The success of the Soviet "satellite fighter" was repeated by the United States only after 18 years
Everyone knows that the Soviet artificial Earth satellite was the first. But not everyone knows that we were the first to create anti-satellite weapons. The decision taken on June 17, 1963 to develop it was put into practice on November 1, 1968. On this day, the Polet-1 spacecraft intercepted a target spacecraft for the first time in history. And five years later, in 1972, the IS-M complex of the anti-space defense system (PKO) was put into trial operation.
The United States was pioneering the pursuit of anti-satellite weapons. But only 18 years later, on September 13, 1985, an F-15 fighter with an ASM-135 ASAT rocket was able to hit the inoperative American scientific astrophysical target satellite Solwind P78-1.
History of IP creation
Already in May 1958, the United States launched a Bold Orion rocket from a B-47 Stratojet bomber to test the possibility of hitting spacecraft (SC) with nuclear weapons. However, this project, like a number of others, up to 1985 was recognized as ineffective.
The Soviet "response" was the creation of the PKO system, the final element of which was a complex called IS (satellite fighter). Its main elements are an interceptor spacecraft with an explosive charge, a launch vehicle and a command post (CP). In total, the complex consisted of 8 radar nodes, 2 launch positions and a certain number of interceptor spacecraft.
The PKO and IS system was developed by the staff of the Central Research Institute "Kometa" under the direct supervision of Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Anatoly Savin and Doctor of Technical Sciences Konstantin Vlasko-Vlasov. The well-known Soviet scientist and general designer of rocket and space technology Vladimir Chelomey was responsible for the entire project.
The first flight of the Interceptor Spacecraft Polet-1 was made on November 1, 1963, and in the summer of next year, a radio-technical complex was created at the command post of the PKO system. In 1965, the creation of a rocket and space complex began to launch an interceptor spacecraft into orbit. Simultaneously with it, the spacecraft target "Kosmos-394" was created. In total, 19 spacecraft interceptors were launched, of which 11 were recognized as successful.
In the course of trial operation, the IS complex was modernized, equipped with a radar homing head (GOS), and in 1979 was put on alert by the Rocket and Space Defense Troops. According to Vlasko-Vlasov, designed to intercept space targets at altitudes up to 1000 km, the complex could actually hit targets at altitudes from 100 to 1350 km.
The IS complex was based on a two-turn method of targeting. After the launch of the interceptor spacecraft into orbit by the launch vehicle, the radio-technical detection units for the OS-1 (Irkutsk) and OS-2 (Balkhash) satellites, on the first orbit, clarified the parameters of its movement and targets, and then transferred them to the interceptor. He performed a maneuver, on the second loop, with the help of the seeker, he detected the target, approached it and struck with a warhead. The calculated probability of hitting the target 0, 9–0, 95 was confirmed by practical tests.
The last successful interception took place on June 18, 1982, when the Kosmos-1375 satellite target hit the Kosmos-1379 spacecraft interceptor. In 1993, the IS-MU complex was decommissioned, in September 1997 it ceased to exist, and all materials were transferred to the archive.
US response
It is clear that the United States reacted to the creation of the IS, which was the first to develop anti-satellite weapons in the late 1950s. However, the attempts were nowhere near as successful. So, the program of using an anti-satellite missile from the B-58 Hustler supersonic bomber was closed. The program of anti-satellite missiles with a powerful nuclear warhead, which the United States tested in the 1960s, did not receive its development either. High-altitude explosions in space also damaged a number of their own satellites by an electromagnetic pulse and formed artificial radiation belts. As a result, the project was abandoned.
The LIM-49 Nike Zeus missile defense complex with nuclear warheads did not give a positive result either. In 1966, the project was closed in favor of the Program 437 ASAT system based on Thor missiles with a nuclear charge of 1 megaton, which, in turn, was phased out in March 1975. The US Navy's project on the use of anti-satellite missiles from deck aircraft was also not developed. The US Navy project for the launch of anti-satellite weapons with a modified UGM-73 Poseidon C-3 SLBM came to an abysmal end in the late 1970s.
And only the above-mentioned project with the ASM-135 ASAT rocket was implemented. But the successful launch in January 1984 was the only and last one. Despite its obvious success, the program was closed in 1988.
But it was all yesterday. What about today?
Nowadays
Today, no country officially has deployed anti-satellite weapons systems. In the early 1990s, by tacit agreement, all tests on these systems were suspended in Russia and the United States. However, the creation of anti-satellite weapons is not limited by any of the existing treaties. Therefore, it would be foolish to think that work on this topic is not being carried out.
After all, it is precisely space reconnaissance and communications facilities that lie at the heart of modern concepts of armed warfare. Without satellite navigation systems, the use of the same cruise missiles and other high-precision weapons is problematic; accurate positioning of mobile ground and air objects is impossible. In other words, disabling the required satellites will drastically negatively affect the capabilities of their owner.
And the conduct of work in this direction, as well as the expansion of the club with such weapons, confirm the facts. Earlier, the head of the US Air Force Space Command, General John Hayten, named Iran, China, North Korea and Russia among the leading such works.
Back in 2005 and 2006, China tested such a system without actually intercepting satellites. In 2007, the Chinese shot down their Fengyun-1C meteorological satellite with an anti-satellite missile. In the same years, the Pentagon reported on the facts of irradiation of American satellites with ground-based lasers from China.
The United States is also conducting "anti-satellite" work. Today, they are armed with the Aegis ship-based missile defense system with the RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) missile. It was with such a rocket that the American military satellite USA-193 was shot down on February 21, 2008, which did not enter the calculated orbit. According to US media reports, the Pentagon has already created a new generation of anti-satellite systems based on the so-called non-destructive technologies that force the satellite not to perform work or send "false" commands.
According to other reports, in the 1990s, stealth satellites were developed and tested in the United States under the MISTY program. Their detection in orbit by existing means is almost impossible. The presence of such stealth satellites in orbit is admitted by the head of the international network of amateur astronomers, Canadian Ted Molzhan.
And what about Russia? For obvious reasons, this information is classified. However, in May this year, a number of foreign and domestic media reported on the successful test of the rocket as part of the Nudol development work. And in December 2015, the author of the American edition of The Washington Free Beacon, Bill Hertz, announced that Russia had tested an anti-satellite missile. In 2014, the Russian media reported on the testing of "a new long-range missile for air defense systems," and the information that this weapon is being developed as part of the Nudol development project was confirmed by the Almaz-Antey air defense concern to the Rossiya Segodnya news agency back in 2014 year.
And the last thing. At present, a book of memoirs of the creators of the "satellite fighter" and veterans of military service is being prepared for publication. In the foreword to it, Lieutenant General Alexander Golovko, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, says: "… at present, work is underway in our country to create new means of combating spacecraft of a potential enemy." Here, the general director, general designer of Kometa Corporation, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Viktor Misnik also expressed his opinion. According to him, "the means created in the country will be capable of hitting space targets in the required quantities."
As they say, he who has ears, let him hear. In other words, "we are peaceful people, but our armored train is on a side track."
