In the outgoing year, a whole constellation of promising domestic weapons was presented, which still arouse public interest. Today I would like to sort out the most obvious and controversial points on this topic.
To begin with, a historical example. Three decades ago, there was a program SDI ("Star Wars") to create a large-scale missile defense system with space-based elements. Among the proposals were x-ray lasers with "nuclear pumping", attempts to stop ICBMs with a controlled swarm of microsatellites (the "Diamond Dust" project) and other amazing ideas. All of them were based on the data of fundamental science, backed up by technical "groundwork" in laboratory conditions.
As a result of the program, it turned out that all of the proposed "non-traditional" solutions are inferior in efficiency to more traditional means
Unlike the work on the creation of nuclear weapons or "missile euphoria" of the 60s, where the results were worth the cost, SDI turned out exactly the opposite. Combat satellites and "death rays" did not have a distinct superiority over the available weapons, but required much greater efforts to deploy them. The only result achieved in practice was the continuation of work on the creation of transatmospheric interceptors, on the basis of already known and mastered principles of rocketry.
In my opinion, the current situation with promising weapons is a reflection of those "Star Wars" of the late twentieth century. When the news about the creation of realistic tools was combined with statements about the development of completely fantastic, difficult to implement and, moreover, useless projects.
Let's see how it looks with specific examples.
There is no doubt about the news about the tests of ICBMs of the heavy class RS-28 "Sarmat" and mobile ground missile systems RS-26 "Rubezh". Further evolution of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Further, modern technologies allow the creation of a warhead that uses the aerodynamic principle of flight during descent (AGBO "Avangard"). A glider for the upper atmosphere, which does not need developed aerodynamic surfaces - the lift is created by the shape of the hull. When decelerating, the AGBO loses its lifting force and switches to a decrease along a ballistic trajectory. Because This aircraft was not originally intended for flying at low speeds and, moreover, it does not have landing modes. Such developments were well known in the past, for example, the BOR-4 orbital rocket plane (first launched in 1980). So no doubt about it.
The guidance system of the "Vanguard" is of interest. Unlike MIRVs, which almost instantly fall on the target along a ballistic trajectory, in the case of AGBO, it is impossible to provide acceptable accuracy only due to the impulse of the warhead disengagement system. Aerodynamic flight is associated with the unpredictable influence of the atmosphere, and the warhead at the end of the path will need additional correction.
A similar case from history is the Pershing-2 guided warhead. Outside the atmosphere, its primary, coarse correction was carried out according to the INS data, using gas rudders. The stage of precision guidance began at an altitude of about 15 km, after reducing the speed (to 2-3M) and dropping the heat-resistant fairing. Under a light radio-transparent fairing, the on-board radar came to life, in the memory of the RADAG system there were five digital terrain maps for different heights. The final correction was carried out, as in a conventional KAB, with the help of the "petals" of the aerodynamic rudders.
As you can see, the creators of "Pershing" relatively easily bypassed the problem with the "plasma cloud", which makes it difficult to target on hypersound. In theory, this method allows you to hit even large mobile objects, such as ships (Chinese "Dongfeng-21"). The disadvantage is that the warhead becomes vulnerable at the end of the flight.
How is the aiming of the Avangard AGBO target carried out - a secret sealed with seven seals. The main question is whether it was possible to create a sufficiently powerful and compact radar seeker that is capable of viewing anything from the upper atmosphere, from a height of tens of kilometers. Or is it another reincarnation of Pershing-2, which slowed down to absolutely ridiculous, by the standards of astronautics, speeds and only then began to think something.
I believe that here it was possible to voice all the main points of interest on the topic of AGBO. Let's move on.
Domestic combat laser complex? The main thing is not to trust its creation to Skolkovo.
80% of the world market for high power fiber lasers belongs to IPG Photonics, founded by a group of Russian scientists. Until now, one of its key scientific and industrial centers (IRE-Polyus) is located in the city of Fryazino (Moscow region). Given this potential, we can seriously talk about Russia's world leadership in the creation of laser weapons.
Moving on to the fun part.
Airborne ballistic missile "Dagger" and its complete opposite - hypersonic anti-ship missile system "Zircon", which, as presented, is a meaningless set of characteristics.
Many are now pouring coffee into the monitor, but the fact remains.
Scramjet engine, 5-6 speeds of sound ("on tests - up to 8"). The flight range, according to various estimates, is from 400 to 1000 km. All this - while maintaining the mass and dimensions of the subsonic "Caliber" with the ability to launch from standard UVP corvettes, frigates and MRK.
Similar characteristics correspond to an iron-nickel meteoritepart of which, due to intense ablative cooling (surface evaporation), will be able to fly a given distance in dense layers of the atmosphere. Because after the separation of the accelerator, such an aircraft will no longer have any reserves of mass for the installation of thermal protection, capable of withstanding heating at 3-4 thousand degrees. It should be a solid array of metal, the structure of which is not afraid of thermal heating.
Based on the task, this object must have the ability to maneuver and aim at the target. And the most important thing is to independently maintain hypersonic speed in the stratosphere.
This is some kind of new stage in the management of matter at the subatomic level, forcing stones to show signs of complex technical systems and artificial intelligence.
An 8-stroke anti-ship missile with a scramjet engine in the specified dimensions is a fierce pseudo-scientific fiction for a gullible public, always ready to charge banks from a TV with Chumak and make a profitable investment in MMM.
All currently known scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicles, whose characteristics are available in open sources (X-43 and X-51, photographs of which are issued as "Zircon") show that nothing of the kind in the dimensions of "Zircon" is impossible.
X-51, max. achieved speed - 5.1M, the longest flight - 426 km. Launch weight 1814 kg - when launched from the B-52 at transonic speed, at an altitude of 13 km. It is clear that when starting from the surface, from a shipborne UVP, such an aircraft would require a more massive launching accelerator. At the same time, the X-51 lacked a TPK and a mechanism for opening aerodynamic surfaces, which also contributed to a decrease in the launch mass of the device. He was ready for overclocking immediately after separation from the carrier. Finally, the X-51 was a "dummy", an experimental device in which there was not even a hint of a homing head and warhead.
The X-43 was even more exotic than the X-51. It charred at 9M in exactly 10 seconds. So much was the estimated operating time of its ramjet engine, and for acceleration at the start, a multi-ton stage of the Pegasus launch vehicle was used. Of course, the old man B-52 was also present in this scheme, at first he raised the entire system to an altitude of 13 km.
It is worth noting that both projects could not interest the military and were closed for their futility.
And now our media are poisoning stories about Mach 8 on testing "a missile that has already entered the arsenals of the Navy," which can be launched from the airborne bombardment of surface ships and launchers of submarines designed for subsonic cruise missiles.
Many are worried about why even the approximate appearance of "Zircon" has not yet been demonstrated. A logical question against the background of detailed and regular demonstrations of the "Dagger" or "accidental" spotlight of another top-secret weapon ("Status-6"). Secrecy, secrecy …
In my opinion, the answer lies on the surface - the publication of any specifics in the form of the appearance and layout of the rocket will immediately kill the myth of the hypersonic Zircon. Whatever the designers draw, it does not answer the question of how such impressive characteristics were achieved.
"We know this layout, how was the heating problem that inevitably arises in this and that part of the rocket was solved?" - such comments will inevitably follow from experts in the field of aircraft and rocketry.
Let's immediately note the version with deliberate misinformation and "screenshots from the game". The story with the "Zircon" could be based on the tests of an experimental aircraft, some modification of the "Onyx" or the Kh-31AD (the fastest anti-ship missiles in existence, capable of developing 3+ speeds of sound at high altitudes). And all this by a dexterous movement in the interests of individuals was presented for the "already adopted hypersonic anti-ship missile system" with randomly different characteristics.
The joke about Mach 8 was especially successful. There is such a catastrophic difference between five and eight speeds of sound (see heating table), which requires the use of completely different design solutions and materials. Not to mention the fact that the required thrust in level flight depends on the square of the speed, therefore, to exceed by 1.5 times the design characteristics of an aircraft created for flying at a speed of 5-6M … such a "success" can only cause a smile. It's like building a steam locomotive and ultimately building an airplane.
Eh … what's next? Nuclear-powered cruise missile!
A weapon that does nothing in the presence of vast arsenals of silo, mobile and submarine-based ballistic missiles. And which promises big problems for those who are going to use it.
However, Lao Tzu never spoke of the second sword.
All tasks of the Burevestnik are reliably duplicated by the available means of the nuclear triad. No risk of radiation poisoning of our own territories at each test launch.
But what's common sense when people's trust is at stake? A nuclear missile is indispensable here.
Unlike the unscientific fiction of Zircon, the story of the nuclear missile has received at least some visual confirmation. However, there is nothing on them that could attract attention. The launch video is no different from testing conventional cruise missiles. As well as photographs of the assembly shop, which show the head fairing, which can belong to any type of airplane. Neither the look nor the general operating principle of the engine was presented, given the MO's passion for demonstrating available samples of the latest weapons. Compare with the photographs of the "Dagger" in which even the smallest details and side numbers are noticeable.
Feasibility of "Petrel" from a technical point of view? The answer is ambiguous.
Experiments in the early 60s.("Tory-IIC") proved the efficiency of a nuclear ramjet engine during ground tests. Adjusted for the significant mass and dimensions inherent in any nuclear reactors. It is no coincidence that nuclear power has received the greatest development in the form of stationary objects (NPP) and power plants of ships, the dimensions of which allow the installation of a reactor and the necessary energy converters.
The military was never able to determine the route during the air tests of the nuclear rocket motor. It is estimated that for every hour of flight, the rocket would infect 1,800 square miles of radiation. And it will be unsafe to approach the crash site (the inevitable ending for any rocket) for thousands of years. According to one of the crazy proposals, the rocket should be tied to a cable and driven in a circle over the desert in Nevada …
At this time, reliable ICBMs appeared, and the idea of a nuclear-powered missile launching system was immediately forgotten.
Modern experts suggest the creation of an "environmentally friendly" nuclear-powered rocket with an isolated core. However, there is also a more categorical opinion. An oversized motor and high airflow rates will require unconventional heat transfer media. Heating the working fluid (air) to the required temperature (over 1000 ° C) in such a short time is possible only by mixing it with particles evaporating from the surface of the core. Which will lead to radiation pollution of the exhaust.
In both cases, it remains unclear what to do when it eventually collapses to the ground.
The engine of the Kalibr rocket develops a thrust of 440 kgf at a cruising speed of 0.8M (270 m / s), which corresponds to a power of 1.2 MW.
The ideal design efficiency of a turbojet engine is 30%, approximately the same figure describes the efficiency of nuclear power plants (submarine reactors). For the existence of the Burevestnik, while maintaining the subsonic flight speed and mass and dimensions of the Caliber, a nuclear engine with a thermal power of about 4 MW is required.
Is it a lot or a little?
American experts, using the example of an experimental small-sized reactor HFIR, conclude that it is in principle possible to create a 1MW reactor in the dimensions of a cruise missile body. HFIR's "beer keg" develops a thermal capacity of 85 MW, but experts forget to say that the "keg" is the core itself. And the whole system is 10 meters high and weighs tens of tons.
At the same time, as you understand, the power and size of nuclear installations are linked by a nonlinear relationship. In the case of a nuclear missile with the dimensions of "Caliber", the designers have only about 500 kg in stock (instead of the fuel supply and a conventional turbojet engine).
The most powerful and advanced of the small-sized nuclear reactors for equipping spacecraft (Topaz-1, late 1980s) with a dead weight of 980 kg had a thermal power of “only” 150 kW.
This is 25 times less than the required value for the existence of a cruise missile.
With regard to military significance, the threat of cruise missiles lies in their massive use. A lone subsonic missile launcher, patrolling in the air throughout the day, has every chance of being intercepted by enemy air defense / missile defense and aviation forces. Much higher than that of an ICBM warhead.
Readers will surely be outraged by my skepticism about the latest products. But there were obvious questions asked and facts that are difficult to ignore. Proceeding from the continuous demonstration of some samples and the thick veil of secrecy around the "Petrel" and "Zircon", broken by promises to exceed all conceivable range and speed indicators, as well as "conducting state tests this year" … There is only one conclusion - in reality, we will soon see laser complexes and a new generation of ballistic missiles. And "Zircon" and "Petrel" will continue to fly in the information space.
