Russia parades Bastion-P in Crimea

Russia utilised the 9 May Victory Day Parade to stamp its mark over the disputed Crimean peninsula, with a large display of military equipment and attendance by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in Sevastopol.The parade also confirmed that Russia has deployed K-300P Bastion-P (SSC-5 'Stooge') mobile coastal defence missile systems in Crimea, with two launchers and two of their associated Monolit-B radar systems taking part in the parade.

Around 60 Russian aircraft overflew Sevastopol harbour, itself filled with some 20 Russian vessels from the Black Sea Fleet. Almost every aircraft type in Russian Air Force service was involved, including Tupolev Tu-160 'Blackjack', Tu-95 'Bear', and Tu-22M3 'Backfire' strategic bombers; Sukhoi Su-24 'Fencer', Su-25 'Frogfoot', and Su-34 'Fullback' strike aircraft; MiG-31 'Foxhound' interceptors; Su-27 'Flanker' and MiG-29 'Fulcrum' fighters; Il-76 transports and Il-78 tankers; and Mil Mi-28N 'Havoc' and Kamov Ka-52 'Hokum' attack helicopters - among others.The ground element of the Sevastopol parade also included 9K33 Osa (SA-6 'Gecko') and 9K38 Igla (SA-18 'Grouse') air defence systems; BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers; T-12 (2A19) 100 mm towed anti-tank guns; BTR-80 armoured personnel carriers; and GAZ Tigr 4x4 armoured patrol vehicles.

Putin and Shoigu oversaw the Sevastopol parades after viewing the parades in Moscow earlier on 9 May that included a similar number of aircraft and a much larger ground parade, including Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles.The deployment of Bastion-P systems to Crimea is significant in that they extend Russian coastal defence coverage across the southern coast of Ukraine, including the Black Sea port of Odessa, along with much of the Black Sea itself. Previously, Russia's Bastion-P-equipped 11th Independent Coastal Missile Brigade, based at Anapa near Novorossiysk, covered only the eastern Black Sea and southeast coast of Crimea to the tip of the Crimean promontory.

The P-800 Oniks missile used by the Bastion-P system has a cruise speed of M2.6 at high altitude (14 km or 50,000 ft), where it can achieve a maximum range of 300 km, or M2.0 at low altitude (between 10 to 20 m), where it can reach a range of 120 km.The P-800 missile carries either a 200 kg high-explosive (HE) or a 250 kg HE semi-armour piercing (SAP) warhead.The missile's guidance in the cruise or mid-course phase is inertial, using an inertial navigation system (INS), possibly with a GPS or Glonass receiver, and for the terminal phase there is a Granit radar seeker. The latter is believed to be a dual-mode active/passive radar with a range of 75 km in the passive mode and 50 km in the active mode. After the passive radar detects the ship target at long range, the missile then descends to low level to avoid detection and switches on its active radar at around 20 km from the target.

The missile can select an individual ship target from a group, reportedly even in a jamming environment. The terminal phase, which might be up to 40 km, is flown at low level, between 10 to 20 m altitude, with the missile making evasive manoeuvres near the target to defeat ship defence systems.The Bastion-P system became operational with the Russian Navy in 2010, and deliveries are ongoing.


http://www.janes.com/article/37829/russia-parades-bastion-p-in-crimea