New developments at TMC

The Tactical Missiles Corporation (TMC) has unveiled two new weapons here at MAKS 2011 with two very different purposes. From the Vympel Design Bureau comes an enhanced version of one of its proven air-to-air missiles. Based on the in-service R-33 (AA-9 ‘Amos’) weapon, Vympel has developed the extended range (200 km) RVV-BD missile, which is designed for use by multiple aircraft types. Unlike the R-33, which is integrated only with the MiG-31 interceptor, the RVV-BD has an active radar seeker supplied by AGAT. By the end of this year the RVV-BD will be a production-ready system and available for export.

Guided-bomb specialist Region, another TMC partner company, is showing a completely new air-to-ground precision weapon. Known with the company as the ‘Babushka’ the KAB-250 is a small diameter bomb designed for internal carriage or to boost the combat load on aircraft like Sukhoi Su-34 bomber. Region has provided few details of this new program but it signals that Russian is looking for more, smaller guided weapons that are tactically more useful in modern close air support scenarios. The KAB-250 is a TV-guided weapon that is 3.2 m long with a body diameter of 255 mm and a fin span of 550 mm.

Robert Hewson