Biotechnology, genetic engineering, the creation of artificial organs have not made a person more protected. We have entered the age of weapons based on new physical principles. Do we have our own developments and scientific discoveries in this area? Is Russia ready to accept the challenge?
The last decades have been characterized by the acceleration of scientific and technological progress, which directly affects the creation of such types of AME that threaten the very existence of man as a biological species.
Civilization began to realize that it could wait. The troubles she will face tomorrow are more frightening than those that are probable today. But despite this, large-scale research is underway aimed at creating weapons that, as a result of even a single use, can lead to the mass destruction of people.
In this regard, the actions of the Russian leadership aimed at strengthening the defense capability to a level that guarantee comprehensive responses to aggressive challenges are quite logical. Many in the West felt that if at one time we stopped the development of advanced weapons based on the principle of humanism and reducing the level of military confrontation, then we are no longer able to resume their production and are hopelessly lagging behind in creating systems based on new physical principles.
The euphoria that amazed the authorities of Western countries, believing in their impunity and hoping that there will be no retaliatory measures, is dangerous and can lead to mass death of peoples. Russia, with its powerful intellectual potential and an advanced scientific base, is capable of creating unconventional weapons based on new physical principles in a short time. In particular, directed energy, beam, electromagnetic, beam, infrasonic, radio frequency, annihilation. The latter, for example, can involve the surrounding world in a reaction and a wave of fission and synthesis processes of matter that makes up the habitat of biological species will sweep across the planet. It is appropriate to say about weapons of mass destruction based on new physical principles. It is a consequence of the creation of analogs of nuclear weapons, when activated, one damaging factor is released: penetrating radiation, light radiation, shock waves, electromagnetic radiation, induced radiation.
In the United States, they have been working on models based on new physical principles for a long time, and some types have already been adopted for service.
Broken Stiletto
In the 60s and 70s, the USSR created neutron ammunition for artillery of 203 mm caliber and air defense missile systems. In the explosion energy, 80 percent were fast neutrons. 20 percent went into the shock wave and light radiation. An ammunition with a capacity of one kiloton within a radius of up to 2.5 kilometers inflicted damage on enemy personnel, disabled electronic devices, and created high levels of induced radiation. But it was most effective when triggered in the upper atmosphere and outer space. If, in an explosion in air, the flux of fast neutrons weakened as a result of interaction with the environment, then in space, without encountering obstacles, neutrons can propagate over long distances and, freely penetrating nuclear warheads, can cause a chain reaction without a critical mass.
Work was underway to create non-nuclear electromagnetic emitters. They have been improving for many years, but since the element of this weapon is a high-tech war with widespread use of electronics, it has to wait in the wings.
Beam weapons have become an important area of development. Its damaging effect is based on the use of directed pulses of electromagnetic energy or a concentrated beam of elementary particles. The radiation effect is generated by a set of devices that receive energy from external sources.
One of the types of beam weapons is beam (accelerator). Its striking element is a high-precision, sharply directed beam of electrons, protons, neutral hydrogen atoms, accelerated to high speeds. Artificial earth satellites, ballistic and cruise missiles of various types, ground-based military equipment can be targets of destruction. The enemy's electronic means will also be vulnerable, the possibility of irradiating manpower is not excluded.
Another type of beam weapon is lasers. These can be powerful quantum generators in the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. The damaging effect is achieved as a result of heating an object to high temperatures until it melts, and in some cases - and evaporation, damage to hypersensitive elements, organs of vision, skin. The action of the laser beam is distinguished by its stealth (absence of external signs in the form of flashes, smoke, sound), high accuracy, and almost instantaneous action.
The beginning of the creation of laser weapons dates back to the 50s. Even then, large-scale tests of high-power devices were carried out as a means of direct destruction of targets in the interests of strategic anti-space, anti-missile defense. At the same time, work was carried out in this area under the Terra and Omega programs. With the deepening of knowledge of the physical properties of the laser, new directions for its use in the military sphere opened up.
For example, in the 60s they created a blaster for Soviet cosmonauts, in the 70s - a laser rifle designed to blind soldiers, heat damage to manpower, and disable the enemy's optical systems. Devices based on this principle became widespread at the end of the twentieth century - for location, navigation, reconnaissance, communications, and in other areas. They have taken an important place in weapons control systems and targeting bombs, missiles, shells, and other submunitions. The tremendous advances in laser technology create conditions for the unprecedented development of new technologies.
In the Soviet years, the creation of an autonomous laser cannon was practiced, and its tests were carried out at sea - on the tanker of the auxiliary fleet "Dixon". There is information about several test firings at coastal targets. After the collapse of the USSR, the ship departed to the Ukrainian Navy and its fate is unknown. It can be assumed that in the United States, work on the creation of a sea-based laser cannon began precisely after the transfer of the tanker to Ukrainian jurisdiction.
In the USSR, they also worked on the creation of the Skif spacecraft, capable of carrying a laser cannon and supplying it with energy in abundance. The 80-ton apparatus was the prototype of a space fighter capable of staying in orbit for as long as desired and intended to destroy enemy satellites. The previous sample of the "Flight" type could hit only one space object and then self-destructed. The program was closed by Gorbachev's decision. The "Skif" was launched into orbit by the "Energia" carrier rocket only to be thrown out of there to be burned in the dense layers of the atmosphere.
The next project after Skif was the Stiletto project. They were going to install an onboard special complex (BSK) 1K11, developed at NPO Astrofizika. This is a variant of the Stilett ground-based complex, a ten-barreled installation of infrared lasers operating at a wavelength of 1, 06 nanometers, which has already been put into service. All these developments were stopped at the final stage of R&D. But as far as is known, the documentation is intact, the existing reserve, if necessary, will allow, in the shortest possible time, to bring lasers of this type up to standard and introduce them into the troops.
In America, under the missile defense program, powerful chemical lasers are being created for deployment on Boeing-747 aircraft and space platforms. By the way, they use the developments carried out by Soviet scientists and transferred to the United States in the early 90s at the direction of Yeltsin.
In the future, the Ground Forces will receive more advanced lasers, both wearable and transportable, with improved combat characteristics. Blasters and rifles will become more compact. By the way, they belong to non-lethal means and are divided into impulse and continuous actions.
Presumably, for a portable laser weapon, a capacitor-type working fluid will be created, capable of accumulating absorbed energy and maintaining the atoms of the working medium at the inversion threshold in order to trigger the mechanism of stimulated radiation. It is enough to pass a current through the working medium by closing the electric circuit by pressing a button. In fact, each pulse will have its own cartridge. Recharging the laser will become a purely technical, easily solvable operation. In addition, in theory, the pumping period of the working fluid will be excluded and a powerful power source will not be required.
Blinding sight
Transportable laser installations for combat use have been developed and created for a long time. In the early 80s, sighting platoons equipped with BMP-1 with AV-1 laser equipment were introduced into the divisions' states. Their main purpose is to disable the optics installed on armored vehicles and anti-tank systems of the enemy, as well as to partially blind the operators and gunners. In 1992, the "Compression" system was adopted, it was placed in the turret of the "Msta-S" self-propelled guns. This laser complex automatically determined the position of glaring objects and suppressed them.
The massive introduction of lasers into the combat formations of subunits and units of the Ground Forces is hampered by the fact that armored combat vehicles are not equipped with high-power electric generators. Traditional thinking does not allow taking a decisive step. We have been testing the layout of the tank for years, but there is still no intelligible explanation for which combat missions such an expensive equipment is being created in modern conditions. Of course, in the defense and fire support of the troops operating in front, in the development of the offensive in the depths of the enemy's formations, the same "Armata" will look worthy. But it is also necessary to balance the capabilities of the European economy and our industry in the production of military equipment to make up for losses. The conclusion is simple: the army needs a vehicle with an expanded set of transportable weapons, with autonomous control of each model. This will allow you to fight several armored vehicles at the same time.
Proposals were made to create a tank-infantry firing complex (TPOK), combining the capabilities of MBT and BMP. A generator with a capacity of 750 kilowatts can be built into it, which will allow in the future to install an electromagnetic cannon and a laser installation on a combat vehicle. The idea will have critics. Let them propose how else to massively introduce laser installations into the battle formations of troops in direct contact with the enemy. The use of TPOK will allow, in addition to blinding the object, to "cut" attachments from the enemy's tank, to heat up the fuel tanks in order to ignite the fuel. With the help of a laser, you can initiate the undermining of ERA units.
Now let's imagine a company armed with 10 tank and electromagnetic guns, laser systems, and estimate the combat potential of this military unit. So in which direction to develop? The answer is obvious.
