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​That Time russia Wanted Own IDAS Missile Analog For Submarines, and How the Project Ended

illustrative photo: open hatches of the vertical launch tubes on a USS Oklahoma City submarine / Open-source photo
illustrative photo: open hatches of the vertical launch tubes on a USS Oklahoma City submarine / Open-source photo
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The russians' attempts to create their own air defense missile for submarines like the German IDAS represent a true chronicle of degradation

The other day, Defense Express wrote about the IDAS submarine-launched air defense missile, developed for over 30 years by the German company Diehl Defence. We noted, in particular, that the very aspiration to ensure safety for underwater vessels from anti-submarine aircraft is not new but technologically very complex.

Simultaneously with the evolution of anti-submarine helicopters, nations across the world, including the USSR and later the russian federation, were actively invested in the development of countermeasures. But in russia, this effort came down to not just a few failed projects but became a whole chronicle of conceptual degradation that is worth a closer look into.

Read more: 30 Years of IDAS Development: Germany’s Underwater Anti-Aircraft Missile to Counter russian Helicopters – Was It Worth It?
The 9M330 missile / Defense Express / That Time russia Wanted Own IDAS Missile Analog For Submarines, and How the Project Ended
The 9M330 missile / Open-source archive photo

The Soviet Union started creating submarine-launched surface-to-air missiles (SL-SAM) in the 1970s. By 1982, the Fakel Design Bureau showed a draft design of a guided underwater missile, based on the 9M330 missile from the Tor air defense system. The launcher was a 533-mm torpedo tube in a submerged position.

However, the 9M330 missile utilized command guidance, so the engineers needed to develop a sophisticated system that would bring the missile to the surface and provide target designation, or to install a homing head on the missile. Apparently, the complexity of this challenge became fatal to the project. Moreover, even simpler issues turned out impossible, such as stabilizing the missile when it's leaving the water which posed a problem even in small sea swell.

After the collapse of the USSR, russia attempted its own Lazer project, followed by the Lazer-2 two years later. This time the development leveraged the technologies implemented in the 9M96 missile from the S-400 air defense system with a range of 40 to 50 km in the basic version (there's also the newer 120-km 9M96M variant, little is known about this one yet). Instead of a torpedo tube, the russians tried a launch container attached to a towed sonar that the submarine pulled astern.

The 9M96 missile / Defense Express / That Time russia Wanted Own IDAS Missile Analog For Submarines, and How the Project Ended
The 9M96 missile, and the blue line in the center of the missile is the said gas-dynamic belt / Open-source archive photo

After detecting a target, the container was supposed to float up to the surface and discharge. After a vertical launch, the missile aligned with the horizon and began to rotate all 360 degrees, scanning the space with its active radar homing head in search of a target. Having locked on a target, it was supposed to stabilize and engage. If none was detected, it would simply fall into the sea.

Even though it sounds like something from a fairy tale, they actually came up with a realistic solution: the gas-dynamic belt could put it in a horizontal position and spin it up. However, the complexity of implementing this design once again killed the project.

SH-60B Seahawk anti-submarine helicopter / Defense Express / That Time russia Wanted Own IDAS Missile Analog For Submarines, and How the Project Ended
SH-60B Seahawk anti-submarine helicopter / Open-source illustrative photo

Nonetheless, russia did not learn from these mistakes, and in 2014 decided to resume the project. The updated concept degraded further, as they tried to stuff 9M96 missiles into cruise missile launchers, thus making the launch possible only from the surface, thus completely negating the whole point of the development. Still, the effort did not last long, it was soon curtailed because they lacked a suitable radar.

All in all, every russian attempt to develop an anti-aircraft missile system for submarines ended in failure, despite the complexity of designs going down a notch every time until it ruined the whole point of making this weapon.

Read more: Is Moscow Truly Developing a 1,000 km Ballistic Missile while Still Relying on North Korean Missile Supplies?