage can be managed in two seconds when the antenna is set to 30 rpm, or four seconds at 15 rpm. There are four elevation modes (0 to 60¡, 0 to 30¡, 40¡ to 80¡ and 0 to 25¡), while the range coverage can be set to 1 to 25 km, 1 to 30 km, 1 to 50 km, or 3 to 80 km.
Image: General view of the Pantsir-S1E shows the gun and missile armament, the 1RS2-1E radar at the front of the turret and the rectangular antenna of the 2RL80E surveillance radar at the rear (Miroslav GyŸršsi)