SY-53 Pok-u
| SY-53 Pok-u | |
|---|---|
| Type | Standoff submunition delivery system |
| Place of origin | Menghe |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2013-present |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Buksŏng Industries Group |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 655 kg (SY-53G/N/R) 600 kg (SY-53D) |
| Length | 3.74 m (SY-53G) 3.67 m (SY-53N/D/R) |
| Height | 400 mm |
| Warhead | 8 × DRH-35 (SY-53G) 24 × Buŏng-i (SY-53N/R) 336 × JIG-J (SY-53D) |
| Engine | Turbofan |
| Wingspan | 840 mm |
Operational range | 200 km (SY-53G/N/R) 220 km (SY-53D) |
| Speed | Mach 0.8 |
Guidance system | CSNS and inertial guidance, terminal contrast seeker |
Launch platform | Songrim SR-8 Daesŭngri DS-9 Songrim SR-12 |
The SY-53 Pok-u (Menghean: 폭우 / 暴雨, "cloudburst") is a type of standoff munition developed in Menghe. It is powered by a turbofan engine, much like a conventional cruise missile, but releases submunitions over the target rather than impacting directly. Four variants exist: the SY-53G, which carries eight runway-cratering munitions; the SY-53N, which carries 24 Buŏng-i anti-tank munitions; the SY-53R, an improved version of the SY-53N; and the SY-53D, which carries 336 JIG-J anti-personnel mines. All variants rely on CSNS and inertial guidance for the initial approach stage, with varying terminal guidance systems.
Design
All variants of the SY-53 missile have a rectangular body measuring 67 centimeters wide by 40 centimeters high. Two wings, held in place by the bomb suspension lugs, extend once the missile is released, providing lift. All variants of the missile have the same wings and the same propulsion unit, but the payload sections are modular: the N, D, and R variants have twenty-four 146mm cylinders with twelve facing out of each side, and the G variant has a "bomb bay" layout with a drop-away bottom panel. The guidance unit in the nose section also differs between variants.
Though more expensive and less space-efficient than a glide bomb or gravity bomb, the SY-53 can fly over 200 kilometers to the target, following a low-level trajectory the entire route. The G, N, and R variants even incorporate built-in radar jamming antennas to mask a missile strike's approach and improve its odds of getting through. These features make the SY-53 especially useful as a standoff munition, allowing a strike aircraft to release its payload just outside the range of land-based COFFIN-ER and S-300 family missiles.
Variants
SY-53G
The SY-53G is the anti-runway variant of the SY-53 family. It carries eight DRH-35 runway-cratering munitions. The DRH-35 is a long, slender projectile with a ground-penetrating nose section and a rocket booster tail section, and appears to be derived from the Sieuxerrian BAP 100. The munitions are carried nose-first in a two-by-four grid inside the missile's payload section. As the SY-53G flies over a runway, the munitions release one by one at regular intervals. A small parachute on the rear slows the DRH-53 and tilts it into a nose-down position, at which point a fast-burning solid-fuel rocket in the rear activates, propelling the nose section through the ground, where it detonates underneath the runway. This sub-pavement detonation method heaves up portions of runway in a roughly two-to-five-meter radius, and demands more time-consuming repair work than a conventional runway-cratering bomb.
As on the other two variants, the initial guidance stage relies on a combination of CSNS satellite navigation and inertial navigation. During the last 40 kilometers of the approach, a jamming unit in the nose cone activates. This jammer generates false targets, masks the number of missiles on approach, and reduces the hit probability of surface-to-air missiles defending the airfield. Usually, the SY-53 is programmed to approach the airfield such that it will fly over and along the designated runway; as a backup measure against CSNS jamming, a small dual-wavelength camera unit in the nose scans the terrain ahead and compares it with pre-programmed target information, ensuring that the missile flies directly over the pavement of the designated runway.
Specifications (DRH-35):
- Mass: 35 kg
- Length: 1.68 m
- Diameter: 120 mm
SY-53N
The SY-53N is the anti-tank variant of the SY-53 family. It carries 24 Buŏng-i submunitions in side-facing tubes, with twelve on each side. As the missile overflies a concentration of enemy armor, pyrotechnic charges in the side-facing tubes fire off one by one, throwing smart submunitions to each side. The upper row of tubes have larger propellant charges, and throw their submunitions approximately 100 meters to each side, compared to approximately 35 meters for the bottom row. This allows the missile to evenly disperse submunitions over a rectangular area roughly 200 meters wide and 400 meters long. Once released and armed, the Buŏng-i submunition spirals toward the ground with an active infrared and laser seeker, and fires an explosively formed penetrator at the roof armor of any tank, parked aircraft, or light vehicle in its path.
In addition to its inertial and CSNS guidance options, the SY-53N has a forward-facing camera and short-range jammer unit, much like the SY-53G. Instead of mapping out the runway, however, the camera unit instead identifies the heat signatures of motor vehicles and adjusts the missile's course to overfly the largest concentration of heat signatures. This guidance mode allows the SY-53N to engage moving armored targets, updating the destination rather than treating it as a fixed set of coordinates. In addition to attacking concentrated armor thrusts, the SY-53N is also useful for attacking motor pools, road columns, parked aircraft in the open, and concentrations of supply trucks.
SY-53D
The SY-53D uses the same 24-tube missile body as the SY-53N, but instead of one Buŏng-i smart submunition, each tube contains fourteen JIG-J anti-personnel mines: two layers of seven mines in a honeycomb formation. This results in a total of 336 JIG-J mines. The total dispersal area for a single minelaying run measures 200 meters wide by 1,200 meters long, with the dispersal tubes firing at reduced intervals compared to those on the SY-53N. Unlike the SY-53N, however, a single SY-53D can be programmed to release mines over multiple programmed areas, with course changes in between. It is entirely CSNS and inertially guided, with no backup optical system.
Rather than laying a front-line minefield in front of friendly forces - for which the Menghean Army has a wide variety of less expensive minelaying systems - the SY-53D is most useful for laying minefields in depth areas. It can close off highways to unarmored vehicles, restrict movement around a key facility, or, when used in conjunction with SY-53G, extending an airfield's out-of-action time by forcing repair teams to wait until EOD teams have cleared the area.
SY-53R
The SY-53R is a heavily upgraded version of the SY-53N which was introduced in 2021. It has the same engine and payload sections, but a new guidance module with improved programming. While the SY-53N detects a single concentration of vehicles for a constant-density overflight attack, the SY-53R is a loitering munition which autonomously patrols an assigned area, flies over any vehicle targets it detects, ejects a number of submunitions proportional to the number and concentration of targets, and continues searching for other vehicle groups until its fuel is expended. This guidance mode makes the SY-53R more effective at engaging highly dispersed targets, and reduces the risk that the missile will arrive at a target area and self-destruct without finding valid targets.
Land-launched variants
The JYB-53/2 is a land-based launch vehicle based on the Taekchŏn T512 8x8 chassis. It carries two SY-53 missiles in side-by-side launch boxes on the rear of the chassis. These missiles are identical to either the SY-53G, N, or D, and differ only in that they have been fitted with solid-fuel rocket boosters to propel them into stable flight until the turbofan can take over. Once in the air, the land-launched missiles have identical range and performance characteristics to the air-launched variants.
Though marketed widely for export, the JYB-53/2 is not widely used in Menghe. The Menghean Army determined that it is redundant with less expensive 200-kilometer-range cluster munition delivery systems, such as the JHB-23/16 and JHB-40/8. Its main advantage over these systems is its sea-skimming or terrain-following flight path, which reduces the probability of detection and makes the missile more difficult to intercept. As such, the Menghean Army is believed to operate a small number of these systems near Isla Diamante, and possibly near Altagracia as well.