In the comments under my articles, I quite often see the statements of people who are so confident in the miraculous properties of the latest Russian military developments that they are absolutely convinced that an attack on Russia is impossible. Therefore, when I touch upon military and economic issues, such people allow themselves to be ridiculed. They, as a rule, cannot be convinced of anything: they have only a tinned throat for all counterarguments.
However, I have always been interested in how such a worldview is formed and in what way. And here one of my friends on Facebook gave me the opportunity to satisfy my research curiosity.
It was a short entry, I will cite it in full (without editing. - Ed.), Since it really perfectly demonstrates the kitchen in which "hurray-patriotism" is brewed:
Russia has tested Nudol, a missile capable of disarming the NATO army. The American government is alarmed by the successful tests of the Russian Nudol missile, which is capable of destroying absolutely any satellite of a potential rival in Earth orbit. American analysts have prepared documents stating that Nudol flew 2000 km in just 15 minutes. Yes, not just flew, but hit the target.
The Pentagon is at a loss, because if these missiles are adopted by the Russian army, then several of these missiles will be enough to completely disarm the NATO army. For this, Russia does not need to spend a lot of energy, it is enough just to shoot down several satellites in Earth's orbit. After that, the American army will be left without any connection.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Nudol will soon enter service with the Russian army, and they will only be designed to shoot down satellites that endanger the country. Unlike the United States, Russia has no selfish goals, it just wants to defend itself. Once again, the Russian Federation proves in practice that the second side is the winner in the arms race between the United States and the Russian Federation.
Miracle rocket
Not much is known about the new A-235 Nudol missile due to the fact that it is the latest development undergoing tests (on August 30, 2019, a test launch took place at the Sary-Shagan test site), and therefore its characteristics have not yet been disclosed.
According to Western estimates, a rocket of this type can hit targets in space within a radius of about 1,500 km from the launch site and at altitudes up to 800 km. These estimates are probably close to the truth, since comparison with existing missiles is usually used to assess the capabilities of new missiles. Even by the geometrical dimensions of the rocket, one can get some idea of its capabilities. That is, a rocket can destroy a satellite in near-earth orbit.
The propagandists of "hurray-patriotism" rub their hands: since a rocket can shoot down something in space, it means that it can shoot down any satellite. And since it can shoot down, then several of these missiles can shoot down communication satellites or GPS, the US army will lose communication and navigation. Hurray, the enemy is crushed!
It will not reach the satellites
The whole problem, however, is that the communications satellites are in geostationary orbit. For example, the USA-243 satellite, a military communications satellite of the WGS (Wireband Global SATCOM) series, launched in May 2013, addresses just the GSO at an altitude of 35,786 km. The satellites of the NAVSTAR system, which support the GPS system, revolve in circular orbits at an altitude of 20180 km.
The capabilities of the A-235 will not be enough to deliver a warhead to this orbit, sufficient to guarantee the destruction of a rather large communications or navigation satellite. For example, a missile comparable to the Japanese H-II missile with a launch weight of 289 tons is required to deliver 730 kg of payload to the GSO. "Nudol" is much more modest: according to published data, its launch weight is 9.6 tons. So "Nudol" simply will not reach the communication and navigation satellites.
A warhead designed to shoot down satellites in the GSO should, in fact, be a full-fledged satellite capable of maneuvering in order to carry out rapprochement maneuvers with the target satellite at a distance at which it can be effectively destroyed by kinetic projectiles. That is, the warhead must have attitude control engines and a fuel supply. You also need control and navigation devices, a battery for the on-board systems. All together, this is 200-300 kg of weight or so. Therefore, a missile for destroying communications and navigation satellites must be larger than Nudol.
At least a hundred missiles
This could be the end. However, it is also worth mentioning that 32 satellites operate as part of the NAVSTAR satellite constellation, and 9 satellites as part of the WGS, and one more was launched in March 2019. In addition, the United States has a previous satellite communications system, DSCS, which has several other satellites (7 in 2015). That is, it takes about 20 successful hits for the US Army to start having serious problems with satellite communications and navigation.
In addition, the United States and its allies have other satellite satellite systems that can act as a substitute for GPS. For example, this is the Japanese QZSS consisting of 4 satellites (it is planned to launch three more satellites by 2023), which now acts as a GPS signal correction system in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, but, according to some reports, it can work autonomously. The Japanese navy is equipped with signal receivers from this system.
So "to shoot down several satellites" (even in the case of the very technical feasibility of this) is far from enough to deprive the enemy of communications and navigation. It will take an order of magnitude more launches and hits. It seems that in order to be able to destroy the enemy's satellite systems with some guarantee (that is, taking into account misses, abnormal operations and countermeasures), it is necessary to have at least 100 missiles on alert, specially designed to destroy satellites in the GSO. An attack on communication and navigation satellites is not as simple an operation as it might seem at first glance. And it can definitely be carried out not with the Nudol missile, which is intended, apparently, as an anti-missile for intercepting ballistic targets in space, that is, nuclear warheads.
A few words about propaganda
Now let's get back to the quoted "hurray-patriotic" propaganda. The above background information, now available to everyone and everyone, clearly shows that its main components are exaggeration and flowery rhetoric. Exaggerations are very significant and, in general, designed for the public, which, in terms of their level of knowledge in specific issues, simply will not suspect a trick, will not clarify whether this is so or not, and will take their word for it. Exaggerations cling to exaggerations along the chain: "a missile can shoot down a satellite," "a missile can shoot down absolutely any satellite," "missiles will deprive the United States of communications and navigation." And all this is formalized with the appropriate rhetoric. Further, under the influence of such propaganda, this public will develop a concrete conviction that Russia will divide the United States with literally a couple of missile launches, and in general there is no need to worry about anything, victory is already in your pocket.
A collision with reality can be shocking and psychoactive for them. And on the day "M" it will be possible to observe a striking picture of the transformation of yesterday's gallant "hurray-patriots" into the very last whiners and defeatists.
