Mail (radio intelligence station)

The design of the Kolchuga station was carried out in the 1980s. It was started at the Kursk Military Institute of the GRU of the USSR . Then the basic ideas of the complex were laid: passive radar in the entire frequency range ^[3] . In 1987, the documentation for the station was transferred to the Topaz Donetsk plant. According to the head of the Topaz plant, Yuri Ryabkin, “In the form in which the documents were transferred, Kolchuga is unsuitable for production ... Our design bureaus completely redone the station.” After conducting state tests, Kolchuga was put into service with the USSR ^[4] .

In the early 1990s The Ukrainian Armed Forces were armed with about two dozen Kolchuga stations. Such an amount made it possible to fully ensure monitoring of the electronic environment around Ukraine to a depth of 300-400 km. In the late 1990s and early 2000s. deliveries were made to a number of foreign countries. In particular, produced in 1991, 3 stations were modernized and in 2000 delivered to Ethiopia through Ukrspetsexport. At the time of 2007, the cost of the station was estimated at $ 5 million. ^[4]

After putting into production, the development continued, which was completed in 2000. In 2001, the new "Mail-M" was adopted by Ukraine. The Special Design Bureau OJSC, Donetsk National Technical University , Kiev Saturn enterprise, Poltava Elsis OJSC, Orizon (Smela), KP NPK Iskra , Generator participated in the development of the new version of Chainmail; (Kiev), " KrAZ ", Department of Radio Engineering and Radio Engineering, NTUU "KPI" ^[5] .

The Kolchugi-M design is protected by 8 patents and 12 technological know-how. The most important place among them is occupied by the technology of microelectronics, on the basis of which 96 microelectronic assemblies used in Kolchug-M are manufactured.

As of 2003, at least 76 Kolchuga and Kolchuga-M stations had been manufactured since 1987. Until January 1, 1992, 46 stations were manufactured by order of the USSR Ministry of Defense, 14 of which were designed for Ukraine. From 1992 to 2003, 30 Kolchug and Kolchug-M were built: 18 stations were delivered to the RF Armed Forces, 8 to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and 4 were sold to China ^[6] . At the same time, for 5 years from 1996 to 2001 “Chain mails” were not produced in Ukraine ^[7] .

In 2004, the product “Mail” was awarded the State Prize of Ukraine . The team of the enterprise for the development of “Chainmail” was awarded four international awards ^[4] .

According to Yuri Viktorovich Ryabkin, director of the Topaz Donetsk State Joint-Stock Holding Company (GAHK), in 2007 there was not a single workable complex in Ukraine ^[4] :

There is not a single full-fledged complex for the whole country ... For 16 years of independence, there was no money in the state budget for the purchase of Chain Mail. In Ukraine, there is virtually no domestic market for weapons and military equipment.

After the conflict began in the east of Ukraine in 2014, the Topaz plant remained on the territory not controlled by Kiev. In this regard, the production of "Mail" was moved to Zaporozhye to the SPC "Spark" . ^[8]

“Chain mail”, working on the principle of tropospheric distribution, is capable of not only detecting, but also recognizing ground (over-horizontal) and air targets. The system’s memory contains a variety of samples of intended goals. The Chain Mail system is difficult to detect because the system is reconnaissance in the passive mode, that is, the radio waves themselves do not emit. In any case, the “Mail” cannot be detected by traditional methods of electronic intelligence.

The chain-mail complex consists of three stations. He is able to accurately determine the coordinates of ground and surface targets, their movement routes at a distance of up to 600 km in the depth of the territory and 1000 km along the front, and for air targets flying at an altitude of 10 km - up to 800 km. ^[9]

The sensitivity of the radio path is from −110 to −155 dB / W in the panoramic view ^[10] . This is ensured by five antenna systems designed for different (meter, decimeter and centimeter) wavelengths .

"Chain-M" controls pulsed and continuous radiation at frequencies of 135-170, 230-470 and 750-18000 MHz. ^[11] The system is equipped with a parallel 36-channel detection receiver and electronics that can eliminate background signals and simultaneously track signals from 200 targets.

Footnotes

The first demonstration of the Kolchugi-M export version took place at the SOFEX-2000 arms exhibition in Jordan. ^[9] In 2001, a new version of Chain Mail participated in the World Arms Exhibition in Abu Dhabi . Chain-M was re-demonstrated in Jordan at SOFEX-2002. ^[19] In September 2002, the United States Department of State and the Western media announced the sale of 4 Kolchug complexes to the Iraqi armed forces through Jordan and accused Ukraine of violating sanctions against the Republic of Iraq. ^[20] This information led to the “chain scandal”, but was not subsequently confirmed.

"Chain Mail-M" was demonstrated in April 2002 in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, at the international exhibition of arms and military equipment DSA-2002 (Defense Services Asia) - one of the largest in the region. The company "Ukrspetsexport" presented to potential customers of the countries of the Asia-Pacific region the armament of Ukrainian production, including Kolchugu-M. ^[21]

In October 2002, the complex was presented in Greece at the international exhibition of arms and military equipment Defendory International-2002. The system aroused great interest of visitors and exhibitors. ^[22]

In March 2003, Ukrspetsexport showed at the sixth international exhibition of arms IDEX-2003 (International Defense Exhibition) the development of weapons and military equipment of about 40 enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine. ^[23] The Chain-M system has become one of the most popular exhibition stands and has attracted the attention of specialists and potential customers.

The Kolchuga-M system won the tender for the electronic intelligence system conducted by China in 2001. The main competitor of the complex was the Zoo system, exhibited by the Russian company Rosoboronexport. According to the results of the comparison, Mail-M demonstrated significantly higher tactical and technical characteristics. In January 2002, a contract was signed between Ukrspetsexport and China for the supply of four Kolchuga-M units during the year. ^[24]

The Kolchuga-M complex was demonstrated during MAKS-2009 in Russia. ^[25]

The Chain Mail-M was shown in September 2010 during the Africa Aerospace & Defense (AAD) exhibition of aviation equipment and weapons. ^{[26] [27]}

In February 2011, Chainmail-M was presented as part of the 10th anniversary exhibition of arms and military equipment IDEX-2011 in the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi. ^[28]

Since 2012, the TOPAZ enterprise has been fulfilling an order for the delivery of the Kolchuga-M CPP to Azerbaijan. The contract for the supply to Azerbaijan of products manufactured at the Topaz Donetsk Defense Plant was concluded during the period 2009–2010. ^[29]

•   Ukraine - 19 stations "Mail" and "Mail-M", as of 2009 ^[30]
•   Vietnam - 4 Kolchuga stations, as of 2013 ^[31]
•   Georgia ^[32] - 4 Kolchuga-M stations, as of 2008 ^{[11] [33] [34]}
•   Turkmenistan - since 2002 ^[35] , in 2004 there were 3 Kolchuga-M stations ^{[11] [36] [37]}
•   China - 4 Kolchuga-M stations, as of 2002 ^[11]
•   Ethiopia - 3 Kolchuga-M stations, as of 2002 ^{[11] [38] [39]}
•   Azerbaijan - a number of Kolchuga-M stations, as of 2013 ^[40]
•   Israel - a number of Kolchuga-M stations, as of 2018. ^[41]

• Zoo (radar)
• Regulation 2
• Mac (TP)
• Rafael

• At a recent arms exhibition in South Africa, the Donetsk Topaz plant presented the Kolchuga radio intelligence station (neopr.) . Archived December 2, 2012.
• What is the "Chain Mail" (neopr.) . Archived December 2, 2012.
• Around the "Chain Mail" (neopr.) . Archived December 2, 2012.
• Where do the legs of the "chain" scandal grow from? (unspecified) .
• Radio intelligence station “Chainmail” on YouTube