Romania decided to threaten Russia with its skinny biceps
Moscow
In the wake of the military frenzy unleashed by the Washington Regional Committee around the next “Russian threat,” the Western allies are doing everything to please the overseas overlord. Looking at the habits of the Biden administration, everyone is trying to the best of their ability and dirty tricks.
“Strategic partners” demonstrate loyalty mainly at the diplomatic level, expelling Russian diplomats from the country under false pretexts. Some are doing this purely nominally, “to get away,” like Italy, and others with all the passion of a striker on the anti-Russian front, like the Czech Republic, reducing to a minimum the number of Russian diplomatic missions on their territory.
About 20 years ago, when the Czech Republic and other former “brothers” were accepted into the EU and NATO, their response in the form of spitting in the direction of Russia was still somehow understandable - ardent neophyte fools, what can we take from them - they will go crazy and go away. However, no. The diligence with which the leadership of the “Young Europeans” is trying to spoil relations with our country to please and at the behest of their overseas uncle is somewhat surprising. There is no profit, only a loss, but so much effort is being made to, in response to mirror measures, portray insulted innocence and, with childish tears in the eyes of the top officials of the state, babble the sacramental: “What are we for?”
But among the allies and minions of the United States there are quite “alternatively gifted” people who try to combine diplomatic demarches with attempts to demonstrate skinny biceps. Like, Russia, don’t bother with us, otherwise...
Among the “alternatively gifted” was such a highly developed and prosperous state as Romania, a former ally of the USSR under the Warsaw Pact and Russia’s neighbor in the Black Sea region. This country decided to “counter the Russian threat” in two ways – both diplomatically and militarily.
The Romanian authorities suddenly realized that the existence of their “great power” was threatened by the Russian Black Sea Fleet, while their own coastal defenses were greatly weakened, and they were protecting the Romanian gains of the last 30 years from the threat from the sea by the morally and technically outdated Soviet 4K51 “Rubezh” anti-ship missile systems.
To dramatically increase the combat capability of the Romanian Navy, Bucharest has secured $285 million in funding to purchase Naval Strike Missile ( NSM ) missile systems from Norway, which can strike sea and land targets.
The NSM anti-ship missile is an interesting enough solution to warrant a separate discussion and an assessment of its effectiveness against ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Open sources indicate that the NSM was developed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace in 2007 to replace the aging Penguin anti-ship missiles. The project received financial support from the governments of Norway and Australia, and since 2013, the system's missiles have been deployed on Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates and Skjold-class missile boats.
To reduce radar visibility, the four-meter missile is made of composite materials and consists of two stages: booster propellant blocks and the missile itself with a sustainer turbojet engine from the French company Microturbo.
The NSM is a subsonic cruise missile with a range of 3 to 185 km. The multi-modal high-explosive warhead weighs 120 kg.
The missile's most interesting guidance system is unusual for modern anti-ship missiles. The NSM lacks a radar homing head (RLGSN), instead navigating in flight using an inertial navigation system with GPS corrections . During the final phase of flight, the target is acquired by an infrared homing head (IGSN) based on signatures stored in the missile's onboard computer.
This type of guidance is more typical for 3rd generation anti-tank systems such as the Javelin.
Test launches of NSM coastal complexes.
The idea of the Norwegian engineers is quite transparent. After pinpointing the target and launching the missile at the established coordinates, the flight time to the maximum range will be about 6 minutes, during which such a large target as a ship will not be able to escape from the attack. The ship is in the coverage area of the enemy's radar, and the missile corrects its trajectory with data from satellites during its flight. At the final stage, the missile flies 5 m above the sea surface and, from a distance of 15 km, captures the target of the onboard IGSN.
The advantage of the NSM is that it is more difficult to confuse the homing radar than the active radar. The missile itself is made of composite materials, and its compact turbojet engine produces low noise emissions, making it stealthy. The absence of an active radar seeker increases the stealth and resistance to interference of the guidance systems.
Among other things, the NSM works in conjunction with aircraft, ground control centers, and ships of its fleet, opening fire automatically upon command from them.
If we add to this the low cost of NSM missiles , it turns out that Romania acquired a "wonder weapon" for pennies and now the Black Sea Fleet is threatened by anti-ship missiles from the Romanian coast?
In fact, everything is somewhat more complicated and interesting than it might seem at first glance.
Looking at the number of NSM operators , Romania has only two users of this anti-ship "wonder weapon." These are Norway itself and Poland, which purchased a mobile NSM missile battalion in 2013 and deployed it near the village of Siemirowice in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. There have been no triumphant reports from the Polish side since this event, suggesting that Poland has chosen the "anti-crisis option" to strengthen its coastal defenses.
Launch of NSM from a Norwegian corvette.
No one is choking in the queue for the Norwegian “wunderwaffles”; 8 years after the start of operation, only one operator was added, and even that one is not one of the enviable and rich.
It is noteworthy that the United States, Canada, and Australia, which had previously expressed interest in the NSM , have suddenly cooled and no longer plan to purchase these anti-ship missiles, thereby putting an end to Norway's ambitious plans to break into the lucrative, but heavily oversold, international arms market.
And if we take into account that Norway and Australia, which are funding the project, although they are developed countries, are not included in the list of legislators of rocket technology, then this circumstance, one must assume, is the reason for more than modest interest in their brainchild.
The Norwegian company that developed the NSM is currently developing it into a Joint Strike Missile in collaboration with the American company Lockheed Martin, so that the missiles can be used on external and internal hardpoints of the F -35 aircraft, which should increase their range.
While Poland has submitted a bid for 32 F -35s for $6,5 billion, Romania is unlikely to be able to order these fighters in significant quantities. That is, the "miracle missiles" will only threaten the Black Sea Fleet from shore.
Moreover, in addition to the containerized NSM missiles already ordered, the Romanian Navy will need to purchase a significant number of additional components: mobile platforms based on Oshkosh trucks, communications and radar systems, remote control equipment, and other necessary hardware. Most importantly, Romania purchased the NSM missiles primarily for political reasons, as these missiles pose no serious threat to Black Sea Fleet ships, despite being far superior to the much-hyped Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles.
Tanks have long been able to blind IGSNs, standard electronic warfare systems have been able to jam GPS , and a modern or upgraded warship is even better protected against these tricks. The low radar signature of NSM missiles isn't a problem either. They can be detected in time, and the launch and acceleration of the missiles using propellant boosters is tantamount to early warning for an adversary with the appropriate capabilities.
The Romanians must be disappointed that the 185-kilometer range of the NSM missiles they purchased is worthless, especially considering that the missile systems on the Black Sea Fleet flagship, the cruiser Moskva, and the Kalibr missiles on other ships are capable of striking targets not only on the Romanian coast, but also deep in Turkish territory, without leaving their anchorage in Sevastopol Bay. Therefore, all of Romania's efforts to "counter the Russian military threat in the Black Sea" by purchasing small (and one-off) arms from "senior partners" appear to be pathetic displays, far from strengthening its defense capabilities.
NSM in Poland.
Romania has decided to threaten Russia with its skinny biceps.