Kashtan CIWS

The Kashtan (Каштан, English: Chestnut) close-in weapon system (CIWS) is a modern naval air defence gun-missile system deployed by the Russian Navy.

It is found on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, Kirov class battlecruisers, Neustrashimy class frigates, People's Liberation Army Navy Sovremenny class destroyers and Indian Talwar class frigates and other modern designs. Most typically deployed as a combined gun and missile system, it provides defence against anti-ship missiles, anti-radar missiles and guided bombs. The system can also be employed against fixed or rotary wing aircraft or even surface vessels such as fast attack boats or targets on shore.

Design
The weapon is a modular system comprising a command module and typically 2 combat modules, although the number can be as many as 8 in the case of Admiral Kuznetsov or the Indian Vikramaditya. The command module detects and tracks threats, distributes targeting data to the combat modules, and interrogates IFF of approaching threats. The command module has a 3-D target detection radar, and an all weather multi-band integrated control system. Depending on the number of installed combat modules, the system can engage multiple targets simultaneously. The combat modules automatically track using either radar, electro-optronic control system (such as FLIRs) or both, and then engages targets with missiles and guns. The combat modules are typically equipped with two GSh-30K (AO-18K) six-barrel 30 mm rotary cannons, fed by a link-less feeding mechanism, and two 9M311 launchers equipped with 4 ready-to-fire missiles each and fed by a reloading system storing 32 missiles in ready-to-launch containers.

The guns used in the Kashtan are the GSh-30K six-barrel 30 mm rotary cannon. Individually, each GSh-30K has a higher rate of fire compared to other guns used by other CIWS such as the GAU-8 on the Goalkeeper and the M61 Vulcan on the Phalanx. Along with a high rate of fire, the fairly heavy round (390 g) used by the Kashtan is comparable to the DU round of the GAU-8 Avenger (425 g), although the muzzle velocity (and therefore both the kinetic impact and effective range) is slightly lower, partially offsetting the high caliber and rate of fire.

The missiles used in the Kashtan are the 9M311 missiles, which is also used on the 9K22 Tunguska. The 9M311 is a SACLOS guided missile, however, it is steered automatically by the command module. The warhead weighs 9 kg and is either laser or radio fuzed. The warhead is a continuous-rod warhead with a steel cube fragmentation layer. The detonation of the warhead will form a complete circle of fragmentation that is 5 meters in radius, and damage or destroy anything in that circle.

The combination of the missiles and guns, provides more comprehensive protection when compared to other CIWS utilizing either missiles or guns only. The system's combined kill probability is 0.96 to 0.99.

Operators

 * Soviet Union
 * Soviet Union
 * Soviet Union
 * Soviet Union