Illustrative image.
The naval version of the Pantsir-S air defense system, dubbed the Pantsir-M, had successfully engaged a Storm Shadow cruise missile, TASS reported on April 7, citing remarks by the CEO of High Precision Weapons company Oleg Ryazantsev in an interview with Zvezda Plus television.
“A ship on combat duty engaged the Storm Shadow missile. In other words, we can already speak about the first successful use of the serially produced Pantsir-M system against the Storm Shadow cruise missile,” Ryazantsev said.
The Pantsir-M air defense system was “designed to counter threats of such kind,” the chief executive explained during the interview.
The Russian jamming-resistant naval close-in weapon system (CIWS) entered service in 2018 and is planned to replace Soviet-made Kashtan-M systems.
The Pantrsir-M is equipped with a phased array radar, electro-optical/infrared targeting and identification systems based on that of the Pantsir-S’ 1RS2-1.
Using its main armament, the Pantsir-S’ 57E6 missiles and Hermes-K missiles, the CIWS can engage targets with a range of up to 20 kilometers. Its secondary armament are two six-barreled 30×165mm GSh-6-30K/AO-18KD rotary cannons with a range of five kilometers.
The Pantsir-M is fully automated and can operate as a battery of up to four modules. It can intercept sea skimming missiles flying as low as two meters above the surface. If a target isn’t sufficiently destroyed by the missile attack it can automatically direct its cannons against it.
The CIWS’ success against the Franco-British Storm Shadow is not surprising considering that the Pantris-S has shot down several missiles of this type since it was first supplied to Ukraine by the United Kingdom last year.
The Storm Shadow is a low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. It features a GPS-aided inertial navigation system with a terrain profile matching system. For terminal guidance, the missile is equipped with an imaging infrared scene-mapping area correlator system.
The maximum range of the Storm Shadow is 560 kilometers. However, it is thought that Ukraine received the downgraded export version with a range of 250 kilometers. The Ukrainian Air Force has reportedly integrated the 1,300 kg cruise missile on its Soviet-era Su-24 fighter bombers.
Kiev forces have launched dozens of Storm Shadow missiles at the Crimean Peninsula since last year. Most of the attacks targeted the Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet, which makes the capabilities of the Pantsir-M especially important in countering these missiles.
The Russian Navy is working on replacing all old Kashtan-M systems with the new Pantsir-M. However, it is unclear how many have been installed on the warships of the Black Navy Fleet so far.
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