Ukraine has jeopardized the export of Russian combat aircraft by stopping the supply of thermal homing heads for the Mayak seeker for the R-73E close-in missiles, which are equipped with all Russian combat aircraft. The promising missiles that are being developed to replace the R-73 are not yet ready even for the Russian Air Force. When they will be exported, it is even more unknown.
Buyers of Russian aircraft may soon be left without R-73 close-in missiles, which “catch up” with enemy aircraft using an infrared homing head. These missiles operate on the “fire and forget” principle and remain one of the most formidable weapons against aircraft. The latest modifications of the missile (RMD-2) have an all-angle multi-site homing head with a dual-band cooled photodetector, the sensitivity of which is twice as high as the basic version. These devices, called MK-80 “Mayak”, have been produced by the Kiev Arsenal plant since Soviet times.
As a representative of the military-industrial circles told Gazeta.Ru, deliveries of these devices from Ukraine ceased in March 2014, and the stocks that the manufacturing plant has are practically exhausted.
https://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2015/02/19_a_6418029.shtml
“Homing heads for the R-73 are made by the Arsenal plant in Kiev; since March last year, all deliveries of these products have been stopped. If we do not establish production of similar products in Russia in the next six months, the combat aircraft that we offer for export may be left without close-in missiles. What is available is designed for 2-3 years,” explained a representative of the military-industrial complex.
The rocket can only be in operation for a couple of years, since the infrared sensors need constant cooling with liquefied gas. It is thanks to them that the rocket is able to see a target in a sector of 120 degrees, and due to supersonic speed, it can reach objects flying at an altitude of 20 m to 20 km.
The R-73 was created at the Vympel design bureau in 1983 and is still the main close combat weapon for all modifications of the MiG-31 interceptors, MiG-29 and Su-27 front-line fighters, Su-34 front-line bombers, Su- 25TM and combat training aircraft Yak-130.
The leadership of Vympel told Gazeta.Ru that they were aware of the problem of the shortage of Ukrainian GOS, but refused to discuss it, citing state secrets.
The design bureau stressed that work is underway on another promising short-range missile, which should be ready just in the next few years.
In turn, the Air Force command told Gazeta.Ru that although the R-73s are used in combat mode for a maximum of 2–3 years, they can be stored much longer: “We have a lot of these missiles stored, and in storage mode they can be in working condition up to 30 years. So it will be enough for our century, ”the representative of the Air Force assures.
However, stopping supplies from Ukraine could jeopardize the export of Russian combat aircraft.
At various times, the missile was supplied to Algeria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, Germany, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, North Korea, Cuba, Peru, Poland, Serbia, Syria, Slovakia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and SOUTH AFRICA.
A representative of the Dux plant, which produces the R-73, told Gazeta.Ru that production of the missile continues to ensure export supplies and has a stock of seekers for the next few years, but also declined to make other comments.
Another representative of the plant explained that the production of the Mayak GOS was launched at one of the Russian enterprises from modern components, but large-scale orders are required for the project to pay off.
“You need to understand that Arsenal assembled these “heads” from Russian components, so there were no special problems with organizing production. Now this production has been recreated in Russian conditions using modern element base. Therefore, in order to recoup this project, serious volumes of orders are needed. The higher the production volumes, the cheaper the price for each product will be,” explained the interlocutor of Gazeta.Ru.
The interlocutor acknowledged that the demand for R-73 missiles remains "stably high." “We supply these and other missiles to several countries of the world, so there should be no problems here,” a Dux spokesman said.
Viktor Murakhovsky, a member of the public council of the government's Military-Industrial Commission , believes that the Air Force has enough reserves to manage the mass production of new Russian next-generation missiles. “In my opinion, the stock of such missiles is quite sufficient to resolve local issues. Newly developed missiles, which are made by the Tactical Missiles Corporation, are supplied exclusively by Russian manufacturers. The fact that they have not yet passed state tests is another matter. But we have a fairly large overlap in reserves,” Murakhovsky said.
