Last week, the public watched with great interest the news regarding strategic weapons. Quite unexpectedly and all of a sudden, information about the latest project of a special submarine, capable of seriously changing the strategic situation in the World Ocean, got into the domestic media. In connection with the publication of these data, some statements by officials appeared, which only fueled interest in the new project. All this resulted in numerous discussions, disputes and discussions on the possibility of such projects and their practical prospects.
The strange story began on November 9th. On this day, Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting on the development of the armed forces and the defense industry. During the event, various issues affecting certain types of armed forces were discussed. The next day, Russian television channels aired their coverage of the recent meeting. At the same time, the stories of Channel One and the NTV channel were of the greatest interest, since it was in them that curious and unexpected documents appeared.
In one of the reportage plans, a senior military leader was shown examining a presentation slide. It was this paper that attracted the attention of specialists and the public. On slide number 3 (there were several bound pages on the table of the unknown army general), information was given about the project of the oceanic multipurpose system "Status-6". The Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering (CDB MT) "Rubin" was indicated as the developer of this project. In addition, the slide contained general information about the purpose of the project and several pictures.
The emergence of information about new projects of military equipment, including submarines, always causes a stir. This time, the increased public attention was also caused by another factor - the alleged purpose of the "Status-6" system. It was clearly and clearly written on the slide that the purpose of the prospective development is “to defeat important objects of the enemy’s economy in the coastal area and inflict guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country's territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination that are unsuitable for military, economic, and other activities in these zones. for a long time".
Images from television reports instantly spread across the media, specialized resources, blogs and other sites. A very active discussion of the published information began immediately. Experts and amateurs of military affairs instantly recalled some proposals of this kind, expressed several decades ago, and also began to speculate about the prospects for such projects at the present time. In addition, there were suspicions that this was indeed an accidental leak of information, and not a "leak" planned by the military.
The situation required urgent comments from officials. In the evening of November 11, statements by the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov appeared. According to the official, in recent television reports, there was indeed a demonstration of classified data, which is not yet subject to disclosure. Secret data got into the lens of the TV cameras, which is why the authorities demanded that the TV channels remount their stories. Thus, in the following news releases, there was no footage of the military leader getting acquainted with the presentation on a promising project.
D. Peskov expressed the hope that such misunderstandings will not be repeated. A spokesman for the president noted that he did not know whether any measures were taken related to the data breach. At the same time, he said that in the future, preventive measures will be taken to eliminate such situations.
After the authorities drew attention to the data breach, the frame with the presentation slide disappeared from the reports. However, it was too late. The footage from the NTV and Channel One news stories was circulated on the Internet, and no statements by the president's press secretary or other officials could stop the discussion. Due to the lack of new high-profile news, discussions of the Status-6 project are still ongoing and are unlikely to end in the very near future.
It should be noted that the increased interest in the "Status-6" project is associated not only with the sudden appearance of information about it. Despite the poor quality of the picture, in the reports it was possible to consider some of the information given on the slide. Project information can also be a great source of controversy.
According to slide No. 3, the main element of the promising complex is a self-propelled underwater vehicle. As follows from the available data, it should be a submarine with a set of special equipment. The slide indicates that the device will be able to dive to a depth of 1000 m, cover distances of up to 10 thousand km and move at high speed. The exact meaning of the latter is difficult to establish, but there is clearly a three-digit number on the slide, which may be a topic for a separate discussion.
The dimensions of the device, with the exception of the diameter, remain unknown. The caliber of the "Status-6" can be more than 5 (or 7) m. The length and displacement remained on the part of the slide that did not fit into the frame.
As potential carriers of the self-propelled underwater vehicle, the presentation indicated special submarines "Belgorod" of project 09852 and "Khabarovsk" of project 09851. In both cases, the device must be transported under the bottom of the carrier submarine.
According to the slide, the first stage of project development should be completed by 2018 (or 2019). Until 2025, specialists will conduct various tests and fine-tune the project. Plans for later periods turned out to be closed in the literal sense of the word.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the project concerns its purpose and some of the nuances of the layout. The diagram shows that a relatively large compartment with a warhead is provided in the bow of the underwater vehicle. The purpose of the apparatus, in turn, is to defeat enemy targets on the coast and create a zone of radioactive contamination. Such features of the project made experts and amateurs remember the projects proposed several decades ago.
Back in the fifties (according to some reports, from the late forties) in our country, a preliminary development of a promising large-sized torpedo was carried out, which was supposed to carry a nuclear warhead of high power. It was assumed that the carrier submarine would have to launch such weapons in the direction of the enemy's coast. The defeat of enemy coastal targets, according to the authors' idea, was to occur due to a large wave formed after a deep nuclear explosion.
This proposal remained at the preliminary research stage. Its implementation was associated with a number of serious difficulties, and the efficiency left much to be desired. As a result, the idea of a heavy torpedo capable of causing a tsunami was abandoned, focusing on real and promising projects.
It should be noted that the old proposal has noticeable differences from the "Status-6" system in its current form. The published information clearly says that the new self-propelled underwater vehicle should not create a large wave. To defeat targets, it should be equipped with a "conventional" nuclear warhead. It should be recognized that such a technique of application, despite its complexity and a limited range of potential targets, turns out to be much more effective than detonating a warhead under water with the expectation of generating a large wave.
It should be recalled that this is not the first time that a promising underwater vehicle capable of carrying a nuclear warhead has become a topic of discussion. Just a couple of months ago, foreign, primarily American, mass media actively discussed rumors about a new Russian project "Canyon". It was argued that Russia could build new unmanned submarines that would be armed with nuclear warheads with a capacity of several tens of megatons.
The lack of confirmed data on the hypothetical project of Russian submarine weapons, as well as the emergence of new topical topics, gradually led to the fact that the Canyon project was almost forgotten. Now the Russian military has allowed (or deliberately arranged) a leak of information, which has already become a reason for the resumption of discussions among foreign experts and journalists. In a number of foreign publications, various analytical articles have already appeared, the authors of which are trying to study the unexpectedly appeared data, draw some conclusions, and also "link" them with the recent rumors about the "Canyon" project.
Tests of the "Status-6" system - if the project reaches this stage - will be completed no earlier than the middle of the next decade. This fact, however, does not prevent experts and amateurs from making predictions about the consequences of the appearance of such weapons. It is easy to see that a self-propelled underwater vehicle with remote or automatic control, capable of traveling up to 10 thousand km, can be a very formidable weapon. When such an apparatus is equipped with a nuclear warhead, it is possible to plan operations to destroy the naval bases of a potential enemy almost all over the world. The device will be able to approach the base and destroy it or cause serious damage.
Assumptions have already been made about the real prospects of such systems. In particular, there was an opinion that underwater vehicles with nuclear weapons can make all existing anti-submarine systems useless. In addition, the appearance of such weapons will force a potential adversary to begin a full-scale development of promising defense systems against underwater attacks. Due to some of the features of the "Status-6" or similar devices, the construction of a protection system will be extremely difficult and expensive.
For effective protection against such weapons, it is required to build a tracking system for the underwater situation along the entire length of the sea borders. In addition, funds are required for a timely response to a detected threat with its subsequent destruction. All this will require the implementation of a host of new projects, which, in turn, will be associated with colossal spending.
A similar feature of a promising project, perhaps, may even be useful for some structures and enterprises. It is possible that after the first reports of the Status-6 system appeared, some American generals and leaders of defense enterprises began to rub their hands happily, anticipating the start of new projects and their financing.
The program for building defense systems against promising Russian weapons can be extremely expensive and complex. Nevertheless, not all responsible persons from foreign countries are worried about this fact. The publication of data on the new Russian weapons will again allow them to call Russia an aggressor and, in this regard, request additional funding to protect against it.
Such consequences of the Russian project have already become the reason for the emergence of a version according to which there was a deliberate "leaking" of information last week. The purpose of such an "operation" could be the intention to provoke potential adversaries to start expensive programs that are capable of hitting military budgets and causing some damage to their defenses.
In general, the situation around the Status-6 project looks extremely interesting and unusual. It all started with an accidental leak of information about a secret project, the result of which was a massive discussion of a new topic on domestic and foreign platforms. With a slight delay, the press secretary of the Russian president said that there had been a publication of classified information, which is still closed to the general public, but such statements did not affect the nature of the disputes in any way. The slide image from the presentation continues to spread across the Internet, involving more and more new participants in the discussion.
A variety of versions are expressed about the project itself and the appearance of information about it, which receive one or another confirmation. The participants in the discussions assume that the "Status-6" system is capable of seriously affecting the situation in the world, and not only due to its high characteristics, but also due to its very existence. In addition, doubts are expressed about the reality of such a project. Supporters of this version believe that it is impossible to exclude an attempt to "stuff" false information undertaken by the Russian military with the aim of influencing foreign experts. Finally, officials claim it was an accidental leak of information about a classified project.
It is easy to guess that the military or defense industry will not comment on the current situation in any way after D. Peskov made his statement. You can only rely on unconfirmed information received by the press from anonymous and other dubious sources. Therefore, everyone who wants to know the real details of the new project will have to wait. Judging by the slide, you will have to wait at least until the middle of the next decade.
