As reported by the Telegram account “Operativny ЗСУ”, the Ukrainian armed forces would have shown the combat use of the French Crotale air defense system, which arrived in the country as part of military aid from France.
In the video, made public by the Air Force Command press service, it is seen how this system helps the Ukrainian army to counter Russian missile attacks and hit other enemy air targets, including kamikaze drones.
The video, just a few seconds, shows how the crew operating the Crotale visually and radar track an aerial object and launch an anti-aircraft missile to intercept it. As heard, the first missile misses the target, although it would hit a second. The enemy air target was eventually hit by the French air defense system.
The transfer of this system to Ukraine was made public in December 2022, when French President Emmanuel Macron announced it in an interview with local media.
The Crotale SAM is mounted on a P4R (4×4) armored wheeled chassis. Although it cannot operate while on the move, after stopping, it needs less than five minutes to be combat ready.
The R440 missile it fires is stored in the transport and launch container. The total weight of the missile is 100 kg. The detachable high-explosive warhead is located in the central part of the missile’s hull.
The flight speed reaches 2.3 km/s and the target range is between 500 and 10,000 meters, with the altitude being up to 6,000 meters.
The Crotale has been part of the French Army since the 1970s, although its origins date back to 1964. Then South Africa commissioned the French company Thomson-Houston-Hotchkiss-Brandt, which would later become Thomson-CSF and later Thales Group, the development of a defense system that was also financed by France.
Known as the Cactus in South Africa, the first version of the Crotale entered service in 1971. The achievements of what is today considered one of the most successful air defense systems in the world impressed France who immediately purchased it for the French Army and changed its name. .
In the little more than half a century since it went into production, Thales Group has manufactured more than 600 Crotal units and more than 6,000 missiles for the system.. Currently, and after several versions over the decades, also for the naval force, it is part of the arsenal of 14 other countries in addition to France.
Until the 1990s, Crotale was a system with two vehicles, both based on the chassis of the Thomson-Hotchkiss P4R 4×4: a TELAR (Transporter erector launcher and radar) and an ACU (Acquisition and Coordination Unit). o Acquisition and Coordination Unit) in charge of detecting targets, tracking and identifying them and which allowed the system’s surveillance area to be expanded. Starting with the Crotale NG that went into production in that decade, all systems were unified in a single vehicle.
Currently Crotale It can be mounted on a variety of adapted vehicles ranging from armored personnel carriers like the Sisu XA-181 or APC MM3 to tanks like the AMX-30, as well as warships. The system features up to 8 launcher tubes and can store 18 missiles in the magazine behind the turret. It cannot fire while moving, but it can stop and be ready to fire in just five minutes.
With the New Generation model, the R.440 and R.460 missiles used by the previous versions were replaced by the VT1. These are short-range missiles designed to counter all kinds of threats including “tactical missiles, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft that deploy highly maneuverable weapons,” Thales Group explains on its website.
The VT1 have a length of 2.35 meters and 16 centimeters wide. Each weighs 76 kilograms, including the 13 kg warhead, and can reach a speed of up to Mach 3.5 and a height of up to 9,000 meters. with a range of more than 11 kilometers. Together with the detection and tracking systems of the latest version of defense system, Crotale Mk3, they can protect an area of 12 kilometers against highly maneuverable targets.
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