Tor Missile System - Description

Description

The closest foreign analogues to the Tor, in function and operation, are systems like the British Rapier missile and French Crotale missile systems. All 3 systems are mobile and self-propelled, Tor using the 9A330 combat vehicle, which carries a crew of four (one driver, three operators), and acts as an autonomous Transporter, Launcher, And Radar unit, or TLAR (similar to but not a TELAR, as it does not erect the missile to a launch position). The 9A330 is based on the GM-355 chassis manufactured by MMZ, the Tor-M1 using the improved GM-5955. Like Rapier and Crotale, in addition to the tracked vehicle, there are also static and towed versions of the Tor, as well as a wheeled technology demonstrator, the Tor-M2E.

Arranged in a similar fashion to the previous 9K33 Osa and 9K22 Tunguska (Russian: Тунгуска) air defense systems, Tor’s TLAR features a turret with a top mounted target acquisition radar, and frontal tracking radar, with 8 ready to fire missiles stored vertically between the two radars. The target acquisition radar is a 3D F band pulse doppler radar, equipped with a truncated parabolic antenna, and a mechanically, later electronically, scanned in azimuth with a 32 degree sector view, and has an average power output of 1.5 kW, which provides a maximum detection range of 25 km/16 mi. For reference, a McDonnell Douglas F-15 at an altitude of 6 km has a detection probability of 0.8 at this range. The electronic ‘heart’ of the system is a digital fire control system, which allows detection of up to 48 targets and the tracking of ten at any one time, and integrates IFF functionality; the IFF antenna being mounted above the search radar.

The target engagement radar is a G band/H band (later K band) pulse doppler radar with an electronically scanned (in azimuth) phased-array antenna. The radar is classed as a thinned array (design using fewer elements) incorporating only 570 phase shifters and uses linear polarization. The radar has an average power output of 0.6 kW providing a maximum detection range of 20 km/12 mi. An F-15 type aircraft had a detection probability of 0.8 at this range. Originally Tor could only engage one target at a time, and with only two of its missiles. Later variants of the Tor system (Tor-M1 and M2E) incorporate additional fire control channels, as well as improved fire control computers, allowing the system to engage two (M1) and then four (M2E) targets, whilst simultaneously guiding up to four (M1) and then eight (M2E) missiles.. There is also a small antenna on the top of the target engagement radar to communicate with missiles after launch. Together these radars carry the NATO reporting name "Scrum Half". To reduce the dimensions of the vehicle, the target acquisition radar can be folded down horizontally when travelling, and the tracking radar can partially rotate away from vertical. To allow engagements in the ECM heavy environment that is the modern battlefield, the 9K332 is equipped with an optical tracking system, complementing the main radar.

As a fully mobile system, the Tor is capable of acquiring and tracking targets while the TLAR is moving. Due, however, to the interference with launch operations while on the move, missiles can be fired only when the system is in a stationary position. Once set up, the reaction time (from target detection to engagement) is described as 5–8 seconds, depending on the variant; however, reaction time is somewhat longer (around 10 seconds) whilst in motion and firing in short halts. To facilitate this mode of operation, an auxiliary power unit (APU) is fitted so that the main engine can be shut down while the radar and missile system continue to operate when stationary, enabling long periods of readiness. The digital computers allowed for a higher degree of automation that any previous Soviet system of its type. Target threat classification is automatic and the system can be operated with little operator input, if desired. The high performance computing system combined with a phased array radar are the main reasons for the system's high degree of accuracy, ability to intercept small, fast and highly maneuverable targets, and the very fast reaction times of the system. It is equipped with NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) protection. Reflecting the complex nature of system, the price per unit was quoted as $25 million in 2007.

Typically, a battery of four Tor vehicles is accompanied by the mobile Ranzhir-M (Russian: "Ранжир-М") command center. It allows for efficient allocation of tasks between the individual Tor-M1 crews and allows each TLAR to be linked into a wider air defense system, thereby increasing target detection range and reaction time.